The discussion assumes that much of the analytical material is applicable to Western European as well as to Anglo-American new religious movements (NRM's). The book first examines the major theories about sociocultural transformations and dislocations, which have been advanced to explain recent spiritual flux and ferment, followed by a review of the recent literature on processes of conversion, commitment, and disengagement in religiotherapeutic movements. After an overview of the analyses of the institutionalization and organizational patterns of contemporary NRM's, the study identifies typologies of NRM's formulated in recent decades as well as attempts to assimilate recent movements to the tradition of church-sect theory. Sociological analyses of the conflicts and controversies surrounding cults are reviewed, and the concluding chapter evaluates the impact of the explosion of NRM research on the sociology of religion. 850-item bibliography, subject index.