ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses that physical violence may indeed become a property of a religious group and be a highly probable experience for the majority of its members. It considers both isolated instances of individual violence and the situations created by a leader's sudden shift to violent behavior though often having social sources, constitute individual deviance rather than group violence. The chapter concentrates upon the conditions under which a group may develop so that to be a member is to have a high probability of engaging in violent behavior. The chapter examines several converging discussions of normative dissonance that illuminate the more general phenomenon as it affects groups and organizations and deals with application to People's Temple. The probability of violence directed either outward or inward is maximized by these six groups of processes. When we are confronted with the Jonestown murder/suicides it is relatively convincing to adduce these as reason for the tragedy.
