ABSTRACT
This chapter describes three types of literature. The first consists of bibliographic surveys, encyclopedias, and commentaries that deal specifically and exclusively with sects and cults and of abstracts of sociological, anthropological, and religious essays among which literature on new religious movements can be found. A second type of literature pertains not directly to the cults but the background information necessary to understand the social-scientific discussions on cultism. The third type of literature consists of annuals and professional journals that publish materials on cults and sects. Though some of the surveys are dated, they are essential for understanding the history the study of cultism, the development of social-scientific theory, and the changes that have occurred among the cults themselves. The cults, as one form of socially deviant phenomena, must be understood in the context of the sociology of deviancy, which will enable the student to determine if, and in what sense, the label “deviant” can be used to describe the cults.
