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The role of dissent in the creation of Seventh-day Adventist identity

This thesis studies the benefits that a religious organization acquires from its identification of, and reaction to, deviants within it. If an organization is to continue growing while still maintaining a unique identity, periodically it must have deviant movements within it. Theoretically, I apply insights from sociologists of deviance (particularly Durkheim and Erikson) about the functional benefits of deviance labeling for several aspects of group functioning, such as beliefs and the means of disseminating them, structure and hierarchy, internal policies, and leadership styles.
I studied the Seventh-day Adventist organization, applying Festingers cognitive dissonance theory to it, in order to better illuminate its history and reaction to dissenters. I focused on three Adventist dissenters; Dudley Canright, John Harvey Kellogg, and the threat posed by Ellet J. Waggoner and Alonzo T. Jones, showing how the organization reinforced its boundaries and maintained control of its members by identifying and punishing these supposed deviants.

Identiferoai:union.ndltd.org:LACETR/oai:collectionscanada.gc.ca:AEU.10048/645
Date11 1900
CreatorsDunfield, Timothy
ContributorsKent, Stephen (Sociology), Kent, Stephen (Sociology), Braun, Willi (Religious Studies), Kitchen, John (Religious Studies), Brown, Sylvia (English)
Source SetsLibrary and Archives Canada ETDs Repository / Centre d'archives des thèses électroniques de Bibliothèque et Archives Canada
LanguageEnglish
Detected LanguageEnglish
TypeThesis
Format457272 bytes, application/pdf

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