“Om jag hade vetat vad det innebar hade jag aldrig gått med” : - en kvalitativ intervjustudie om tidigare sektmedlemmars reflektioner och erfarenheter kring sektmedlemskap och livet efter

Sammanfattning: Sects are a phenomenon in which interest has increased in recent years and which has received a lot of attention. How active and former sect members perceive sect membership differs from person to person. There is thus no clear opinion. The purpose of the essay is to answer questions about former sect members’ reflections on the exercise of power, reflections on adaptation to the sect’s norms and rules, and how their subjective reality changes after leaving. The essay’s empiricism consists of semi-structured interviews that are analyzed using previous research and the concepts: objective and subjective reality, socialization and internalization, discipline and disciplinary power, hierarchical observation, normalizing sanctions and graduation processes. The essay’s previous research is divided into three themes that relate to the subject in different ways. The results of the essay show that power was exercised within the sect and that it was both the higher authority and members who maintained power through, among other things, spreading rumors, peer pressure, comments, pressure from the higher authority and the feeling of surveillance. Furthermore, an adaptation to the norms and rules of the sect was made visible, but that it looked different among the respondents. Finally, the results contributed to an understanding that the respondents’ subjective reality changes after the exit, but that the change varies depending on the respondents’ background, the norms they held before and how long they were in the sect.