Despite the significance of cults as a social group in other disciplines, anthropologists have paid little attention to these sub-cultures as a viable area of research. Social scientists in other disciplines, such as sociology and psychology, have explored cults as a social and mental phenomenon; yet, anthropological investigations tend to be limited to studying cargo cults outside North America. Sociologists have defined and categorized cults in numerous ways: as a social movement or a religious movement. In this presentation, I hypothesize that anthropologists do not study cults due to their methodological practices and theoretical approach to working with communities.
