Cultish
The Language of Fanaticism
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Cultish
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Narrated by:
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Ann Marie Gideon
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By:
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Amanda Montell
About this listen
The author of the widely praised Wordslut analyzes the social science of cult influence: how cultish groups from Jonestown and Scientology to SoulCycle and social media gurus use language as the ultimate form of power.
What makes “cults” so intriguing and frightening? What makes them powerful? The reason why so many of us binge Manson documentaries by the dozen and fall down rabbit holes researching suburban moms gone QAnon is because we’re looking for a satisfying explanation for what causes people to join - and more importantly, stay in - extreme groups. We secretly want to know: could it happen to me? Amanda Montell’s argument is that, on some level, it already has....
Our culture tends to provide pretty flimsy answers to questions of cult influence, mostly having to do with vague talk of “brainwashing”. But the true answer has nothing to do with freaky mind-control wizardry or Kool-Aid. In Cultish, Montell argues that the key to manufacturing intense ideology, community, and us/them attitudes all comes down to language. In both positive ways and shadowy ones, cultish language is something we hear - and are influenced by - every single day.
Through juicy storytelling and cutting original research, Montell exposes the verbal elements that make a wide spectrum of communities “cultish”, revealing how they affect followers of groups as notorious as Heaven’s Gate, but also how they pervade our modern start-ups, Peloton leaderboards, and Instagram feeds. Incisive and darkly funny, this enrapturing take on the curious social science of power and belief will make you hear the fanatical language of “cultish” everywhere.
©2021 Amanda Montell (P)2021 HarperCollins PublishersListeners also enjoyed...
What listeners say about Cultish
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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- Amazon Customer
- 20-04-23
great narration and look at linguistic structure
really enjoyed this book and it's taken on how language cultivates cult mindset and ideology. I enjoyed the comparison between deemed as true cults and those that are deemed cultish. highly recommend and will be finding any other books by this author
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- Amazon Customer
- 30-12-21
Protect yourself by reading this!
Really interesting book discussing the way that cults, companies and brands use language to manipulate us. Discusses some of the biggest cults including Jonestown. Debunks the theory that only uneducated people fall into cults. Their methods are more subtle than you might think. Cultish will arm you with the tools to prevent it from happening to you. This is Essential reading for the times we live in.
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- Anonymous User
- 20-03-24
very interesting
it was very interesting from a linguistic point of view, but I also learned about some popculture happenings I wasnt aware of before
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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- Anonymous User
- 07-07-21
Grain of salt needed!
This book started of great! Learning the unique perspective the author has on cults by emphasising the power of language. However this book took a turn for the worst after the authors criticism on CrossFits “cultishness”. Even though I totally agree with her claim, it was so poorly substantiated I cringed listening to it. The quality of research on that chapter stood so in contrast with the rest of the book I highly doubt she meant to leave it in. Maybe it had something to do with a publishing timeframe. So take the chapter with a grain of salt and read the rest of the book too! Enjoy
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3 people found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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- Aoife K.
- 01-04-24
A must read for the corporate workforce!
I loved how Amanda shone a light on how the clear examples of traditional cults and their behaviours have spilled into toxic work culture in particular. What’s become the norm has been given an origin story that we should all hear so red flags can be spotted early and we can GTFO 😜
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- Adam Priestley
- 23-06-21
Fascinating
I finished this book in two days which is total record for me, I could not stop listening and would highly recommend
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Overall3 out of 5 stars
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- Ian Williams
- 24-02-22
Repetitive and shallow after a while
It's a really interesting topic and starts well. However, near the end we are still meeting more identikit 'cults' without really getting any closer or deeper in our understanding of them.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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- Priscilla Eyles
- 29-06-22
Interesting, informative & well contextualised
Really liked the way Montell contextualises cults & 'cultish' organisations in wider neo-liberal & colonialist ideologies and understands the demographic they aim to cater for e.g. CrossFit's/SoulCycle's appeal to white middle-class aspirational people & bored housewives.
Revealed also a lot about the way corporations like Amazon try to embed fanatical loyalty to them at the expense of worker's wellbeing (learning by heart a 50 plus page manual reminds me so much of Landmark & having to learn their introduction leader manual - the horror).
And the way that dangerous social media guru/influencers like Teal Swan & Benhino Massuro have been able to game sm platforms like Instagram & YouTube in order to gain followers that will fork out for their expensive retreats IRL.
Also liked that Montell doesn't fall into trap of saying 'anyone' could be seduced into being in a cult, but makes the reasons why clear and understandable. As well as the insight into how trauma influences the ability to easily spot a scam and how that's tied to the concept of 'fast & slow thinking' as popularised in the book of the same name.
I want to thank Montell for writing this, as a marginalised cult survivor it is one of the first books which looks with any depth at how abelist, racist etc these cultish organisations and people are.
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- simon nielsen
- 22-07-22
decent
At times I think the feminist/anit-racist aspects felt forced. In the beginning of the book there are a lot of references to later chapters, 'this will be discussed in ch. 6' is mentioned a lot. this makes the listening experience less cohesive in my opinion
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1 person found this helpful
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- MC
- 16-01-23
In-depth analysis of everyday cult language
It’s a great book that gives a deeper dive than her ‘sounds like a cult’ podcast focussing on more popular interpretations of what can be considered a cult or where cultish language can be used.
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