In 1957, sociologist Albert Biderman described the tactics torturers use to weaken and terrify prisoners of war. Ann Jones, Susan Schechter, and Evan Stark transferred these ideas to the field of domestic violence. They called this strategy coercive control. “Coercive control” also seems to be the right term for the manipulative and dominating tactics of cult leaders.
Coercive control is highly diffused in cults. The cult leader typically makes most major decisions and changes them on a whim. However, cult members also pressure and police each other into submission. The members weave a broad web of tactics that allow little room for spontaneity or nonconformity.
Cults use coercive control to strip targets of their resources, such as friends, family, money, and their health. Coercive control can show up as isolation that shrinks a member’s world, degradation that erodes their sense of self, and relentless micromanagement that turns daily life into a minefield of proving their loyalty. Cults are often referred to as “high-demand groups” (Laycock, 2024). Their tactics typically include manipulation, monitoring, physical or sexual violence, threats, financial exploitation, and calculated punishments. But cultic coercive control can crush members’ free will even if it doesn’t include all these elements.
In the chart below, I have adapted Biderman’s Chart of Coercion to the tactics of cults. This chart illustrates how cults and cult leaders entrap members in a web of mind control that makes it difficult to leave. This chart can be used across mental health, advocacy, educational, and legal settings. I hope this chart provides an easy way for people to assess organizations for coercive tactics and determine if they are, indeed, “high-demand groups.”
