Eileen Barker

Eileen Barker

Professor Emeritus of Sociology with Special Reference to the Study of Religion, London School of Economics

Eileen Barker is Professor Emeritus of Sociology with Special Reference to the Study of Religion at the London School of Economics, and past president of the Society for the Scientific Study of Religion. She is the founder of INFORM, a non-profit organization that provides information about the new religions that is as accurate, objective and up-to-date as possible. Her main research interest is ‘cults’, ‘sects’ and new religious movements, and the social reactions to which they give rise; but since 1989 she has also been investigating changes in the religious situation in post-communist countries. She has over 250 publications (translated into 27 different languages), which include the award-winning The Making of a Moonie: Brainwashing or Choice? and New Religious Movements: A Practical Introduction. In 2000 she was the recipient of the American Academy of Religion’s Martin E. Marty Award for the Public Understanding of Religion.