Experiences of leaving “high-cost” religious groups and the concept of the “biographical trajectory”: relevance for social work

ABSTRACT

In this article, we make the case for the theoretical and practical usage of the concept of the “biographical trajectory” (Riemann & Schütze, 1991, p. 342; Schütze, 1999) in social work practice with people who have left “high-cost” religious groups. We illustrate this through our analysis of the life stories and biographical trajectories of three individuals who have disaffiliated from either the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (LDS) or the Jehovah’s Witnesses. We discuss how their biographical trajectory developed during the time they were members of their specific religious group, and how they are addressing it through their disaffiliation. Implications for social work practice are discussed.

KEYWORDS:

• Disaffiliation
• biographical trajectory
• social work practice
• “high-cost” religion

Acknowledgments

The research for this article was funded by the Louisville Institute. The broader study entails an analysis of disaffiliation processes from different Christian denominations as well as the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. Many thanks to Rebecca Malan for assistance with the analysis and insightful comments, and to both Rebecca Malan and Amanda Lawson for help with transcription.

Disclosure statement

The authors do not have any competing interests to declare.

Notes

1. In the literature on this topic, we find that the concepts of deconversion, disaffiliation, or apostasy are used. While the term deconversion can be used to refer to people who were born into a specific religion and later left it (e.g., Streib & Keller, 2004), we think that “disaffiliation” (Bromley, 1991) or “role exit” (Ebaugh, 1988) can better capture the experiences of people who grew up in and then distance themselves from a specific religious group. In this paper, we refer to people who have disaffiliated simply as people who left a religious group.

2. The belief system and culture of the Jehovah’s Witnesses, similar to the LDS faith, is characterized by a strong focus on and a certain amount of pressure to follow the rules. The church forbids the celebration of holidays, such as Christmas or Easter, and birthday celebrations, for example. Members are supposed to take part in frequent services and in missionary activity. The church is characterized also by strict beliefs about sexuality and marriage (Stark & Iannacone, 1997).

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Louisville Institute under Grant RSOC15.