Keywords

Church of Satan, Deviant behavior, Satanism

Abstract

Despite the glut of literature focusing on numerous aspects of mainline American religious life, there is a surprising dearth of information regarding deviant religious practitioners. Importantly, there remains a lack of focus on the specificities of religious and spiritual deviance, and the accounts of those who engage in such practices. This exploratory study closely examines the members of one such religion; specifically, the Church of Satan. Despite the stigma associated with Satanism, individuals continue to willfully engage in such practices. Research uses face-toface, semi-structured interviews to better discern the rationale behind Satanic worship as understood by modern-day believers. Particular attention is given to the accounts of Satanists to examine motivations for engaging in such practices, as well as identity management techniques for dealing with potential stigma. Results of the analysis show that Satanists utilize a variety of accounts when speaking about their spiritual choices and the potential stigma that surrounds such choices. These results are discussed and directions for additional research are presented.

Notes

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Graduation Date

2011

Semester

Summer

Degree

Master of Arts (M.A.)

College

College of Sciences

Department

Sociology

Format

application/pdf

Identifier

CFE0003915

URL

http://purl.fcla.edu/fcla/etd/CFE0003915

Language

English

Length of Campus-only Access

None

Access Status

Masters Thesis (Open Access)

Subjects

Dissertations, Academic -- Sciences, Sciences -- Dissertations, Academic

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Sociology Commons

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