Jim Jones And The People's Temple Analysis

Sociologists view cult behavior as a deviance from society’s norm. There are many theories as to why a cult leader forms a cult and how they garner such complete blind devotion from their members. While researching Jim Jones and The Peoples Temple I discovered that this particular cult adhered to several of the proven theories. Jones had few societal bonds and used fear and intimidation to control his members. In addition, he was an extreme socialist turned communist; when his original goals were met with resistance, he chose the path of rebellion, which was to reject society’s goals and seek to provide his own goals and means to accomplish them (Henslin, 2015). Jim Jones was born in a small town in Indiana. His father was a disabled

Jim Jones employed all of these characteristics with increasing extremity in the evolution of The Peoples Temple. Without doubt, Jones was an authoritative leader and his word was final; he demanded loyalty and sacrifice, eventually requiring his members to pledge all of their money, possessions, and even custody of their children to Jones. Jones was obsessed with power, forcing everyone to call him “father”, later referring to himself as “Christ” and even God himself (Rosenburg, 2016). Much of his preaching centered on the church being your only means of salvation and went so far as to threaten members with death should they try to leave (Harary, 1992). Further isolating the membership, it was required that members break all ties with family members that were outside the group and even went so far as segregating married couples, forbidding them intimacy with each other while forcing intimacy with himself and other members (Harary, 1992). Anyone who questioned a decision made by Jones was dealt with harshly and not just by Jones himself but by other members of the

Ryan, travelled to Guyana to tour the Jonestown commune. On November 18, 1978, the Congressman along with a camera crew from NBC began their tour. At first, they could not see anything amiss, however, a member slipped a note to the party, asking for help. Ryan invited any members who wished to leave to join the Congressman’s party. Several people took him up on his offer. Unfortunately, while waiting to board the plane, they were shot at by cult members that had been sent by Jones. Five people were killed, including Congressman Ryan, and two more seriously injured (Biography.com, 2014). Meanwhile, in Jonestown an increasingly paranoid Jones began to tell members that the government would retaliate for the attack on the Congressman; “When they start parachuting out of the air, they’ll shoot some of our innocent babies,” Jones said (Rosenburg, 2016). Large vats of grape flavored Flavor-Aid were prepared along with a healthy dose of Valium and cyanide. Babies and children were given the poison first, followed by their mothers. Anyone who refused to drink was forced to do so at gunpoint. Tragically, it took five minutes for each person to die (Rosenburg, 2016). In total, 918 people died in Jonestown that day, 276 of them were children. Ironically, Jones himself did not drink the poison, he was found dead from a gunshot wound to the head; it is unclear