Free Zone Scientology and Other Movement Milieus: A Preliminary Characterization

Abstract

Free Zone refers to the subculture constituted by people and organizations that adhere to the beliefs and practices of Scientology but who do so outside of – and without the sanction of – the Church of Scientology. The analysis in the present article uses the Free Zone plus a selection of comparable subcultures associated with other religious groups as case studies to explore the nature and structure of movement milieus. The notion of a movement milieu is derived from Colin Campbell’s influential formulation, though certain significant features of movement milieus serve to distinguish them from – and to make them more than simply subsets of – the cultic milieu.