Frisk et al./Children in Minority Religions, 3. Growing Up in Controversial Minority Religions

This chapter discusses in an overview manner socialization, identity construction, and the daily life of children in the minority religions in focus in the present book: The Hare Krishna movement, The Family (formerly Children of God), The Church of Scientology, The Family Federation (formerly The Unification Church), Knutby Filadelfia (a Pentecostal group), The Exclusive Brethren, and Jehovah's Witnesses. Different patterns, structures, and different kinds of constructions of childhoods are discussed. The material is based on life narrative interviews with about 60 adults who grew up in these groups in Sweden. The sample consists of interviewees who decided to join the religious groups of their parents, as well as those who decided not to, and parents who have brought up children in the different groups. The method used is that of narrative analysis and thematic analysis