Of Flying Saucers and Social Scientists: A Re-Reading of When Prophecy Fails and of Cognitive Dissonance A Re-Reading of When Prophecy Fails and of Cognitive Dissonance

Do Prophecies In Fact Fail? A Small Group Led By Spirit Mediums, Infiltrated By Social Scientists, And Reported On At Intervals By The Press: Together, These Different Parties Create A Sequence Of Mutual Misunderstandings That Leads Both To A Series Of Missed Appointments With Flying Saucers From Distant Planets And To Success In Averting A Global Catastrophe. This Volume Proposes A Re-reading Of Leon Festinger's Classic Work On Cognitive Dissonance, Offering A Different Account Of The Motivations And Meanings Of A Group Expecting The Arrival Of Spacemen From Another Planet And Anticipating The End Of The World, And Incorporating The Social Scientists Who Studied Them Into The Picture. The Author Explores The Relations Between Anthropology And Psychology And Between Social Scientific And Natural Scientific Accounts Of Human Behaviour, Contributing To Ideas About The Role Of Science In Contemporary Society And To The Sociology Of Secrecy.--publisher's Description. Introduction : The Issue Of The Scale Of The Event : One Object Or Three Parties? -- Part 1. The Presuppositions Of The Various Parties -- The Social Scientists -- The Group And The Mediums -- The Press -- Part 2. The Events And Their Rationales -- The Sociology Of Secrecy -- Language Of Science, Language Of Secrecy -- A Dialogue Of The Deaf -- Gains. Timothy Jenkins. Includes Bibliographical References And Index. Cover......Page 2 Half-Title......Page 3 Title......Page 5 Copyright......Page 6 Contents......Page 7 Preface......Page 9 1 Introduction: The Issue of the Scale of the Event—One Object or Three Parties?......Page 13 Part 1 The Presuppositions of the Various Parties......Page 17 2 The Social Scientists......Page 18 The social scientists: (i) the hypothesis......Page 19 The social scientists: (ii) presuppositions......Page 22 The social scientists: (iii) prophecy and prediction......Page 25 3 The Group and the Mediums......Page 29 The group: broad presuppositions—improvisatory religion, Spiritualism and Adventism......Page 30 The mediums: (i) social dynamics......Page 33 The mediums: (ii) beliefs/themes......Page 39 The mediums: (iii) language......Page 43 4 The Press......Page 48 The press: (i) three episodes......Page 49 The press: (ii) presuppositions......Page 53 Part 2 The Events and Their Rationale......Page 58 5 The Sociology of Secrecy......Page 59 The milieu: institutions......Page 60 Sociologists enter the group: intervention in the social process......Page 62 The ‘methodological appendix’ Some comments: the ‘common sense’ nature of......Page 65 the hypothesis......Page 68 The sociology of secrecy: (i) concealment and proselytizing......Page 69 The sociology of secrecy: (ii) another model......Page 71 The socially complex nature of the period of observation......Page 75 6 Language of Science, Language of Secrecy......Page 79 The language of science: (i) outline......Page 81 The language of science: (ii) Christian parallels......Page 82 The language of science: (iii) sincerity......Page 84 The language of secrecy: (i) outline......Page 87 The language of secrecy: (ii) a parallel case......Page 89 Th e language of secrecy: (iii) words and silence at work......Page 91 7 A Dialogue of the Deaf......Page 96 8 Gains......Page 102 Bibliography......Page 106 Index......Page 111 What happens when prophecies fail? Timothy Jenkins' re-reading of Leon Festinger's classic work on "cognitive dissonance" seeks to answer this question by studying a 50s doomsday group. This volume explores the relations between anthropology and psychology, and between social scientific and natural scientific accounts of human behavior.