Description: Exploring how exiting ultra-Orthodox Judaism is not a single act of defiance, but an interactive process that extends for years after leaving
Review Quotes:
"Degrees of Separation is an original and imaginative investigation of the character and consequences of exiting closed and closely knit religious communities. On the basis of extensive interviews and observation of two Ultra-Orthodox Jewish communities in New York--Lubavitch and Satmar--Newfield examines the experiences and consequences of exiting. He rejects the taken-for-granted assumption that exit can be clean and decisive and hence prefers to talk about 'exiting.' Like whistleblowers, exiting individuals are typically subject to symbolic attacks and are often regarded as psychologically unstable by the community. Exiting can never be complete, because individuals have deeply ingrained habits acquired from early socialization in the community. Degrees of Separation is not simply a study of religious communities; it offers important insights into membership of and exit from any community or 'total institution.'"--Bryan S. Turner, Presidential Professor of Sociology, Emeritus, Graduate Center of the City University of New York, and author of The Religious and the Political: A Comparative Sociology of Religion