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Papers by Patricia J Moore

Background: Jehovah’s Witnesses (JW) are a millennial, evangelical religious sect whose members ... more Background:
Jehovah’s Witnesses (JW) are a millennial, evangelical religious sect whose members maintain a strict separation from mainstream society through their practices and complex discourse (Barchas-Lichtenstein, 2014). Members who are expelled or leave of their own accord, called deconverts, are shunned ( Green, 2008, p. 14; Holden, 2002; Pew Research Center, 2015; Singelenberg, 1989; Zygmunt, 1977). Some deconverts are taking to online communities as liminal spaces where they can discuss their feelings and experiences with others who understand their experiences in a way non-Jehovah’s Witnesses cannot. A review of the literature across the Social Sciences, has failed to turn up any significant studies on Jehovah’s Witness deconverts despite the issues they face integrating into a mainstream society they have been taught to mistrust.

Objective:
To conduct a pilot ethnographic study exploring how JW deconverts leverage online communities as liminal spaces to transition into their new identity as a former JWs.
Methods:
A representative sample of narratives across three popular JW sites will be selected and the text analyzed to see how deconverts navigate the lived experience of passing through the liminal space between being a JW and being a deconvert

Future Work:
This is an opportunity to gain understanding in how this understudied population navigates the transition period from adherent to deconvert. This will allow for the identification of similarities and differences between the JW deconvert lived experience with that of others who go through a similar process of moving from a highly controlled environment (back) into mainstream society (for example, ex-convicts or soldiers returning from a deployment). In doing so, we can gain additional insight into this liminal process with an eye towards refining and improving techniques for helping people through these periods of change.

References:
Barchas-Lichtenstein, J. (2014). Jehovah’s Witnesses, endangered languages, and the globalized textual community. Language & Communication, 38, 44–53. doi:10.1016/j.langcom.2014.05.006
Holden, A. (2002). Jehovah’s Witnesses: Portrait of a Contemporary Religious Movement. New York City, NY: Routledge.
Pew Research Center. (2015). America’s Changing Religious Landscape. Washington, D.C.
Singelenberg, R. (1989). “It Separated the Wheat from the Chaff”: The “1975” Prophecy and Its Impact among Dutch Jehovah’s Witnesses. Sociological Analysis, 50(1), 23–40.
Zygmunt, J. F. (1977). Jehovah’s Witnesses in the U.S.A. 1942 - 1976. Social Compass, 24(1), 45–57. doi:10.1177/003776867702400103

The arrival of what as referred to as Web 2.0 brought with it an abundance of ways for people to ... more The arrival of what as referred to as Web 2.0 brought with it an abundance of ways for people to communicate develop, maintain and grow social network ties. There have been venues for people to connect with each other since the 1980s. The dramatic increase in the numbers of people using various types of devices to connect to the Internet means that instead of a few technologically savvy people online, most Americans of all levels of skill and expertise are going on line. As more people join online communities of choice for social and entertainment purposes, people are forming ties with other group members that can best be described as friendships. This is a research proposal for a mixed method study that explores how social network ties function in online as compared to the concrete world but. The survey is adapted from existing measures whose use has been confirmed. A secondary goal is to develop a scale that can be used to measure friendship bonds on the Internet to facilitate future research on this topic.

Members of online communities are at risk for being deceived by someone who creates a false ident... more Members of online communities are at risk for being deceived by someone who creates a false identity and joins the community as a group member. This type of deception goes beyond a white lie about income or geographical location and is often only discovered when the deceptive person makes a mistake or posts something that is inconsistent with his or her prior statements. When these situations are revealed people can feel betrayed and angry. This is a mixed method study that reviews selected comments associated with the hoax perpetrated by LonelyGirl15 on the video sharing site YouTube. This paper looks at what tactics a deceptive individual uses to perpetrate a hoax and hoe group members uncover the hoax. The implications of this research are that there may be other, previously unidentified tactics deceptive individuals use to put a hoax over on a community. It also identifies four distinct ways that community members express their belief that a hoax is in progress and suggests that the validation of this might lead to developing better models of identifying identity deception.

Background: Jehovah’s Witnesses (JW) are a millennial, evangelical religious sect whose members ... more Background:
Jehovah’s Witnesses (JW) are a millennial, evangelical religious sect whose members maintain a strict separation from mainstream society through their practices and complex discourse (Barchas-Lichtenstein, 2014). Members who are expelled or leave of their own accord, called deconverts, are shunned ( Green, 2008, p. 14; Holden, 2002; Pew Research Center, 2015; Singelenberg, 1989; Zygmunt, 1977). Some deconverts are taking to online communities as liminal spaces where they can discuss their feelings and experiences with others who understand their experiences in a way non-Jehovah’s Witnesses cannot. A review of the literature across the Social Sciences, has failed to turn up any significant studies on Jehovah’s Witness deconverts despite the issues they face integrating into a mainstream society they have been taught to mistrust.

Objective:
To conduct a pilot ethnographic study exploring how JW deconverts leverage online communities as liminal spaces to transition into their new identity as a former JWs.
Methods:
A representative sample of narratives across three popular JW sites will be selected and the text analyzed to see how deconverts navigate the lived experience of passing through the liminal space between being a JW and being a deconvert

Future Work:
This is an opportunity to gain understanding in how this understudied population navigates the transition period from adherent to deconvert. This will allow for the identification of similarities and differences between the JW deconvert lived experience with that of others who go through a similar process of moving from a highly controlled environment (back) into mainstream society (for example, ex-convicts or soldiers returning from a deployment). In doing so, we can gain additional insight into this liminal process with an eye towards refining and improving techniques for helping people through these periods of change.

References:
Barchas-Lichtenstein, J. (2014). Jehovah’s Witnesses, endangered languages, and the globalized textual community. Language & Communication, 38, 44–53. doi:10.1016/j.langcom.2014.05.006
Holden, A. (2002). Jehovah’s Witnesses: Portrait of a Contemporary Religious Movement. New York City, NY: Routledge.
Pew Research Center. (2015). America’s Changing Religious Landscape. Washington, D.C.
Singelenberg, R. (1989). “It Separated the Wheat from the Chaff”: The “1975” Prophecy and Its Impact among Dutch Jehovah’s Witnesses. Sociological Analysis, 50(1), 23–40.
Zygmunt, J. F. (1977). Jehovah’s Witnesses in the U.S.A. 1942 - 1976. Social Compass, 24(1), 45–57. doi:10.1177/003776867702400103

The arrival of what as referred to as Web 2.0 brought with it an abundance of ways for people to ... more The arrival of what as referred to as Web 2.0 brought with it an abundance of ways for people to communicate develop, maintain and grow social network ties. There have been venues for people to connect with each other since the 1980s. The dramatic increase in the numbers of people using various types of devices to connect to the Internet means that instead of a few technologically savvy people online, most Americans of all levels of skill and expertise are going on line. As more people join online communities of choice for social and entertainment purposes, people are forming ties with other group members that can best be described as friendships. This is a research proposal for a mixed method study that explores how social network ties function in online as compared to the concrete world but. The survey is adapted from existing measures whose use has been confirmed. A secondary goal is to develop a scale that can be used to measure friendship bonds on the Internet to facilitate future research on this topic.

Members of online communities are at risk for being deceived by someone who creates a false ident... more Members of online communities are at risk for being deceived by someone who creates a false identity and joins the community as a group member. This type of deception goes beyond a white lie about income or geographical location and is often only discovered when the deceptive person makes a mistake or posts something that is inconsistent with his or her prior statements. When these situations are revealed people can feel betrayed and angry. This is a mixed method study that reviews selected comments associated with the hoax perpetrated by LonelyGirl15 on the video sharing site YouTube. This paper looks at what tactics a deceptive individual uses to perpetrate a hoax and hoe group members uncover the hoax. The implications of this research are that there may be other, previously unidentified tactics deceptive individuals use to put a hoax over on a community. It also identifies four distinct ways that community members express their belief that a hoax is in progress and suggests that the validation of this might lead to developing better models of identifying identity deception.