Robert William Balch is a sociologist from the

University of Montana The University of Montana (UM) is a public research university in Missoula, Montana. UM is a flagship institution of the Montana University System and its second largest campus. UM reported 10,962 undergraduate and graduate students in the fal ...

. Balch is best known for his studies of Heaven's Gate (with David Taylor), the

Aryan Nations Aryan Nations is a North American antisemitic, neo-Nazi, white supremacist organization that was originally based in Kootenai County, Idaho, about miles (4.4 km) north of the city of Hayden Lake. Richard Girnt Butler founded the group i ...

, and the

Love Family The Love Family, or the Church of Jesus Christ at Armageddon, was a U.S. communal religious movement formed in 1968 and led by Paul Erdmann, who renamed himself Love Israel. After a fractious conflict in 1984, the community was reduced to a ...

Heaven's Gate

Balch found a UFO flyer for Heaven's Gate at a Christian coffeehouse in Sedona, Arizona. At the time Balch was on unpaid leave from University of Montana. He called up graduate student David Taylor, asking him to drop everything and move with him to California. He and Taylor joined Heaven's Gate for 3 months in the 1970s, traveling with the cult and secretly taking extensive notes on his experience before eventually leaving to go resume his life. After leaving Heaven's Gate, Balch and Taylor published articles about Heaven's Gate. Eventually, they lost track of Heaven's Gate in the late 1970s. Balch's work as a sociologist took off from his studying of Heaven's Gate. He held a reunion for surviving ex-members in the late 90s that included "Ti"'s daughter.

Education

Ph.D. A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, Ph.D., or DPhil; Latin: or ') is the most common degree at the highest academic level awarded following a course of study. PhDs are awarded for programs across the whole breadth of academic fields. Because it is a ...

Sociology Sociology is a social science that focuses on society, human social behavior, patterns of Interpersonal ties, social relationships, social interaction, and aspects of culture associated with everyday life. It uses various methods of Empirical ...

University of Oregon The University of Oregon (UO, U of O or Oregon) is a public research university in Eugene, Oregon. Founded in 1876, the institution is well known for its strong ties to the sports apparel and marketing firm Nike, Inc, and its co-founder, billion ...

, 1972 *

M.A. A Master of Arts ( la, Magister Artium or ''Artium Magister''; abbreviated MA, M.A., AM, or A.M.) is the holder of a master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The degree is usually contrasted with that of Master of Science. Tho ...

Arizona State University Arizona State University (Arizona State or ASU) is a public research university in the Phoenix metropolitan area. Founded in 1885 by the 13th Arizona Territorial Legislature, ASU is one of the largest public universities by enrollment in the ...

, 1968 *

B.A. Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four years ...

, 1966

Publications

*Forthcoming, "The Rise and Fall of Aryan Nations: A Resource Mobilization Perspective." Journal of Political and Military Sociology. *2003. "Heaven's Gate: Implications for the Study of Commitment to New Religions." pp. 122–237 in James R. Lewis, (ed.), Encyclopedic Sourcebook of UFO Religions. Amherst, NY: Prometheus. (co-author, David Taylor) *2002. "Making Sense of the Heaven's Gate Suicides." pp. 209–228 in David G. Bromley and J. Gordon Melton (eds.), Cults, Religion, and Violence. New York: Cambridge University Press. *1998 "How the Problem of Malfeasance Gets Overlooked in Studies of New Religions: An Examination of the AWARE Study of UT" Robert W. Balch & Stephan Langdon in Wolves within the Fold. Anson Shupe, Ed. Rutgers. *1977. "Seekers and Saucers: The Role of the Cultic Milieu in Joining a UFO Cult." Rob Balch & David Taylor. American Behavioral Scientist 20, no. 6 (1977), P. 839–60. *1976 "Salvation in a UFO.", Robert W. Balch & David Taylor. Psychology Today 10

Selected courses

*''SOC 110: Principles of Sociology'': Overview of the principles and concepts used in the study of human social interaction, groups, communities and societies. *''SOC 130: Sociology of Alternative Religions'': Unconventional religious groups in American society. Topics include recruitment, conversion, commitment, defection, leadership, belief systems, organizational structure and change. *''SOC 201: Social Science Methods'': Methods of research in the social sciences including naturalistic observation, interviewing, measurement, experiments, surveys, content analysis, and basic data analysis. *''SOC 310: Extraordinary Group Behavior'': The study of emergent social behavior including rumors, crowds, crazes, riots, panics, terrorism, revolutions and social movements. *''SOC 488: Field Research Methods'': The studying of people in their natural environment by observing what they do as they go about their everyday lives.

References

External links