The Stark & Iannaccone study on JW growth!

Mindchild

You may find this professional paper done by RODNEY STARK & LAURENCE R.IANNACCONE on Why the Jehovah's Witnesses Grow so Rapidly:A Theoretical Application that appeared in the Journal of Contemporary Religionto well be worth your time to read through carefully.

http://www.google.com/search?q=cache:3TA2PX7hY6EC:lsb.scu.edu/econrel/Downloads/JWGrow-O.pdf+future+growth+of+Jehovah%27s+witnesses&hl=en&ie=utf-8

The Abstract:

This paper applies a general theory of why religious movements succeed or fail to explain why the Jehovah's Witnesses are the most rapidly growing religious movement in the western world. In addition to qualitative assessments of Witness doctrines, organisational structures, internal networks, and socialisation, we utilise quantitative data from a variety of sources to assess such things as the impact of failed prophesies, how "strictness" eliminates free-riders and strengthens congregations, the demographic make-up of the Witness "labor force", and the effects of continuity with local religious cultures on success.

There is so much good information in this study, that I would have to nearly retype major portions of the entire paper. I don't think there should be any doubt that the WTS doesn't like this study.

Kind Regards,

Skipper

larc

I went to the cite, but the words were blurred or run together and I couldn't read it.

Only thing I did get was that the study was published in 1997. Since that time the JW growth has been minimal.

Mindchild

Here is a PDF version of the file if anyone has trouble reading it:

http://lsb.scu.edu/econrel/Downloads/JWGrow-O.pdf.

Skipper

NeonMadman

I had problems at the original site you listed, too. Every time I went to the page, my browser locked up. Downloading the .pdf now...

Tom

"The truth was obscure, too profound and too pure; to live it you had to explode." ---Bob Dylan

NeonMadman

Ah, well...the .pdf won't work either. every time I move to a new page I get an illegal operation error. Sigh...

Tom

"The truth was obscure, too profound and too pure; to live it you had to explode." ---Bob Dylan

cellomould

Interesting points:

From 1980 to 1994 the JWs in the US grew by 64%

The number of American publishers rose by 15% between 1973 and 1974!

A more reasonable estimate of the JW membership is 9.4 million (worldwide, 1994). This roughly accounts for the discrepancy between the publisher numbers and the number of those who identify themselves as JWs.

"It seems clear that only because the Witnesses do not allow free riding, they are able to generate the commitment needed to put publishers on millions of doorsteps every year."

"Observers believe that Witnesses in Africa and Latin America are substantially better educated, and more apt to have technical training than the average citizen."

"It is of interest that Witnesses are about as likely as average Americans to have been divorced."

Trends are funny, aren't they?

cellomould

"In other words, your God is the warden of a prison where the only prisoner is your God." Jose Saramago, The Gospel According to Jesus Christ

larc

cello,

The 73-74 increase was due to the 1975 scare. In 76 and 77 they had negative growth.

cellomould

Yeah, Larc,

That's what I was getting at! There was a huge deceleration from 1975-1980, after which the speed picked up again.

You kinda wonder if what is happening now (low growth) is a short-term trend. After all, there are still plenty of ignorant but as of yet unindoctrinated people left in the US.

So how do we save the ignorant?

Actually, perhaps going through the JW system is part of the learning process for some people. They may be scarred a bit, but they will be better for it in the end.

I think that in understanding I am far ahead of many of my contemporaries due to my JW experiences. Not that I started off ignorant. Hehehehe.

Comments?

cellomould

"In other words, your God is the warden of a prison where the only prisoner is your God." Jose Saramago, The Gospel According to Jesus Christ

Satanus

Mindchild

Its a problem w acrobat version 5. Version 4.05 is needed. It can be downloaded at http://www.ebooks2go.com/main.cfm?page=43%20 It can be installed in another directory so it won't conflict w the latest version. I just converted the article to text w this. Or, if people want it, i can post the whole article here. It only needs a bit of spacing added here and there.

SS

larc

Cello,

Here is how I see it. The 75 upturn and the downturn therafter was a blip in the overall trend from the 1940's to the present day. No, I don't think they will recover as they did after 1975. They are an obsolete, out of date religion. People used to hate them. Today, they make fun of them and feel sorry for them. The world has changed, and they can not or will not.

The Stark & Iannaccone study on JW growth!

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