Landmark in Israel: Recruitment and Maintenance of Clients in a Human Potential Organization

Abstract

Studies examining factors in religious conversion have focused on religious movements that are stigmatized or regarded as deviant and that stress communal lifestyles and exclusive commitment. The relevance of these factors is examined in the processes of recruitment and retention of clients in Landmark, a human potential organization that is world-accepting and non-communal. Affective bonds in social networks were found to be of crucial importance both in the recruitment of clients to Landmark and the maintenance of those clients beyond their participation in The Forum, the organization's focal workshop. Human potential organizations such as Landmark are designated by sociologists as new religious movements, but the secular designation by the organization and its clients is relevant to its recruitment, especially in Israel where it attracts Israeli Jews who define themselves as secular.