Scientology's quackery held up to daylight:

Marburg Journal of Religion: Volume 15 (2010)
Alternative therapy, Dianetics, and Scientology
Terra Manca
[www.uni-marburg.de]


Acknowledgments:
Thanks is extended to Timothy Dunfield for his insight into
Scientology and for assisting me in
locating several relevant documents for this study. Special thanks go
to Stephen Kent for his editing
and his granting me access to the Kent Collection on Alternative
Religions, which is housed in the
University of Alberta Library. Thanks also go to the Social Sciences
and Humanities Research
Council for providing the funding that allowed me the time and
resources to complete this article.

Abstract:
Since orthodox medicine sets the standard for what is acceptable
within the medical arena, some
alternative medicines integrate into medicine while others remain
separate or face too much
scrutiny to continue practicing. In the 1970s, Morely and Wallis
(1976) recognized Dianetics and
Scientology as a “marginal medicine,” and from the 1960s to 1970s
several government
organizations worldwide investigated the group. Consequently,
Scientology retreated from the
medical arena, claiming that it was a religion and establishing
boundaries to insulate itself from
regulation. Despite Scientology’s attempted retreat, Dianetics and
Scientology doctrines and
practices continue to reflect concerns and actions that belong to what
Tovey and Adams (2001)
identify as the social world of alternative medicine. In this article,
I outline Scientology’s position
within the medical arena, how that position has transformed over time,
and Scientology’s isolation
from the dominant social world within that arena (specifically
scientific medicine)
[...]

Conclusion
Through forced isolation from the medical arena, Scientology has
effectively established a SSW
within which it can establish its own standards with little input from
the medical arena. Without this
input, however, it is impossible to know how many patients have been
or could be harmed from
Scientology treatments. Despite the fact that many SSWs within the
medical arena are driven out of
existence or forced to comply with the legitimizing forces of
scientific medicine; Scientology has
managed to continue practicing with little to no legitimacy within
that arena. In fact, it is
Scientology’s alleged relation to the SW of religion that allows it to
avoid these regulatory forces.
By alleging to be a SSW of religion, Scientology escapes influence
from the dominant SSWs within
the medical arena even though it continues to share “at least one
primary activity (along with
clusters of activity)” that Strauss (1978:122 [emphasis in original])
claims binds SSWs together
within a SW.
[...]



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 07/26/2010 07:14AM by Oerlikon.