The term cult has been variously applied to contemporary groups and organizations, marking them as unusual or frightening. Scholarly literature has yet to settle on a concrete conceptualization of cults and reveals little about the communicative processes by which the stigmatizing name becomes attached to certain groups. This study utilizes a constant comparison method to assess qualities associated with groups regularly labeled as cults in the popular press. Results establish a typology of qualities associated with a “cult genre” of speech and illuminate the role of popular narrative in socially constructing stigma.

中文翻译：

---

在媒体中传播邪教：邪教地位的话语意义赋予

邪教一词已广泛应用于当代团体和组织，将它们标记为不寻常或可怕。学术文献尚未确定邪教的具体概念，也很少揭示污名化名称与某些群体联系的交流过程。这项研究使用一种持续比较的方法来评估与在大众媒体上经常被标记为邪教的群体相关的品质。结果建立了与言论“邪教体裁”相关的品质类型学，并阐明了流行叙事在社会建构污名中的作用。