Examines the history of comparative religions from colonial Puritans to twentieth century sects and cults.

Dissenters are often portrayed as selfish and disloyal, but Sunstein shows that those who reject pressures imposed by others perform valuable social functions, often at their own expense.

Examines the history of comparative religions from colonial Puritans to twentieth century sects and cults.

Alternative religious groups have had a profound influence on American history-they have challenged the old and opened up new ways of thinking about healing, modes of meaning, religious texts and liturgies, the social and political order, and the relationships between religion and race, class, gender, and region. Virtually always, the dramatic, dynamic history of alternative religions runs parallel to that of dissent in America. Communities of Dissent is an evenhanded and marvelously lively history of New Religious Movements in America. Stephen J. Stein describes the evolution and structure of alternative religious movements from both sides: the critics and the religious dissenters themselves. Providing a fascinating look at a wide range of New Religious Movements, he investigates obscure groups such as the 19th-century Vermont Pilgrims, who wore bearskins and refused to bathe or cut their hair, alongside better-known alternative believers, including colonial America's largest outsider faith, the Quakers; 17th- and 18th-century Mennonites, Amish, and Shakers; and the Christian Scientists, Jehovah's Witnesses, Black Muslims, and Scientologists of today. Accessible and comprehensive, Communities of Dissent also covers the milestones in the history of alternative American religions, from the infamous Salem witch trials and mass suicide/murder at Jonestown to the positive ways in which alternative religions have affected racial relations, the empowerment of women, and American culture in general.

Since the 2008 financial crisis, complex capital flows have ravaged everyday communities across the globe. Housing in particular has become increasingly precarious. In response, many movements now contest the long-held promises and established terms of the private ownership of housing. Immigrant activism has played an important, if understudied, role in such struggles over collective consumption. In Dispossession and Dissent, Sophie Gonick examines the intersection of homeownership and immigrant activism through an analysis of Spain's anti-evictions movement, now a hallmark for housing struggles across the globe. Madrid was the crucible for Spain's urban planning and policy, its millennial economic boom (1998–2008), and its more recent mobilizations in response to crisis. During the boom, the city also experienced rapid, unprecedented immigration. Through extensive archival and ethnographic research, Gonick uncovers the city's histories of homeownership and immigration to demonstrate the pivotal role of Andean immigrants within this movement, as the first to contest dispossession from mortgage-related foreclosures and evictions. Consequently, they forged a potent politics of dissent, which drew upon migratory experiences and indigenous traditions of activism to contest foreclosures and evictions.

Employees often disagree with workplace policies and practices, leaving few workplaces unaffected by organizational dissent. While disagreement persists in most contemporary organizations, how employees express dissent at work and how their respective organizations respond to it vary widely. Through the use of case studies, first-person accounts, current examples, conceptual models, and scholarly findings this work offers a comprehensive treatment of organizational dissent. Readers will find a sensible balance between theoretical considerations and practical applications. Theoretical considerations include: how dissent fits within classical and contemporary organizational communication approaches dissent's relationship to, yet distinctiveness from, related organizational concepts like conflict, resistance, and voice explanations for why employees express dissent and how they make sense of it the relationship between organizational dissent and ethics Practical applications encompass: recommendations for employees expressing dissent and managers responding to it consideration of the range of events that trigger dissent strategies employees use to express dissent and tools organizations can apply to solicit it effectively the unique challenges and benefits associated with expressing dissent to management The book's specific focus and engaged voice provide students, scholars, and practitioners with a deeper understanding of dissent as an important aspect of workplace communication.