John Lofland is an American sociologist

Sociology

Sociology is the study of society. It is a social science—a term with which it is sometimes synonymous—which uses various methods of empirical investigation and critical analysis to develop a body of knowledge about human social activity...

, professor, and author best known for his studies of the peace movement

Peace movement

A peace movement is a social movement that seeks to achieve ideals such as the ending of a particular war , minimize inter-human violence in a particular place or type of situation, often linked to the goal of achieving world peace...

 and for his first book, Doomsday Cult: A Study of Conversion, Proselytization, and Maintenance of Faith

Doomsday Cult: A Study of Conversion, Proselytization, and Maintenance of Faith

Doomsday Cult: A Study of Conversion, Proselytization, and Maintenance of Faith is a sociological book based on field study of a group of Unification Church members in California and Oregon. It was first published in 1966 and written by sociologist John Lofland...

which was based on field work among a group of Unification Church

Unification Church

The Unification Church is a new religious movement founded by Korean religious leader Sun Myung Moon. In 1954, the Unification Church was formally and legally established in Seoul, South Korea, as The Holy Spirit Association for the Unification of World Christianity . In 1994, Moon gave the church...

 members in California

California

California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...

 in the 1960s

1960s

The 1960s was the decade that started on January 1, 1960, and ended on December 31, 1969. It was the seventh decade of the 20th century.The 1960s term also refers to an era more often called The Sixties, denoting the complex of inter-related cultural and political trends across the globe...

. It is considered to be one of the most important and widely cited studies of the process of religious conversion

Religious conversion

Religious conversion is the adoption of a new religion that differs from the convert's previous religion. Changing from one denomination to another within the same religion is usually described as reaffiliation rather than conversion.People convert to a different religion for various reasons,...

, and one of the first modern sociological studies of a new religious movement

New religious movement

A new religious movement is a religious community or ethical, spiritual, or philosophical group of modern origin, which has a peripheral place within the dominant religious culture. NRMs may be novel in origin or they may be part of a wider religion, such as Christianity, Hinduism or Buddhism, in...

..

Lofland was born in Milford, Delaware

Milford, Delaware

Milford is a city in Kent and Sussex counties in the U.S. state of Delaware. According to the 2010 census, the population of the city is 9,559....

 and attended Swarthmore College

Swarthmore College

Swarthmore College is a private, independent, liberal arts college in the United States with an enrollment of about 1,500 students. The college is located in the borough of Swarthmore, Pennsylvania, 11 miles southwest of Philadelphia....

, Columbia University

Columbia University

Columbia University in the City of New York is a private, Ivy League university in Manhattan, New York City. Columbia is the oldest institution of higher learning in the state of New York, the fifth oldest in the United States, and one of the country's nine Colonial Colleges founded before the...

, and the University of California, Berkeley

University of California, Berkeley

The University of California, Berkeley , is a teaching and research university established in 1868 and located in Berkeley, California, USA...

 where he earned a PhD in sociology based on his Unification Church study. Since 1970 he has been a professor in the sociology department at the University of California, Davis

University of California, Davis

The University of California, Davis is a public teaching and research university established in 1905 and located in Davis, California, USA. Spanning over , the campus is the largest within the University of California system and third largest by enrollment...

, where he is now
Professor of Sociology Emeritus.

In the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s Lofland did field work among peace demonstators in the United States and in Europe. He has undertaken administrative roles in several social science associations and contributed as an editor or associate editor to sociological publications. He has also been active in community organizations in Davis, California

Davis, California

Davis is a city in Yolo County, California, United States. It is part of the Sacramento–Arden-Arcade–Roseville Metropolitan Statistical Area...

.

Books and monographs published

• 1966 Doomsday Cult: A Study of Conversion, Missionizing and Faith Maintenance, Prentice-Hall. 1977, Enlarged Edition, hardcover, Irvington; paperback edition,1981.
• 1969 Deviance and Identity, with the assistance of Lyn Lofland, Prentice-Hall.
• 1971 Analyzing Social Settings: A Guide to Qualitative Observation and Analysis, Wadsworth. 1984, Second Edition, with Lyn H. Lofland. 1995, Third Edition, with Lyn H. Lofland. Japanese translation, 1997. Fourth Edition, with D. Snow & L. Anderson, process for 2004 publication.
• 1976 Doing Social Life: The Qualitative Analysis of Human Interaction in Natural Settings, Wiley.
• 1977 State Executions Viewed Historically and Sociologically, with H. Bleackley, Patterson Smith.
• 1978 Interaction in Everyday Life: Social Strategies, editor, Sage.
• 1982 Crowd Lobbying: An Emerging Tactic of Interest Group Influence in California, Univ. of California, Davis, Institute on Governmental Affairs. Symbolic Sit-ins: Protest Occupations at the California Capitol, with M. Fink, University Press of America.
• 1985 Protest: Studies of Collective Behavior and Social Movements, Transaction. 1991, paperback edition.
• 1990 Peace Action in the Eighties: Social Science Perspectives, co-editor with Sam Marullo, Rutgers.
• 1991 Peace Movement Organizations and Activists: An Analytic Bibliography, co-edited with V.Johnson and P. Kato, Haworth.
• 1993 Polite Protesters: The American Peace Movement of the 1980s, Syracuse.
• 1996 Social Movement Organizations: Guide to Research on Insurgent Realities, Aldine de Gruyter.
• 1999 Old North Davis: Guide to Walking a Traditional Neighborhood. Yolo County Historical Society.
• 2000 Davis, California, 1910s-1940s, (with Phyllis Haig), Arcadia.J. Lofland, C. V. Winter, 2001 — 4
• 2001 Handbook of Ethnography, co-editor with P. Atkinsion, M. Couch, L. Lofland, Sage.
• in process, Demolishing A Historic Hotel: A Documentary Socioiology of Preservation Failures.