The “Born-Into Effect”: Investigating Identity among Hungarian Second-Generation Scientologists

ABSTRACT: In this field notes essay, the authors report on findings from their interviews with second-generation members of the Church of Scientology in Hungary. Despite increased academic attention to Scientology in recent years, there has been relatively little qualitative attention on the attitudes of second-generation adult Scientologists. Eight interviews were conducted in Hungary to help fill this lacuna. Four subcategories of interviewees emerged: the “ones who were left behind,” the “technicians,” the “inspired,” and the “religious ones.” Among other information, the interviews reveal a “born-into effect,” in which interviewees sometimes had difficulty responding to questions because of the ways in which the Scientology worldview had become ingrained due to their upbringing. This observation ought to factor into how researchers of Scientology, and other new religious movements, design and conduct interviews and surveys among second-generation adults.