Comprehending Cults Lorne L. Dawson. The Sociology of New Religious Movements. Oxford University Press.
Chapter one gives a definition of 'new religious movements' which is intended to include 'cults'.
It also sets the stage for a contrast between sociological and journalistic approaches to this topic. To do this he draws primarily from the work of both Berger and Stark and Bainbridge as representative of the two main analytic options. He frames much of the remainder of the book in terms of these two approaches as he deals with matters of secularisation and the genesis and transformation of NRMs. Readers looking for extensive treatments of classical writers must go elsewhere. Weber, for example, is largely discussed indirectly and Durkheim is not mentioned at all.