Battlefield Earth and Scientology : a cultural/religious industry a la Frankfurt School?

The article briefly highlights the development of the Church of Scientology by Ron L. Hubbard as a religion. Research into the group has thus been dominated by veracity claims, which stem from one of the central concerns of sociology of religion for many decades, the secularisation thesis. The depiction of the Church as a business rather than a religion can certainly be associated with this debate. This in combination with the decades of research that have provided a critical understanding on the techniques used by the group have not specifically shed light on the relationship between the cultural productions of the founder, in the form of his science fiction writing, and the belief and practices of the group. The following will examine the intimate connections between these cultural products and propose that Hubbard's works should be viewed as belonging to a new type of industry; that of religious industry (à la Frankfurt School).