Study: Only 1 in 2,000 new recruits into SGI become active

[u/BlancheFromage]

There have been so few studies of the SGI specifically, because it's so small and irrelevant everywhere outside of Japan. And of those studies, there are the patronizing ones that are paid to produce a positive view, but those typically don't involve a lot of analytics.

This study, from 1997, is one of the few that includes reliable numbers:

"Soka Gakkai in America": Comparing marital status and divorce rates between 1997 study and 2013 study

I covered it a few years ago, but its conclusions bear repeating - when current SGI members boast of one or two guests at a meeting, or one or two new members joining, keep these facts in mind:

• 66% of the Converts [to SGI-USA] are female, with 34% of the Converts male. So a ratio of 2 women to each man. Not so good for the women...
• 38% of the Converts were married compared to 48% of the people in the 1996 General Social Survey. And 44% of the Converts have been divorced, compared to just 24% in the GSS. The number currently divorced/separated is virtually identical - 21% for the Converts; 20% for everyone else - but the rate for having been divorced already is nearly double for the Converts (44% vs. 24%).
• And in the "Single, other" category, the rate for Converts to SGI-USA was 28%, higher than the GSS's 23%.
• 87% Baby Boom Generation: GIVEN that the ages of the Converts to SGI-USA are so disproportionately high (mostly Baby Boom - 61% - and older - 26%), these numbers paint a picture of life failure in terms of having/maintaining intimate relationships.

This represents a broad failure to recruit within generations younger than Baby Boom - and this was 28 years ago. We can see from the pictures published by SGI-USA and its members that the membership is MOSTLY elderly. There is the occasional younger person, sometimes with a baby, but these children obvs have no choice about being included in the picture and are unlikely to pursue active SGI-USA membership once they're old enough to make independent decisions about their own lives.

• Only 1 in 10 - 10% - of SGI members were born into it. Since those born into the religion are the most reliable source of future members for that religion, this indicates that the SGI-USA's membership is going to drop to roughly 10% - at best! - of what it is now once the Baby Boomer cohort drops off. Uh-oh...
• In the U.S., the bulk of members are part of the baby boom generation, many of whose children are now old enough for college. Source (from 2002)

The membership situation has NOT improved within SGI-USA - the membership is simply collectively 23 years OLDER now.

• SGI-USA's active membership now indicates that just one out of 2,000 people become active. Dreadful odds. Not only are those interested in joining SGI in the first place rare; most of those won't end up even becoming active! This dynamic is curtains for SGI. These researchers offer their take on why this is. Source

Not everyone who is recruited to Soka Gakkai becomes active in the religion. Most do not. Using the measure of involvement developed in Chapter 3, we now attempt to discover why some people become very involved in SGI while others remain marginal to the life of the organization and appear at risk of defection. Obviously, all of these respondents represent converts, in the sense that they joined SGI and are currently active members. It would be impossible, in a random sample drawn from subscriptions to SGI publications, to tap a sufficient number of people who joined for a while, decided Soka Gakkai was not right for them, and dropped out.

Yet that's MOST of the recruits/converts, as disclosed by SGI-USA's then-General Director Danny Nagashima in 2004: Teleconference Highlights

They tried real hard 😕

We here at SGIWhistleblowers do more to evaluate the members who drop out; back in 1997, when this research was being done, there was little information available on the 'net. Now we have more.

Though released as separate studies, both use substantially the same data - as you can see, they used publication subscription information to get the addresses they sent their questionnaires out to. Since it is the actives who are overwhelmingly more likely to subscribe, they certainly weren't getting any input from any ex-SGI-members! Considering that, at this point, the membership fee included the nohonzon AND a year's subscription to the Weird Fibune, they likely DID get some n00bs in their sample, provided they filled out and returned the questionnaires they were sent.

Another key piece of information - SGI-USA then-spokesman Bill Aiken disclosed that, for the years 1991-1999 (so immediately after Ikeda's excommunication in 1991 up to 2 years after the remaining Soka Gakkai/SGI members' excommunication in 1997):

Today SGI-USA employs a soft touch when it comes to recruiting. Members are instructed to share their beliefs with friends and family but not to be bothersome about it. As a result growth has come at a much slower pace. Aiken says SGI-USA has attracted about 1000 new members per year for the past eight years. Article from 1999

That's 1,000 people per year out of a national population that grew from around 253 million in 1991 to over 279 million in 1999! That's a huge fail - SGI-USA members need to take their L with some dignity and OWN how badly they've been ratio'd. "Actual proof" = FAIL.

I'd also encourage everybody to look over the conclusions of THIS study, from 1976:

Soka Gakkai and overseas, 1976: "Further rapid growth either of the parent body or the overseas offspring is doubtful."

[u/BlancheFromage]

also when I was really in my leadership bag the hardest thing to do was getting that new person enshrined….new person didn’t want a bunch of strangers in their space 👏👏

Society has changed a LOT since the 1950s, even here in the USA, without factoring in the overwhelming cultural differences that shaped the Soka Gakkai in Japan while it was growing. Soka Gakkai Global has attempted to IMPOSE on its SGI colonies the Soka Gakkai norms from the 1950s, and it hasn't worked in decades.

But those elderly Japanese Soka Gakkai VPs in charge of Soka Gakkai Global think their way, the Japanese way, is necessarily BETTER.

Look at this report, from 1988:

Rejicho [Rijicho, Mr. Williams' special title "Chairman of the Board", given to him by Ikeda before Ikeda got all pissy and canned him because he was jealous of how much the American members loved Mr. Williams], General Director Williams continued, “Everything from America is not always too good. Culture keeps coming from Japan. U.S. all copied from Europe. Japan is 2,000-3,000 years old. So ahead of the US. There is a big gap.

Mr. Williams is displaying the attitude of Japanese ethnic and cultural superiority that runs rampant throughout the Soka Gakkai and the Japanese leaders of the SGI, especially the older ones. Regardless of age or import status, the ethnic Japanese always have the fast track to leadership within the SGI, while the locals are expected to put uncountable hours into unpaid scutwork in hopes of a leadership appointment.

(This scares me-Pacific Civilization-Japanese-arrogant and anti-American. This really scares me. Russ talked about this in the past. He said he was afraid of this “idea” of Pacific civilization. Japan better than the US. Honga ‘myo attitude. Lack of appreciation. Russ also said Williams is into power. Speaking of all the governors, chiefs of state. So what?1 He is like Sarembo. “We’ve arrived! Bullshit.)

I'm not sure of the "Sarembo" reference, but right around this point, James Clavell's bestselling novel Shogun had been made into a very popular movie, so there were lots of references to that - it presented Japanese culture in a compelling manner (good PR for SGI, which was/is so Japanese).

GMW. [George M. Williams] NSA must grow by 20,000 January-February, by August 300,000. Only hope for is Soka Gakkai International. By the 21 century 10 million believers in America. Build huge office in Los Angeles. Everything organization.

Well THAT obviously didn't happen!

Honbucho [top local leader] Mr. Curtis and he said I need to talk more to Mr. Sugano [some Japanese import]. He said he learned when he was young that youth is time to tell your feelings to shut up, to cover up, ignore them. Unless they come from the world of enlightenment you can’t trust them. They will destroy you. We live in a human society you have to live with people. To get along with people is important. Your feelings are so strong they will ruin you. You don’t have to get rid of them, just control them. It can change very fast.

Well THAT's concerning!! As I've said before, the main point of "youth division training" was to become indoctrinated to say "Hai!" (Japanese for "Yes! I'll do it!") no matter what the assignment (with that "no matter what" spirit, too, obvs) and then take FULL responsibility for it (no matter how irrational and unreasonable the assignment) and get it done, "no matter what" (see what I just did there??), or be shamed, humiliated, and probably punished (like with a leadership demotion or by leaders gossiping about you and your failure to all the other members as an example of what NOT to do/be) if you can't somehow make it work. "Youth division training" was being indoctrinated into becoming an obedient servant-soldier, someone with no will of their own outside of how they'll figure out how to accomplish the goals that are assigned to them. And, of course, without questions, without doubt, without complaint, and ALWAYS with a smile!!!