Editing Landmark Worldwide (section)

== Reception ==

=== Scholars ===

Sociologist [[Eileen Barker]] and sociologist of religion [[James A. Beckford]] both classified Landmark and its predecessor organization ''est'' as a "[[new religious movement]]" (NRM).<ref name="Barker_2004" /><ref>{{harvnb|Barker|1996|p=126}}: "To illustrate rather than to define: among the better-known NRMs are the Brahma Kumaris, the Church of Scientology, the Divine Light Mission (now known as Elan Vital), est (Erhard Seminar Training, now known as the Landmark Forum), the Family (originally known as the Children of God), ISKCON (the Hare Krishna), Rajneeshism (now known as Oslo International), Sahaja Yoga, the Soka Gakkai, Transcendental Meditation, the Unification Church (known as the Moonies) and the Way International."</ref><ref name=Barker_2005 /><ref>{{cite book |last=Beckford |first=James A. |author-link=James A. Beckford |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=WW-XcDe-IMEC |title=New Religious Movements in the Twenty-first Century: Legal, Political, and Social Challenges in Global Perspective |publisher=Routledge |year=2004 |isbn=0-415-96576-4 |editor1-last=Lucas |editor1-first=Phillip Charles |location=Abingdon and New York |page=256 |language=en |chapter=New Religious Movements and Globalization |quote=The prospect of a new global order is also central to many variants of the Human Potential and New Age movements and Scientology. All these very different kinds of NRM nevertheless share a conviction that human beings have, perhaps for the first time, come into possession of the knowledge required to free them from traditional structures of thought and action. Hence, the confidence of the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, founder of Transcendental Meditation, and of Werner Erhard, the founder of est (now largely re-configured as the Landmark Trust) |editor2-last=Robbins |editor2-first=Thomas |editor2-link=Thomas Robbins (sociologist)}}</ref><ref>{{harvnb|Beckford|2003|p=156}}:"[...] post-countercultural religious movements such as Erhard Seminars Training (now the Landmark Forum) [...]."</ref>  Some scholars have categorized Landmark or its predecessor organizations as a "[[self religion]]" or a (broadly defined) new religious movement (NRM).<ref name="Lockwood_2011" /><ref name="Heelas_1991" /><ref>See:
<!--progress tag (Avatar317)-->
*{{harv|Ramstedt|2007|pp=196–197}}.</ref><ref>See:
*{{harv|Bhugra|1997|p=126}};
*{{harv|Chryssides|2006|pp=197–198}};
*{{harv|Lazarus|2008}};
*{{harv|Partridge|2004|p=406}}.</ref><ref>
{{cite book
 | last1 = Clarke
 | first1 = Peter B.
 | author-link1 = Peter B. Clarke
 | chapter = New Religious Movements
 | editor1-last = Taliaferro
 | editor1-first = Charles
 | editor1-link = Charles Taliaferro
 | editor2-last = Harrison
 | editor2-first = Victoria S.
 | editor3-last = Goetz
 | editor3-first = Stewart
 | title = The Routledge Companion to Theism
 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=CNATXtGJIvUC
 | series = Routledge Religion Companions Series
 | year = 2013
 | location = New York
 | publisher = Routledge
 | publication-date = 2013
 | page = 123
 | isbn = 978-0-415-88164-7
 | access-date = 23 June 2021
 | quote = Like the [New Age Movement], many of the Self-religions (Heelas 1991) have been heavily influenced by Asian, and more generally Eastern, ideas of spirituality and divinity and do not acknowledge an external theistic being but rather, use spiritual and psychological techniques to reveal the god within and/or the divine self. The Forum and/or ''est'', whose origins are in the United States (Tipton 1982) holds to the belief that the self itself is god.
}}
</ref><ref>
{{cite book
 | year = 1988
 | editor1-last = Clarke
 | editor1-first = Peter
 | editor1-link = Peter B. Clarke
 | editor2-last = Sutherland
 | editor2-first = Stewart
 | editor2-link = Stewart Sutherland, Baron Sutherland of Houndwood
 | title = The World's Religions: The Study of Religion, Traditional and New Religion
 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=eWeKAgAAQBAJ
 | publisher = Routledge
 | publication-date = 2002
 | page = 
 | isbn = 978-1-134-92221-5
 | access-date = 23 June 2021
 | quote = [...] the founder of est (the highly influential seminar training established by Erhard in 1971) observes that, 'Of all the disciplines that I studied and learned, Zen was the essential one.
}}
</ref> Others question some aspects of these characterizations.<ref name="ReferenceB">Communication for planetary transformation and the drag of public conversations: The case of Landmark Education Corporation. Patrick Owen Cannon, University of South Florida</ref><ref>See:
*{{harv|Beckford et al., eds.|2007|pp=229, 687}}{{request quotation|date=December 2020}};
*{{harv|Bromley|2007|p=48}}.
</ref><ref>Education Embraced: Substantiating the Educational Foundations of Landmark Education's Transformative Learning Model Marsha L. Heck International Multilingual Journal of Contemporary Research, 3(2), pp. 149–162  DOI: 10.15640/imjcr.v3n2a14</ref>

Renee Lockwood, a sociology of religion researcher at [[The University of Sydney]] described Landmark as a "corporate religion" and a "religio-spiritual corporation" because of its emphasis on teaching techniques for improvement in personal and employee productivity, which is marketed to businesses as well as government agencies.{{r|Lockwood_2012}} Sociologist of religion [[Thomas Robbins (sociologist)|Thomas Robbins]] says that Landmark could be considered an NRM.<ref name=":0">{{cite book |last1=Robbins |first1=Thomas |author-link1=Thomas Robbins (sociologist) |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vA8edg7bv0kC |title=The SAGE Handbook of the Sociology of Religion |last2=Lucas |first2=Philip Charles |year=2007 |isbn=978-1-4462-0652-2 |editor1-last=Beckford |editor1-first=James A. |editor1-link=James A. Beckford |page=229 |chapter=From 'Cults' to New Religious Movements: Coherence, Definition, and Conceptual Framing in the Study of New Religious Movements |quote=[...] many other types of groups have emerged that could fall under the purview of NRM study. We have suggested some of these in the above paragraph. Others might include [...] religio-therapy groups such as Avatar, Mindspring, and Landmark Forum [...]. |access-date=December 19, 2020 |editor2-last=Demerath |editor2-first=N. Jay}}
</ref> [[George Chryssides]], a researcher on NRMs and cults said: "''est'' and Landmark may have some of the attributes typically associated with religion, but it is doubtful whether they should be accorded full status as religious organizations."<ref name="Chryssides_1999" /> 

[[Stephen A. Kent]], professor of [[sociology]] and an expert in [[new religious movements]], stated in 2014 that Landmark's business is "to teach people that the values they have held up until now have held them back; that indeed they need a new set of values and this group [Landmark] can provide those new sets of values ... I don't know of any academic research that verifies that kind of perspective" and while some individuals feel "cleansed" or "invigorated" by Landmark's training, others may feel violated by the pressure put on them to reveal their innermost secrets to strangers during Landmark's training sessions.{{ r | CBC_2014-10-15 }}

Landmark maintains that it is an educational foundation and denies being a religious movement.<ref name=Lockwood_2011 /><ref name=Puttick_2004/>

====Large Group Awareness Training study====
{{main|Evaluating a Large Group Awareness Training}}

In 1985, a group of psychology researchers studied participants of the Forum, (a [[Large Group Awareness Training]] course) and compared their outcomes to a [[control group]] of non attendees.  They published their results in the book ''[[Evaluating a Large Group Awareness Training]]''.  They found that participants had a short-term increase in [[internal locus of control]] (the belief that one can control their life), but found no long-term positive or negative effects on individuals' [[self-perception]].

=== Media ===
[[Time (magazine)|''Time'']] reporter Nathan Thornburgh, in his review of The Landmark Forum, said, "At its heart, the course was a withering series of scripted reality checks meant to show us how we have created nearly everything we see as a problem", and, "I benefited tremendously from the uncomfortable mirror the course had put in front of me."{{ r | TIME_2011-04-10}}

Reporter Laura McClure with ''[[Mother Jones (magazine)|Mother Jones]]'' attended a three-and-a-half day forum, which she described as "My lost weekend with the trademark happy, bathroom-break hating, slightly spooky inheritors of est."{{ r | MJ_2009 }} Heidi Beedle, writing for the ''[[Colorado Springs Independent]]'' in 2019, said that "The tangible benefits of Landmark's courses may seem hard to pin down" though [[community projects]] do seem to be one, and, "One thing is certain: Landmark is a program that is incredibly successful at making people feel good about Landmark."{{ r | CSIndy_2019-07-24 }}

{{Anchor|France 3 documentary}}<!-- Courtesy note: [[Voyage Au Pays des Nouveaux Gourous]] redirects here -->
In 2004, the French channel [[France 3]] aired a television documentary on Landmark in their investigative series ''[[Pièces à Conviction]]''.<ref name=VLNG_transcript >{{ cite web | url=http://88.80.16.63/leak/suppressed-french-documentary-on-landmark-forum-cult--24-may-2004.txt | title=French Documentary Transcript: "Voyage to the Land of the New Gurus" | last= | first= | date=2004-05-24 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090913100315/http://88.80.16.63/leak/suppressed-french-documentary-on-landmark-forum-cult--24-may-2004.txt | archive-date=2009-09-13 }}</ref> The episode, called "{{Lang|fr|Voyage Au Pays des Nouveaux Gourous|italic=no}}" ("Journey to the land of the new gurus"), was highly critical of its subject.<ref>See:
*{{harv|Roy|2004}};
*{{harv|TD|2004}};
*{{harv|Tessier|2004}}.</ref> Shot in large part with a hidden camera, it showed attendance at a Landmark course and a visit to Landmark offices.{{sfn|Roy|2004}} In addition, the program included interviews with former course participants, anti-cultists, and commentators. Landmark left France following the airing of the episode and a subsequent site visit by labor inspectors that noted the activities of volunteers,<ref>
See:
*{{harv|Lemonniera|2005}}, French text: "L'Inspection du Travail débarque dans les locaux de Landmark, constate l'exploitation des bénévoles et dresse des procès-verbaux pour travail non déclaré." English translation: "Labor inspectors turned up at the offices of Landmark, noted the exploitation of volunteers and drew up a report of undeclared employment."; 
*{{harv|Landmark staff|2004}}, Landmark's response;
</ref> 
and sued [[Jean-Pierre Brard]] in 2004 following his appearance in the documentary.{{sfn|Palmer|2011}}

The episode was uploaded to a variety of websites, and in October 2006 Landmark issued subpoenas pursuant to the [[Digital Millennium Copyright Act]] to [[Google Video]], YouTube, and the [[Internet Archive]] demanding details of the identity of the person(s) who had uploaded those copies. These organizations challenged the subpoenas and the [[Electronic Frontier Foundation]] (EFF) became involved, planning to file a motion to quash Landmark's DMCA subpoena to Google Video.<ref>See:
*{{harv|EFF staff|2011}};
*{{harv|Landmark (Art Schreiber)|2006a}};
*{{harv|Landmark (Art Schreiber)|2006b}};
*{{harv|EFF staff|2007}}.
</ref> Landmark eventually withdrew its subpoenas.<ref>
[https://www.eff.org/cases/landmark-and-internet-archive Landmark Education and the Internet Archive]. [[Electronic Frontier Foundation]]. Retrieved May 25, 2020 – "In a settlement reached November 29, 2006 Landmark agreed to withdraw the subpoena to Google and end its quest to pierce the anonymity of the video's poster. Landmark has also withdrawn its subpoena to the Internet Archive."
</ref><ref>[https://www.eff.org/press/archives/2006/11/30 Self-Help Group Backs Off Attack on Internet Critic]. [[Electronic Frontier Foundation]]. Retrieved May 25, 2020 – "A controversial self-help group has backed off its attack on an Internet critic after the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) intervened in the case."</ref>