Editing Eileen Barker (section)

==Academic career==
Barker has been involved with the LSE's sociology department, where she received her PhD, since 1970.<ref name="Bromley, David G. 1988 page 263">{{Cite book |last= Bromley |first= David G |title= Falling from the Faith: The Causes and Consequences of Religious Apostasy |location= Newbury Park |publisher= SAGE Publications |year= 1988 |isbn= 0-8039-3188-3 |page= 263}}</ref>

In 1988, she engaged in research on the preservation of cultural identity in the [[Armenian diaspora]].<ref name="Bromley, David G. 1988 page 263"/> In the same year, she founded the Information Network Focus on Religious Movements (INFORM) with the support of the [[Archbishop of Canterbury]] and financial help from the British [[Home Office]].<ref>{{citation|last= Chryssides|first= George D.|title= Exploring New Religions |publisher= Continuum International Publishing Group|year= 1999|page= 351|isbn =978-0-8264-5959-6}}</ref>

Barker has held numerous positions of leadership in the academic study of religion. She served as the chairperson of the [[British Sociological Association]]'s Study Group for the Sociology of Religion from 1985 to 1990, as president of the [[Society for the Scientific Study of Religion]] from 1991 to 1993 (the first non-American to hold that office), and as president of the [[Association for the Sociology of Religion]] from 2001 to 2002.<ref>[[James A. Beckford]] and [[James Richardson (sociologist)|James T. (Jim) Richardson]], eds., ''Challenging Religion: Essays in Honour of Eileen Barker'' (London: Routledge, 2003), p. 5</ref><ref>{{cite book|last= Heath|first= Anthony Francis|title= Understanding social change|publisher= Oxford University Press|year= 2005|pages= vii|isbn= 978-0-19-726314-3|display-authors= etal}}</ref>

In 2000, Barker became an Officer of the [[Order of the British Empire]] (OBE)<ref>{{cite news | url = http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/special_report/1999/12/99/new_years_honours/584141.stm | title = New Years Honours, Order of the British Empire | date = 31 December 1999 | work = [[BBC News]]}}</ref> and the [[American Academy of Religion]] awarded her its Martin E. Marty Award for Contributions to the Public Understanding of Religion.<ref>
http://www.aarweb.org/news/pressrelease/2000----marty.asp{{dead link|date=December 2017 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }} Scholar Honored for Contributions to the Public Understanding of Religion
</ref>

Barker was a member of the editorial review board of ''[[Cultic Studies Review]]'', an academic journal that offered peer-reviewed scholarship alongside news concerning cults and new religious movements.<ref>[http://www.icsahome.com/infoserv_icsa/icsa_brd_csr.htm Cultic Studies Review Editorial Board] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080424153547/http://icsahome.com/infoserv_icsa/icsa_brd_csr.htm |date=24 April 2008 }}, Eileen Barker, PhD, [[International Cultic Studies Association]], Web site., 2006.</ref><ref name="LanCSR02">{{cite journal |last1=Langone |first1=Michael |author-link=Michael Langone|title=Announcing Cultic Studies Review |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080512152443/http://culticstudiesreview.org/csr_issues/csr_intro.htm|archive-date=12 May 2008|url-status=dead|journal=Cultic Studies Review|location=Bonita Springs|publisher=[[International Cultic Studies Association]]|date=2002 |volume=1 |issue=1 |url=http://culticstudiesreview.org/csr_issues/csr_intro.htm|quote=By taking over the functions of these three periodicals, CSR is able to offer peer-reviewed, scholarly articles, news on groups and topics (e.g., children and cultic groups), opinion columns, personal accounts of ex-members, and high quality articles for laypersons}}</ref> Barker subsequently joined the editorial board of the ''International Journal of Cultic Studies'', which superseded ''Cultic Studies Review'' in 2010.<ref>{{cite journal |title=Editorial Board |journal=International Journal of Cultic Studies |date=2010 |volume=1 |issue=1|location=Bonita Springs|publisher=[[International Cultic Studies Association]]|page=ii}}</ref>