Marion Sherman "Mimi" Goldman (born July 31, 1945) is an American sociologist who is professor emeritus of sociology and religious studies at the University of Oregon.
[5] Her book, Passionate Journeys: Why Successful Women Joined a Cult, describes Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh’s communal city in central Oregon and the high-achieving women and men who followed him there.
The book revolves around composite lives of four women—a rich housewife, a feminist community social worker, and a high fashion model—who gave up their high powered careers to follow Rajneesh.
Goldman has been featured on a number of television programs, notably the History Channel’s Wild West Tech series with Keith Carradine, where she talked about prostitution on the mining frontier and its parallels in contemporary life.
[9] She has observed small cultures ranging from religious communes to brothels and looked at how they affect and often change their host societies.