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The glass ceiling effect has been defined in a recent US Federal Commission report as "the unseen, yet unbreakable barrier that keeps minorities and women from rising to the upper rungs of the corporate ladder, regardless of their qualifications or achievements". It is well documented that many societies and organizations exhibit a glass ceiling. In this paper we formally define and study the glass ceiling effect in social networks and propose a natural mathematical model, called the biased preferential attachment model, that partially explains the causes of the glass ceiling effect. This model consists of a network composed of two types of vertices, representing two sub-populations, and accommodates three well known social phenomena: (i) the "rich get richer" mechanism, (ii) a minority-majority partition, and (iii) homophily. We prove that our model exhibits a strong moment glass ceiling effect and that all three conditions are necessary, i.e., removing any one of them will prevent the appearance of a glass ceiling effect. Additionally, we present empirical evidence taken from a mentor-student network of researchers (derived from the DBLP database) that exhibits both a glass ceiling effect and the above three phenomena.

This article presents an outline of historical and situational arguments which suggest a focus on deconversion, an outline of conversion research and its consequences for deconversion, and a discussion of extant empirical research on deconversion. The discussion then focuses on the conceptualization of deconversion and compiles the features from which a comprehensive concept of deconversion may emerge. The core features of the deconversion concept which is suggested in this article are complemented by dimensions of diversity which also include a developmental perspective (from the religious styles perspective). This has implications for future research. Developments in Research on Conversion and DeconversionConversion has been a prominent focus of theorizing and research in the psychology of religion from its early days on. Deconversion has not. Searching for 'deconversion' in electronic data bases results in a relatively small number of books, articles or dissertations. Various names which may be regarded as referring to the same core phenomenon, may also point to its complexity: apostasy, defection, disaffiliation, falling from the faith; exit etc. The name 'deconversion' is rather new, and, because of its potential to structure the discussion in an evolving research field, we work towards a clarification.We will outline in this text perspectives for a conceptualization of deconversion-in its common features and in its diversity. Conceptual clarification structures empirical research and has to stand the test of empirical research; therefore we strive to show the merit of the

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