What is a Cult? (Part 1)
What? I was never in a cult. I make choices about my life all the time. I can go to meetings or not go to meetings, I can go in service or not go in service. These were thoughts of mine when someone suggested to me that being a JW I was in a cult.
The first groups that come to mind when I thought of cults were the Moonies, followers of Jim Jones, Heavens Gate, and Charles Manson. My goodness, those people who follow such groups were, in my opinion, really twisted with their thoughts, their daily lifestyle and loyalty until death.
The word cult has such a harsh sound to it. No one would certainly join a cult and do loony things. So I was wondering what were people thinking when they thought that JWs were a cult?
Upon doing some reading about cults, especially in Steve Hassans works, an ex-Moonie cult counselor, I found that instead of using the word cult the words high control group was more understandable for me. But what I found in his works got me to thinking. Let me share a brief outline of what high control groups do and see if you can see the similarity.
Hassan gleamed from many social psychologist and researchers to put together the four components of understanding high control groups. My personal thoughts will be in blue.
Behavior Control
1. Regulation of individuals physical reality
a. Where, how, and with whom the member lives and associates with.
Disfellowshiped, marked one are people jws cannot associate with even if they are family members
b. What clothes, colors, and hairstyles the person wears
I always would think of stricter Pentecostals but think of how you can spot jws with their conservative style.
c. What food the person eats, drinks, adopts and rejects
d. How much sleep the person is able to have
e. Financial dependence
f. Little or no time spent on leisure, entertainment, vacations
If you figure up all the time we are suppose to be studying for the meetings, at the meetings, going in field service and the rest of a working life, there is very little time left in the jw schedule for leisure without the feeling of not doing what you are suppose to be doing.
2. Major time commitment required for indoctrination sessions and group rituals
Those seem like harsh words, but think about it. 5 meetings a week, with preparation and going back and forth to the meetings. Field service at least once or twice a week of several hours.
3. Need to ask permission for major decisions
We didnt as jws need permission but how many times did we go to the elders or look up the instructions or guidelines in the WT literature to help us base our decisions?
4. Need to report thoughts, feelings, and activities to superiors
Elders heard plenty when guilty consciences prompted jws to go to them with their sinning and wanting to discuss it with them.
5. Rewards and punishments (behavior modification techniques-positive and negative)
Besides the big dfing, how about the privileges i.e. microphone handling, conducting the meeting for field service, able to check out territory, prayer privilege, etc, etc.
6. Individualism discouraged: group think prevails
Those participation meetings, WT and book study were not open to individual thought but to parrot what was written in the WT literature in your own words!
7. Rigid rules and regulations
(No explanation needed here! J )
(Cont. Part 2 Information Control)
arggg, the formatting is messing up, sorry.
Edited by - joy2bfree on 15 December 2002 12:56:34
Edited by - joy2bfree on 15 December 2002 12:58:23
Edited by - joy2bfree on 15 December 2002 12:59:18
Edited by - joy2bfree on 15 December 2002 14:8:16