I once heard a story about an elephant that spent its life tethered to a stake that was driven deeply into the ground. He spent his whole life living only within the radius allowed by the tether. One
day, the tether breaks, but the elephant never ventures out beyond
that which he has always known, even though he is no longer physically
restricted. He stays within the familiar and
never ventures out beyond the well-worn path, the radius of that which
the elephant has always known. It’s really quite a sad story.
The concept of bounded choice parallels that of the story of the elephant. Though
no physical restraints exist, people who believe that they have no
choice find that forces more powerful than physical ones keep them bound
to a predictable number of options. In “Take Back Your Life,” what
I consider the definitive guide to personal recovery from group
manipulation, Janja Lalich describes what bounded choice looks like for
those within a group.
From page 50:
In
other words, neither the charismatic leader nor others in the group
need to be present to tell a follower what to do; rather, having
internalized the lessons and adapted her outlook, the loyal and true
believer knows precisely what she needs to do to stay in the good graces
of the all-knowing and all powerful leader. The true believer need
only ‘imagine’ what actions to take, knowing full well that she will
act within the bounds of the cult reality, for in a sense her self has
merged with the leader and the group.
What
other reality is there? The one thing the devoted adherents cannot
imagine is life outside the group. In other words, the cult member is
constrained by both external (real or imagined) and internal sanctions.
At this point, whatever choices remain are “bounded” ones. They are
choices, yes, but not free ones. They are choices of life or death —
figuratively, and, in some cases, literally.
Once
an individual becomes a part of a closed, totalistic system, several
factors work to keep them entrenched in that system, powerfully tethered
to the predictable radius that is acceptable to the group. Members
appear to have a wealth of options, but often, the group dynamics and
the withholding of information and knowledge drastically limit rational
choice. Because of distorted and absent
boundaries, personal choice actually become organizational choice which
constrains the member to a predetermined set of “givens.” Though
it is true that all people do not possess an unlimited number of
possibilities, the structure of totalistic groups confines them even
further.
Janja
Lalich expands upon this concept to describe the comprehensive factors
that bind an individual within a totalistic group, identifying four “interlocking and interactional dimensions of the social structure” that creates a “bounded reality and contribute to a state of personal closure for the individual participant” (pg 261).
These factors serve to create a closed reality for the individual. Lifton described this “personal closure” of options (not closure of "completion" but a sense of personal restraint)
wherein the group deprives the individual of inner reflection apart
from the group ideology and milieu, inhibiting their ability to test the
reality of the environment. The group ideal
becomes the only real perspective for the closed individual (an ideal
maintained by milieu control, manipulation, social systems of control,
impossible personal demands for perfection), and the individual can only
perceive that everything else outside of the group’s reality as unreal
and unthinkable. The individual becomes
alienated from both the outside world and even their own inner life
because of the profound lack of appropriate personal boundaries
required by the group.
Lalich
explains that the group manipulation of the true believer in an
idealistic group far surpasses the extent of the power and influence
governing conformity in normal settings because the depth and extent of
group manipulation and control is so much greater by comparison. The
system of ideological totalism poses an all-encompassing system and
phenomenon that absorbs every aspect of a persons’ life, far exceeding
the pressures of cognitive dissonance alone.
But what does this look like specifically?
Lalich tells us that all idealistic, manipulative and cultic groups center around a Charismatic Leader (Charismatic Authority) who develops a group of elite individuals that surround them, an upper echelon or inner circle of leadership. When
a member receives acknowledgement from that “inner circle” or from the
charismatic group leader personally, this greatly reinforces their own
sense of pride, personal power and sense of personal elitism as well. They
experience love and admiration for the leadership as positive
reinforcement, but there are negative deterrents associated with the
charismatic leadership as well. But accompanying
this love comes specific fear of leadership, fear of loss of status,
fear of failure to meet the impossible group standard, fear of the power
that the group holds over others in the group, etc. For
those who depend upon the group for their basic human needs and lack
the ability to provide for themselves, rejection results in fear for
their very survival.
The Idealistic (Transcendent) Belief System acts as a tether to the group in positive ways by providing members lives with greater purpose and meaning. They take pleasure in the connection with the strength of the virtuous group which also helps to solidify their experience. In
contrast, negative reinforcement also binds them to the group ideology
because they soon realize that the rigid dogma that demonizes those
outside of the group deprives them of any identity should they leave the
group.
Duty and guilt bind the member to the Systems of Control within the group. Social pressures and obligation to the group bind members to the ideology, serving as a most powerful motivation technique. The
“leader becomes the moral arbiter” for the group, and members learn to
displace their own better judgment in favor of the group norm,
revising their own personal code of ethics. Repetition,
ritual and required behavior compliance desensitizes members, and they
behave in ways that they would reject under other circumstances. The individual develops deep bonds of personal investment with the group, what Johnson and VanVonderan term “sweat equity.” Leaving
the social network requires abandonment of all situational supports,
making life outside the group an increasingly unthinkable option over
time, if at all for those who were raised within the system.
Systems of Manipulation
within the group require unity and merging with the group persona,
separating the individual from their previous or “pre-cult” identity. Information
from outside of the group becomes inaccessible in addition to the
systematic removal of appropriate personal boundaries cause the member
to internalize the group perception of reality. Though
the individual occasionally experiences some cognitive dissonance over
inevitable inconsistencies, the group monopolizes most outlets
available, so the dissonance is largely limited and controlled. Life
outside of the group becomes increasable inconceivable to members, and
it is beyond all comprehension for those raised within the system. Leaving
the group results in the loss of all personhood because the person’s
sense of self and perhaps their sustenance depends entirely upon the
group.
All
of these separate dimensions of the group interlock and reinforce one
another, providing “claustrophobic personal boundaries” (pg 259). The
individual becomes enmeshed with the group, identifying with the
leader, adopting the idealistic (totalistic) belief system of a utopia,
polarized view that all reality outside the group is inherently evil,
and they have adopted the behaviors of the group. Not
only does the group monopolize one’s internal, individual perceptions,
choices are drastically limited to those supported by the group. Particularly
for young women who have only been trained for limited activities
within the home, and if they suffer academically, they are physically
confined and would be deprived of physical provision. All
contingencies have been predetermined by the dogma of the group, and
unless support is offered by someone outside of the system or perhaps
from a renegade comrade within the group, the individual has no option
of choice.
Generally,
we need to better understand present-day manifestations of cultic
thinking and totalistic systems and their effects on our society. Although the two groups discussed in this book [Democratic Workers Party and Heaven’s Gate] may be regarded as extreme and unusual, in fact, the people in them were in many ways no different from everyday citizens. They were by no means crazy or suffering from psychological maladies – at least not when they joined. Nor were they evil, ill-intentioned, or stupid. For the most part, they were just people who had a deep desire for a better life and found a way to act on it that they thought was right for them. Unfortunately,
their idealism was betrayed by the very systems in which they
participated, the very structures they worked so hard to uphold.
Excerpts from:
by Janja Lalich
Bay Tree Publishing, 2006
by Janja Lalich
University of California Press, Berkley, 2004
This article appeared at the following link:
http://undermuchgrace.blogspot.com/2009/03/bounded-choice-as-another-component-of.html
