Loyaltist Behavior: when conscious becomes unconscious
On A&E there is a tv series entitled “Leah Remini: Scientology and the Aftermath”. The premise of the show is that Leah was a former member of the Church of Scientology (a religious organization founded in 1954 by L.Ron Hubbard). She spent majority of her life supporting this religious movement. She was introduced to the organization through her mother as a child. As she grew older, she began to move up in the organization and become a public “evangelist” on behalf of the organization. She truly believed that she dedicated her life to an organization that was transforming the world. It was not until she questioned the whereabouts of the current leader David Miscavige’s wife that caused her to eventually have internal conflict with the church and its leaders. Her issues within the church caused her to lose friends and be interrogated by the church. Eventually she left the church and was motivated to reach out to others who had been impacted by the organization. In doing so, she felt compelled to speak out as a means to try to bring awareness and change to the lives of those who may not know the dark truth about this organization. As I watched each of the episodes, it caused me to stop and reflect. I began to wonder how these ex-members of scientology, that I had seen on tv, remained so loyal for years of their lives to the degree that they feared exiting the organization and/or speaking out in protest what they were experiencing. These stories are not unique to just the Church of Scientology; however, I could not help but draw some connections between what I read in this week’s reading and what I was seeing on tv.
In the book, Exit, Voice, and Loyalty by Albert O. Hirschman, he discusses what happens within organizations that promote loyalty who intend to foster loyalty not in the use exit and voice to invoke change but rather to manipulate their members as a means to warrant them to fear exit and/or using their voice. He writes “it must be realized that loyalty-promoting institutions and devices are not only uninterested in stimulating voice at the expense of exit: indeed they are often meant to repress voice alongside exit.”[1] Hirschman goes on to introduce concept her refers to as “the concept of unconscious loyalist behavior”. In this concept, he discusses the negative impacts of these organizations on the behavior of their members as well as the driver behind why a loyalist will transition from a conscious loyalist behavior to unconscious loyalist behavior. “The concept of unconscious loyalist behavior…cannot give rise to voice; and because like all loyal behavior it also postpones exit, it will be prized by organizations whose management wishes members to refrain from both exit and voice. Such organizations will be looking for devices converting, as it were, conscious into unconscious loyalist behavior. Actually there often is no clear dividing line between these two types of behavior, because the customer or member of the organization may have a considerable stake in self-deception, that is, in fighting the realization that the organization he belongs to or the product he has brought are deteriorating or defective. He will particularly tend to repress this sort of awareness if he has invested a great deal in his purchase or membership.”[2] This notion of self-deception rings true throughout the testimonials in this series. They spoke of times of awakening but not wanting to believe the truth because they had invested their life and money to move up the Bridge to Total Freedom. Many of them gave up their family associations to remain a member of this organization. The sociological and psychological impacts of repressive acts that reinforce this shift and manipulation of loyalty is destructive to the stability of the organization and further damaging to the well-being of their members. My heart breaks for those who are living with the aftermath of the abuse. Yet there is a ray of hope that by those people choosing to use both their exit and voice can bring about change through awareness of exposing the oppression and deception.
[1] Albert O. Hirschman, Exit, voice, and loyalty: responses to decline in firms, organizations, and states (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1974), 92.
[2]Ibid, 93.
About the Author
Christal Jenkins Tanks
5 responses to “Loyaltist Behavior: when conscious becomes unconscious”
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.
The show you mentioned sounds interesting. I have to check it out. You high-lighted the challenges of an abused or brainwashed person even having the emotional and psychological capacity to make a healthy decsion, due to their unconscious loyalties behavior. Have you ever met someone in this state and tried to reason with them? I have found it to be an exasperating conversation but very rewarding when they start to see the truth and reality of their circumstances.
Christal, you make a great connection to our reading for this week. This is one example where voice and exit are being used in a way that brings light and health to people in and outside of Scientology.
Christal, I agree that Hirschman makes a strong case for the truth that some organizations abuse their members. Is this the essence of what a cult does? Have they learned how to manipulate, or as Jen says, brainwash their members?
The next question is, very scary, are there churches doing this even on a mild level? Hirschman pointed out that the more you have invested, the harder it is to break away. What a good testimony the young woman who left scientology. I think I’ll look that program up.
Reading Exit, Voice, and Loyalty made me wonder about someone growing up in a Mormon household.
With so many holes in Mormon theology I have always wondered why so many people stay in the LDS church.
As we connect this book to modern church life, I think that the word “loyalty” might be replaced with “community.” If someone is truly connected relationally to a church, then leaving the church is difficult.
Leah has faced a volume of backlash for her challenging the leadership of the organization. When you use the mind of wisdom that God gifted you with everyone will not be happy. The churches whose members see not wrong with their leaders worry me. No man is perfect!. We don’t need another Jim Jones or Branch of Davidians.