Deprogramming, Brainwashing and the Medicalization of Deviant Religious Groups

“Brainwashing” Theories in European Parliamentary and Administrative Reports on “Cults” and “Sects”

“…Cultural diffusion has, regrettably in this case, been relatively successful, but it has also been limited and narrow. The thorough critique of such ideas that has been done by scholars both from the United States and other countries (including European ones) is usually missing from the package (see, for example, Barker 1984Barker , 1989Robbins and Anthony 1982;Anthony 1990Anthony , 1996Anthony and Robbins 1995;Richardson 1985Richardson , 1991Richardson , 1993Richardson , 1996a. Thus we see the raw ideas of brainwashing and related concepts included in both Type I and Type II reports (with the exception of the Swiss report on Scientology), and such ideas appear to be driving policy recommendations in some European countries, even including those that claim that the new religions are not a threat and that religious freedom and pluralism are valued.…”

“…Second, since religion is usually defined as an exercise of free will, it is argued that a nonreligion can be joined only under some sort of coercion, which is quite often couched in brainwashing-like terms. The hypnotic paradigm used against Mormonism, the Shakers, and other groups by 19th century countercultists (Miller 1983) resurfaced-after the Cold War had conveniently supplied the metaphor of "brainwashing"-in the 1970s "cult wars" in the United States and elsewhere (Robbins and Anthony 1982;Anthony, Robbins, and McCarthy 1983;Richardson and Kilbourne 1983). By the end of the 1980s, the first "crude" theories of brainwashing had been largely debunked among English-speaking scholars (Barker 1984;Anthony 1990;Richardson 1993Richardson , 1996a, although neo-brainwashing theories have been proposed more recently, and the situation could change.…”

Nordkoreanske migranter i Kina. Konversion og socialt pres.

“…Når individer saettes frit til selv at vaelge, fortager effekten sig ofte (for de 'hjernevaskede' soldater praktisk talt altid). I tråd med dette argumenterer Robbins og Anthony for, at konversion gennem 'hjernevask' ikke er vedvarende, fordi denne slags konvertitter befinder sig i en midlertidig euforisk tilstand, som vil forsvinde (Robbins & Anthony 1982). Hertil tilføjer Lofland & Skonovd (1981, 382), at dette vil ske, hvis konvertitten placeres i et åbent samfund.…”

“…Det viste sig at 'hjernevasken' ikke var stabil, når amerikanerne blev frigivne og vendte tilbage til deres eget politiske miljø (Barker 1984;Lifton 1963). benytte sig af konversionsmetoder, der blandt andet indebar bortførelse og efterføl-gende 'hjernevask', og disse anklager kom som oftest fra pårørende, anti-cult og counter-cult bevaegelser (Barker 1984(Barker , 2002. Op gennem 1980'erne dokumenterede sociologer, at social tvang i religiøs konversion forekom som en sjaeldenhed, men dog som en teoretisk mulighed, og måtte af den grund inkluderes i teoretiske overvejelser om konversion (Barker 1984(Barker , 2002Kilbourne & Richardson 1989;Lofland & Skonovd 1981Robbins & Anthony 1982;Robbins 1984). Således argumenterer Lofland og Skonovd for, at tvungen conversion"virtually never occurs, it is nonetheless a possibility, and in the interest of theoretical comprehensiveness it needs to be included in our treatment", hvilket Snow og Machelek tilslutter sig med tilføjelsen at "social scientists find it of limited utility and generality" (Lofland & Skonovd 1984, 16;Snow & Machelek 1984, 179).…”

“…I stedet foreslår både Barker (1984Barker ( , 2002 og Kilbourne og Richardson (1989), at beskyldningen om social tvang i højere grad repraesenterer indsigelsespartens holdning til den givne religion end en reel konversionstype, ligesom at nogle argumenterer for, at ideen om 'hjernevask' benyttes til det formål at legitimere 'deprogramming' (Barker 1984(Barker , 2002Robbins & Anthony 1982). Social tvang opstår, når et individ fratages muligheden for at tage et frit valg, grundet pres fra den eksterne verden.…”