Recruiting for Scientology via Sterling et al.
wbarwell
_4_59/ai_53590311
Managing to recruit: religious conversion in the
workplace
Sociology of Religion, Winter, 1998
by Deana Hall
One of the central arguments of resource
mobilization theory is that social movements need
resources in order to survive (McCarthy and Zald
1987: 28). New Religious Movements with expressed
goals of effecting change in society fall within
McCarthy and Zald's conceptualization of a social
movement, and as such researchers have examined
the resource mobilization strategies of a number
of these social groups (Bird and Westley 1988;
Bromley 1985; Johnston 1980; Khalsa 1986;
Richardson 1988; Robbins 1988; Tipton 1988). One
new religious movement, however, that has not been
examined extensively regarding its resource
mobilization strategies is the Church of
Scientology.(1)
This article utilizes resource mobilization
theory's general precepts to examine a specific
component of Scientology's economic activities.(2)
It focuses on the movement's recruitment of
medical professionals through medically-based
practice management companies (PMCs). Through a
licensing agreement with Scientology, the PMCs
have obtained the right to use the writings of
Scientology's founder, L. Ron Hubbard, to teach
management skills to medical professionals,
including dentists, veterinarians, podiatrists,
and chiropractors (among others). In addition to
practical management advice, PMCs also offer their
clients an introduction to the Church of
Scientology. The link between PMCs and Scientology
provides an example of the mediation of
ideological recruitment through front companies,
as originally described by Bird and Westley
(1988).(3)
Although resource mobilization theory allows us to
explain the economic activities of social
movements, it does not offer provisions for
analyzing the motivations of individuals who join
them (Kent 1982). In order to amend this
theoretically-based oversight, I use Lofland and
Stark's conversion model to explain how and why
some individuals become involved in particular
social movements. In essence, Lofland and Stark's
conversion model offers theorists an opportunity
to examine the motivation of individuals in
joining ideological organizations, which strategy
heretofore has been missing from resource
mobilization theory. The model allows researchers
to identify the social factors that foster
individual involvement in a social movement such
as Scientology, and is thus particularly
appropriate for application to the present study.
Interaction between medical professionals, PMCs,
and Scientology generally follows a pattern of
increasing commitment that I divide into three
distinct stages: initial contact, practice
management consulting, and direct participation in
Scientology. This article outlines the general
pattern of interaction between the medical
professionals and Scientology, then examines this
interaction in the context of resource
mobilization theory and Lofland and Stark's
conversion model in order to explain the
motivations of both the social movement and its
potential members.(4)
Interaction between medical professionals and
Scientology's affiliated practice management
companies generally begins with a PMC-initiated
meeting either for an introductory seminar or free
analysis of the medical practice. During the
introductory seminars, recruiting staff present L.
Ron Hubbard's management principles and provide
examples of how the professionals can apply these
techniques in both professional and personal
arenas (WISE 1988: 8). Following these
introductory seminars, PMC consultants arrange
individual consultations with each medical
professional, during which they discuss training
programs appropriate to the doctor's medical
practice (WISE 1992: 5; Hall and Kent 1995: 6). If
the practitioners agree to purchase consulting
services, then the next step in the process is a
practice analysis.
Practice analyses generally involve intense and
exhaustive examinations of the individual medical
practice.(5) In addition to providing PMC staff
with information about the general financial
accounting and patient loads of the practice, the
medical professionals also provide personal
information about themselves, their spouses, and
their staff through a personality profile, the
Oxford Capacity Analysis. These personality
profiles represent an essential element of the
practice analysis, and according to one subject,
"from [the PMC's] point of view, we were not
allowed to have employees who didn't want to
answer the test" (Hall and Kent 1995: 9).
Often practice analyses go beyond professional
issues and enter into the personal life of the
practitioner. According to one subject, "[The
consultant] asked me a lot of very, very personal
questions about me: 'Are you a drinker? Do you do
drugs? Do you have sex outside of marriage?'"
(Dexheimer 1991: 12). The subject's wife added:
After the [practice analysis] meeting, they knew
everything about us. They knew how much life
insurance he had, with whom, his parents' income,
any inheritance he was coming into, every checking
account, our mortgage. They knew how much I paid
for my horse-trailer. They knew how many portable
radios we have in the house. They knew more about
our finances than I do (Dexheimer 1991: 13).
PMCs can use this extensive knowledge of the
professionals' financial situation to counter
individual refusals to sign up for courses based
on a lack of financial resources (Geary 1994: 9,
10, 14; Hall and Kent 1995: 36; Hall and Kent
1994: 56). As we shall see, the PMCs also can use
this information at a later date to convince
medical professionals that they need Scientology
courses to handle personal problems. Following
their practice analysis, practitioners attend
their first practice management training program.
The practice management training program generally
consists of supervised reading, twelve hours daily
for five to eight days (Gorman 1990: 28). During
training, generally offered at PMC's training
facilities, PMC consultants will identify for the
doctors potential "problems" supposedly indicated
by their Oxford Capacity Analysis personality
profile.(6) The consultant will suggest that
unless the professional "handles" these personal
problems, all of the time and money invested in
the management course will be wasted. The
consultant then will suggest or recommend that the
professional consult with a recruiter from
Scientology (Ochart 1993a, 124; Ochart 1993b, 230,
237, 249; Hall and Kent 1995: 17). During this
Scientology consultation, the Scientologist
recommends a specific program of both courses and
auditing (which is a form of psychological therapy
and ideological instruction), to help the person
deal with the personal issues identified by the
personality profile.
According to interview subjects, these meetings
occur late at night, after several long days of
training. Often the meeting results in PMC clients
agreeing to join Scientology in an effort to gain
Scientology's assistance in alleviating these
newly identified alleged personal problems. One
interview subject commented on this process as it
occurred during his practice management training
program.
The scuttlebutt was that . . . this guy was a
recruiter for Scientology, and everybody knew
that. So everybody, all of us, all the dentists
and podiatrists, . . . and periodontists and
chiropractors that were there with us, we all went
in [to the private meeting with the Scientology
recruiter] with our eyes open, knowing that this
guy was going to try to get us to sign up for
Scientology. And so we all had this sense of
invulnerability, that we were tough and we weren't
going to fall for this. . . . None of us were
going to sign up for this. In reality, every
single one of us did, every single one of us did
(Hall and Kent 1995: 17-18).
Although it is difficult to access specific
percentages, the data indicate that medical
professionals do enter Scientology through PMC
management programs. Officials for one PMC, for
example, acknowledge that about 20 percent of the
chiropractors who sign up for management
consulting also wind up in Scientology courses
(Koff 1987). In fact, a number of WISE
publications, including the 1989 Western United
States Business Directory, refer to one of the
PMCs as being Scientology's most effective
recruiting organization (Ochart 1993b: 249,
exhibit 5; Wilson 1993: 99, exhibit 2; WISE 1989).
Although PMCs do not force practitioners to
undertake Scientology training or counseling, some
evidence exists that they pressure their clients
to do so. For some practitioners, the pressure was
very subtle, for others it was a "hard sell"
approach that did not appear to offer
opportunities for refusal (Geary 1994; Hall and
Kent 1994; Hall and Kent 1995).
n summary, during the initial stage of the
conversion process, the PMCs introduce the
professionals to Hubbard's ideology as a
potentially effective management tool. After the
initial professional management introduction, PMC
staff arrange for their clients to meet with
Scientology recruiters to discuss the possible
applications of Hubbard's ideology to their
personal lives. By licensing individual companies
to promote Hubbard's ideology, and then utilizing
those companies as funnels into itself,
Scientology has generated a successful and
lucrative recruitment and resource mobilization
vehicle.
INITIAL INTERACTION(7)
Resource Mobilization Theory
In addition to acquiring finances, another primary
task of any social movement involves obtaining and
maintaining constituents(8) (McCarthy and Zald
1977:1221). Because of their increased access to
resource pools and control over their own
discretionary time and money, elites - in this
case medical professionals - are the most valuable
constituents of any social movement (McCarthy and
Zald 1973: 11). The elite socio-economic status
that medical professionals share makes them
attractive potential constituents for
Scientology's PMCs.
Initial interaction between Scientology's PMCs and
the medical professionals generally occurs when
the professionals receive an invitation in the
mail to attend a free introductory seminar or
participate in a free practice analysis. In
addition to contacting potential clients through
direct-mail solicitations, the PMCs also mail
newsletters and magazines to professionals (WISE
1988: 8).(9) These magazines contain
advertisements for consulting services,
testimonials from present clients, free
personality assessments, advertisements for L. Ron
Hubbard publications, as well as articles
promoting the benefits of practice management
consulting. They also introduce L. Ron Hubbard's
administrative ideas to the professionals (WISE
1988: 8). Thus, without ever having met with a PMC
representative, some professionals may already
have been introduced to Scientology doctrine.(10)
The combination of an existing predisposing need
for practice management consulting among medical
professionals and the PMCs' ability to market an
attractive product has led to a number of medical
professionals becoming indirect constituents of
Scientology.(11) In other words, both individual
motivation on the part of medical professionals
(as described by Lofland and Stark) and
Scientology's interest in gaining elite
constituents (as described by resource
mobilization theory) form much of the explanation
for the success of this recruitment strategy.
Conversion Model
Lofland and Stark (1965: 864) view conversion as a
series of seven sequential stages that converts
follow en route to total commitment.(12) They
divide the conversion process into two distinct
categories: predisposing conditions and
situational contingencies. Predisposing conditions
include some form of tension, a problem-solving
perspective aligned with the ideology of the
recruiting organization, and a self-designation by
the pre-convert as a seeker. These background
factors offer necessary, but not sufficient,
motivation for conversion.
Tension.(13) The consulting packages that
Scientology's PMCs offer their clients are
attractive to the medical professionals for a
number of reasons. First, analysis of the contents
of professional medical training indicates that
professionals obtain very little practice
management training during their formal education,
creating a deficiency of skill in this area.(14)
Second, medical professionals are facing
increasing intraprofessional competition and
declining profitability. These social and economic
conditions often lead professionals to seek some
form of management assistance (Crain 1989: 25).
Both interview and media data indicated that the
professionals felt a need to supplement the
management training they might have received
during their university education. One dentist
indicated that:
[The Scientology-based practice management
program] really filled a void for me as far has
having a management technology. . . . Dental
school provides you with the technology of
dentistry so you can practice, but it doesn't give
you an education in administration and
communication. When it comes down to treating
patients, you have to deal with staff and
communicate with patients on dental needs and
treatment plans. Anything that can help you do
that is a tremendous asset to the profession
(Jakush 1989: 15).
Other professionals in the sample agree that
professional education offered little assistance
in preparing them to manage their practices (Hall
and Kent 1994: 87; Hall and Kent 1995: 52).
Lack of formal training in practice management
skill is only one of the economic challenges
facing contemporary medical professionals. A
second challenge relates to declining incomes
among medical professionals. According to one
recent Canadian estimate, average 1990 incomes for
full-time dentists was almost five thousand
dollars less per year than it was in 1980 (Coutts
1995: A7). Decreasing wages partly are a result of
increasing competition, since the total number of
practicing dentists increased by almost 3,000
during that ten year period. Increased
competition, along with better oral health in the
general population have placed significant strains
on the profitability of Canadian dental practices
(Coutts 1995: A7).(15)
Limited management training, increased
intraprofessional competition, and decreased
profitability can lead to financial tension for
some medical professionals. The existence of
financial tension represents the first of a series
of steps leading to conversion into Scientology
via PMCs. Presumably, not all medical
professionals experience financial tension, and
not all medical professionals experiencing
financial tension seek management assistance. It
is clear however, from an examination of the
subjects in both the interview and media samples,
that professionals who sought management
consulting felt a need to augment their existing
administrative skills. Professionals who encounter
this tension experience the first of Lofland and
Stark's predisposing conditions and, in some
cases, continue on the path towards conversion.
Problem-Solving Perspective. In addition to the
experiences of tension, Lofland and Stark suggest
that individuals who hold problem-solving
perspectives similar to the ideological
organization have an increased likelihood of
conversion.(16) Subjects in this study offer
examples of a preference for an objective,
scientific approach to problem solving. One
dentist referred to an appreciation for the "black
and white," "concrete" nature of the PMC approach
to management (Hall and Kent 1994: 30-31). The
dentist believed in the authenticity of
consultants' recommendations because consultants
presented them in the form of statistical graphs,
a media that appealed to the dentist's "science
background" (Hall and Kent 1994: 30). A
veterinarian also expressed a preference for the
PMCs supposedly scientific approach to management.
They call it "technology". . . . I didn't realize
that management had become so scientific that you
would actually call it technology, but that's the
word they use. And it certainly gives an
impression that they have everything so codified,
and so well defined that there's no art to it at
all. Its pure science. . . . Management is easy to
do, if you just learn it the right way, their way
(Hall and Kent 1995: 14).
Having learned a scientific approach to
problem-solving during their formal education,
subjects appeared to be relieved that they could
apply the same method to practice management (Hall
and Kent 1994: 17-18; Hall and Kent 1995: 6, 14).
Seekership. Lofland and Stark (1965: 368) suggest
that when problems arise, individuals actively
will seek strategies that support their
problem-solving preference. Thus, medical
professionals with management difficulties who
have a scientific problem-solving perspective
probably will seek a scientific or rational
solution to those problems. The medical
professionals in the study offer evidence of
seekership, to the extent that they sought outside
assistance with their management difficulties,
through apparently rational management programs.
Regardless of the individual situation, however,
the professional presumably must feel some need
for management training in order to seek
consulting services.
In summary, practice management companies that
offer Hubbard's ideology in the form of management
techniques mediate initial interaction between
medical professionals and Scientology. Because
professional education provides little if any
practice management skills, professionals may be
predisposed to need or want some form of
management assistance. By capitalizing on this
dearth of management skills and training,
Scientology is able to use its preexisting
management technology to turn thousands of medical
professionals into constituents.(17) If
Scientology can increase this initial commitment,
then it converts these constituents into adherents
18 of its social movement efforts to "clear the
planet."
PRACTICE MANAGEMENT TRAINING
Resource Mobilization
The relationship between Scientology and its PMCs
is similar to a recruitment pattern originally
described by Bird and Westley (1988). They
describe New Religious Movements (like
Scientology) as active missionary movements, ever
eager to spread their message by direct and
particularly by indirect methods (1988:51). One
such indirect method of Scientology recruitment,
specifically of medical professionals, is through
its practice management training programs.(19)
PMC consulting is an indirect recruitment method
because it introduces clients to Scientology
through their involvement in management training.
Although PMC executives deny any relationship
between Scientology and their companies, several
factors indicate strong ties between the
organizations (Cartwright 1990: 1, 4; Dexheimer
1991: 12; Koff 1987: 5; Lopez 1993: H1; Witt 1989:
11; Zuziak 1991: 2039). The first indication is
that Hubbard's management technology forms the
basis of the PMCs' training programs. PMCs obtain
the right to use Hubbard's ideas through the World
Institute of Scientology Enterprises [WISE].
The purpose of WISE is "getting L. Ron Hubbard's
administrative technology broadly disseminated and
used in the business world" (Church of Scientology
International 1989: 20). Towards this end, WISE
licenses individuals and businesses to use
Hubbard's administrative technology. WISE markets
and promotes programs designed to expand its own
membership and the dissemination of Scientology
doctrines. Thus, the first link between
Scientology and its practice management programs
is organizational.(20) Medical practitioners who
enroll in PMC courses learn the same
organizational and management techniques that the
Church of Scientology uses (Ochart 1993a 60;
Ochart 1993b: 293-295,303; Hall and Kent 1995: 13,
15).
Even if medical professionals choose not to enroll
in training and auditing directly from
Scientology, they nonetheless receive exposure to
Scientology doctrine and practices. The Modern
Management Technology that PMCs use is the same
technology offered within Scientology to its own
executives (WISE 1983: ii; Hall and Kent 1995:
13,15). Consequently the management companies'
training programs mimic those of Scientology in
both content and format.(21)
The Oxford Capacity Analysis personality profiles
represent an additional tie between Scientology
and its PMCs. As previously discussed, PMC
consultants administer the profiles to the
medicial professionals and their staff early in
the consultation process, and refer their clients
to Scientology based on the results. One PMC
president summarized the referral process in this
way: "We do not deal in personal problems, marital
problems, or any problems but business problems. .
. . If [clients] don't have anybody to help them,
we will tell them about Scientology . . ." (quoted
in Zuziak 1991: 2040). The CEO of another PMC made
a similar statement when he claimed that PMC
consultants will direct clients toward Scientology
for help with personal problems because they feel
it is "the best help around" (quoted in Jakush
1989: 4). In other words, as part of their
practice evaluation, the consulting firms utilize
a personality profile that almost invariably
indicates a need for some form of counseling or
therapy. Once they have identified this supposed
need in clients, the PMC consultants refer them to
the Church of Scientology.
Conversion Model
In their conversion model, Lofland and Stark
suggest that the identification of personal
problems, which they label "turning points," is an
essential element in recruitment into an
ideological organization. The theorists note that
the effectiveness of turning points in
contributing to the conversion process hinges on
the timing of the event (Lofland and Stark 1965:
870). Essentially, preconverts who reach turning
points in their lives shortly before or
concurrently with their encounter with ideological
organizations are more likely to convert than are
individuals who are not at such significant
life-junctures (Lofland and Stark 1965: 870).
In the context of the Lofland and Stark conversion
model, Scientology uses the Oxford Capacity
Analysis to create or highlight turning points for
medical professionals. These turning points
involve the "identification" of personal problems
that supposedly are hindering business
performance. Subsequently Scientology, via its
PMCs, offers a convenient solution to these
problems. In this way, the organization attempts
to develop a "situational contingency," either by
emphasizing existing problems or suggesting
potential difficulties.
Lofland and Stark (1965: 864) refer to situational
contingencies as conditions that arise from
"confrontation and interaction" between the
potential convert and the ideological
organization. The theorists argue that these
conditions lead to the successful recruitment of
predisposed individuals. Toward this recruitment
end, Scientology utilizes the personality profiles
to generate the first in a series of situational
contingencies that bring the medical professionals
closer to ideological conversion.
ENTERING SCIENTOLOGY: BECOMING A
CONSTITUENT-ADHERENT
Resource Mobilization Theory
McCarthy and Zald (1977:1221) suggest that a
significant goal of any social movement is to
develop constituent-adherents who will both
believe in and support the movement (1977:1221).
Because a social movement's primary goal is
survival, and it needs resources to achieve this
goal, the movement must generate a large pool of
committed supporters to provide those necessary
resources (McCarthy and Zald 1987: 28). Selective
material incentives (such as increased wealth) and
social-emotional incentives (such as status,
friendship, and self-esteem) that the movement can
exchange for donations bind individuals to an
organization, thus ensuring continued involvement
and support (Bailis 1974; Gamson 1975; summarized
in McCarthy and Zald 1987; 28). Medical
professionals become constituent-adherents when
they both contribute to Scientology financially as
PMC clients and enter the group as members,
supporting it ideologically.(22)
Conversion Model
If the professionals accept Scientology's offer of
assistance in solving personal problems, then they
sign up for counseling and become active members
of the social movement. Loftand and Stark identify
three additional stages of increasing involvement:
increasing cult affective bonds, decreasing
extra-cult affective bonds, and intensive
interaction with group members.
Cult-Affective Bonds. Loftand and Stark (1965:871)
refer to cult-affective bonds as the "development
or presence of some positive, emotional,
interpersonal response" that facilitates
acceptance of the organization's message.(23) For
some subjects, the affective bonds developed with
Scientology recruiters or PMC consultants, and for
others the bonds developed with Scientology
counselors. For one interview subject, the
formation of these bonds occurred during
discussions with a Scientology recruiter about his
personality profile. The medical professional was
impressed by the recruiter's ability to identify
personal problems in his marriage, and by the
recruiter's offer of a solution that fit well with
his own scientific approach to problem solving. In
addition, Scientology's offer of assistance
provided an alternative to psychological
counseling, an option that this individual did not
wish to consider (Hall and Kent 1994: 27-33).
For another interview subject, the development of
cult-affective bonds occurred later in the
interaction process, during auditing sessions.
This medical professional described auditing as an
"incredibly powerful" experience and indicated
that it was integral to his continued involvement
in the organization (Hall and Kent 1995: 30).
Beyond these two examples, the size of the study
makes it difficult to assess whether or not
cult-affective bonds are essential to continued
involvement with Scientology. Important to note
however, is that other researchers have supported
Loftand and Stark's suggestion that it is integral
to the conversion process (Griel and Rudy
1984:316; Kox, Meeus, and Hart 1991: 238; Snow and
Phillips 1980: 440).
Weak Extra-Cult Affective Bonds. In Lofland and
Stark's original study, individuals with strong
extra-cult affective bonds did not engage in
continued involvement with the ideological
organization (1965: 873). This same effect appears
in the experiences of a number of subjects in the
present study. In other words, in cases where
outside interest compete with an individual's
intentions regarding conversion, conversion is
unlikely to occur.
The families of two of the interview subjects
engaged in considerable efforts to withdraw the
professionals from Scientology involvement. One
professional's spouse prevented him from obtaining
financing for Scientology courses by contacting
financial institutions and requesting that they
delay processing his loan applications (Hall and
Kent 1995). To further hinder her husband's
financial arrangements, the spouse arranged for a
team of ex-Scientology members and an
exit-counselor to discuss the group with him (Hall
and Kent 1995: 38). These discussions led to the
professional's decision to discontinue his
Scientology involvement.
Intensive Interaction. The final stage in Lofland
and Stark's conversion model is intensive
interaction between the recruit and members of the
organization. In support of the original
formulation of the model, both Snow and Phillips
(1980) and Greil and Rudy (1984) found that
intensive interaction was essential to cementing
the conversion process. Because friends and family
of the professionals in the present sample
interfered with the conversion process, it is
difficult to assess the relative importance of
intensive interaction in maintaining member
loyalty in Scientology.
Important to note, however, is that Scientology
staff members made significant efforts to have the
practitioners continue their involvement as soon
as possible after agreeing to enter the
organization. In some cases, Scientology arranged
for staff members to accompany medical
professionals into their own homes to ensure that
they were making appropriate arrangements for
financing and efforts to begin courses (Geary
1994: 11; Hall and Kent 1994: 75). In these cases,
the organization appears to have attempted to
arrange for circumstances involving intensive
interaction between new and established members
beyond the physical boundaries of the
organization.
CONCLUSION
This article identifies issues that contribute to
the social scientific discussion of Scientology,
the training of medical professionals, and social
movement theory. Regarding Scientology, the
organization's practice management activity in the
secular realm has potential implications for its
claims to be a religious organization. While some
authors conclude that the church of Scientology
"is a deviant business" (Passas and Castillo
1992:110), they nevertheless conclude that it
"must remain a deviant business that borrows from
science, renews its imaginative jargon, updates
its spiritual techniques, and remains a religion"
(Passas and Castillo 1992:115). In a practical
sense, however, this conclusion means that a
religious body denies its religious connection in
order to train medical professionals in secular
office practice skills. Moreover, its use of these
practice management courses as recruitment efforts
suggests deception toward its target population of
professionals, who do not know of the religious
connection of the programs when they sign up to
learn accounting and office skills. New
developments in the relationship between
Scientology and the American IRS, which included
an agreement to dissolve WISE no later than 31
December 1995, may make Scientology's claims
regarding the secular nature of its management
training programs even more difficult to
substantiate.(24)
Medical professionals may find this study
interesting, since apparently they do not realize
how their deficiency in financial and office
management training predisposes them to become
converts to an ostensibly religious group.
Deficiencies in management training have provided
Scientology with an opportunity to identify and
fill a market niche for these professionals and at
the same time increase its own membership rolls.
Ironically, the emphasis in professional schools
on scientific training to the exclusion of
management training makes these degree-awarding
institutions unwitting participants in the
eventual recruitment efforts of Scientology (and
probably other ideologies that recognize the
vulnerabilities of medically trained
professionals).
Finally, this analysis contributes to social
movement literature in at least two ways. The
incorporation of a conversion model in the context
of a resource mobilization understanding of
recruitment strategies illustrates the benefits of
viewing the motives of the potential converts in
relation to organizational demands. Likewise, the
combined analysis of predisposing factors among
potential converts to an ostensible religious
movement provides an expanded understanding of a
context to conversion and a social psychological
dimension to organizational recruitment efforts.
And even though Scientology's goals of 'clearing
the planet' differ significantly from the more
limited personal self-improvement goals of medical
professionals, the two coincide in the involvement
of professionals in PMCs.
Direct correspondence to Deana Hall, Department of
Sociology, 5-21 Tory Building, University of
Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada T6G 2H4. I
would like to express my sincerest appreciation to
Dr. Stephen Kent. This article would not have been
possible without his tireless support and
guidance. I also would like to thank all of the
individuals who donated their time, personal
accounts, and supporting documentation to the
project.
1 According to McCarthy and Zald, a social
movement is a voluntary collectivity "that people
support in order to effect changes in society"
(McCarthy and Zald 1973: 2). While critics might
dispute the voluntary nature of Scientology's
members, no one would dispute that Scientology
strives to change society. As the movement's own
literature states, the organization and its
members aspire to the goal of "clearing the
planet" (Church of Scientology International 1994:
9-10). This goal involves recruiting as many
individuals as possible and convincing them to
achieve a status known as "clear." By converting
the world's population to its doctrines,
Scientology aspires to "reverse the downward
direction of the current civilization and actually
bring about a cleared planet" (Church of
Scientology International 1994: 3).
2 Scientology's considerable financial holdings
and extensive membership base warrant an
economically-based sociological analysis.
Currently the organization operates in 86
countries and, according to author Richard Behar,
controls a four hundred million dollar empire
(Behar 1986: 315; Lopez 1993: H5). In addition,
one recent statement by an organization official
in New York State indicates that approximately
eight million people worldwide have participated
in Scientology courses, and a further five hundred
thousand take their first Scientology course each
year (Lopez 1993: H5). Thus, investigation into
the organization's financial and membership
components is imperative.
3 At least three published sources identify the
link between Scientology and its PMCs. For example
Passas states that "the [Church of Scientology]
recruits well-to-do individuals through a number
of consultancy firms with secret ties to it.
Stirling (sic) Management Systems, for example,
allegedly targets health-care professionals with
the promise to help them dramatically increase
their income, offers seminars and courses priced
at $10,000, and lures them to the [Church of
Scientology]" (1994: 221). See also Passas and
Castillo (1992) and Zellner (1995).
4 Three distinct research methods provided
information necessary to examine the relationship
between Scientology, its PMCs, and their clients.
First, I conducted a content analysis of primary
documents, including Canadian dental, veterinary,
and chiropractic school calendars along with media
and legal accounts of professionals' experiences
with Scientology's practice management programs.
Second, I conducted personal interviews with
medical/dental professionals previously or
currently involved in the Scientology-affiliated
practice management courses. And third, I
completed a literature review of Scientology
internal documents and the course contents of one
of the practice management training programs.
Available internal documents included Scientology
textbooks and dictionaries and World Institute of
Scientology Enterprises (WISE) advertisements and
publications.
Because it was difficult to locate a large sample
of medical professionals to interview regarding
experience with the practice management companies
of interest to this study, I chose to supplement
my interviews with content analysis of secondary
data, in the form of media accounts. I was able to
obtain thirteen individual media accounts of
personal experience with Scientology's medical
practice management programs. Together, the
articles recounted the experiences of fifty-four
medical professionals, including dentists,
veterinarians, chiropractors, and podiatrists, as
well as former and current employees of the
practice management companies in question.
Furthermore, I obtained one legal affidavit, which
summarizes the personal experience of a dentist
with one of Scientology's affiliated practice
management programs.
Coding and collecting data occurred in three
stages. First, I coded the information contained
in the media and accounts into sixteen conceptual
categories, so that I could accumulate and compare
information contained in each individual's
experience with the practice management programs.
Second, I conducted personal interviews with
medical/dental professionals previously or
currently involved with Scientology-affiliated
practice management courses. I personally
conducted interviews with one veterinarian, one
dental office manager, and one chiropractor, and
participated in the interview of an additional
dentist. In addition, I obtained a transcript of
an interview with a former Scientology staff
member involved in one of the practice management
companies. The interviews involved general
open-ended questions, and essentially followed the
practitioners in a linear sequence through their
involvement with the PMC and Scientology. I
conducted and audio-taped interviews both in
person and via telephone. Interviews ranged in
length from one to four hours. Interviewee
involvement ranged from participation in an
introductory seminar to full membership in
Scientology. I utilized snow-ball sampling to
access individuals who had contact with the PMCs
that are of interest to the study.
5 The analyses usually takes place in two stages.
The first stage involves an extensive conversation
between consultant and client, and the second
stage involves a close scrutiny of the medical
professional's practice documents, staff, and in
some cases, interviews with patients (Hall and
Kent 1995: 10).
6 The test contains 200 questions to which
respondents reply "yes," "maybe or sometimes," or
"no" regarding how they would respond in specific
situations. Scientology uses test results to
determine that an individual would benefit from
Scientology auditing (counselling therapy)
(Dexheimer 1991: 12). Indeed, a Scientology policy
letter instructs test evaluators to say at the low
points on the resulting graphs, "Scientology
training can raise that"' (Hubbard 1960: 164).
7 The remaining discussion identifies the three
stages of recruitment (initial interaction,
practice management training, and participation in
Scientology). For each stage I discuss the
appropriate components of both Lofland and Stark's
model and resource mobilization theory.
8 Individuals who support the social movement
financially.
9 Scientology's WISE division licenses individual
Scientologists to use L. Ron Hubbard's ideas in
personal or corporate ventures outside of
Scientology. WISE ensures correct implementation
and adherence to Hubbard's doctrine and ideology.
10 Advertising through direct-mail and the media
is a characteristic common to McCarthy and Zald's
"professional social movements" (1973, 1987:
59-60). McCarthy and Zald used the term
"professional social movements" to describe a new
form of social movement that evolved out of the
"bureaucratization of social discontent" (McCarthy
and Zald 1973: 3). In this evolutionary
development, functions historically served by a
movement's members were being taken over by highly
skilled, paid workers. Professional social
movements were able to use their monetary
resources to hire specialists in the areas of
marketing and promotion, fund-raising, legal
counsel, lobbying, and leadership (McCarthy and
Zald 1973: 15-16, 20-23).
According to John McCarthy (1987:59-61),
direct-mail and media solicitations represent
attempts by professional social movements to
develop social networks, or infrastructures, among
loosely affiliated potential adherents
(ideological supporters), where they do not
already exist. PMC advertisements that highlight
testimonials from established medical
professionals offer an example of attempts to
develop movement-generated social networks. These
testimonials serve as validation of the PMC
programs among individual professionals that are
similar to, but isolated from one another. They
are a means of generating a social network for the
purpose of sharing a potentially valuable service,
or mobilization tool - in this case, practice
management training based on the works of L. Ron
Hubbard. In addition to publishing their own
journals, the PMCs also advertise in respected
professional journals (Hall and Kent 1995: 3-4).
11 Through a licensing agreement between
individual PMCs and WISE, Scientology receives a
royalty of approximately ten percent on all money
invested in training and materials by PMC clients
(Koff 1987). Regardless of whether PMC clients
choose to actively join Scientology, a portion of
their consulting fees supports it, making them
financial constituents of the social movement.
12 Lofland and Stark (1965: 864) operationalize
total conversion as a state in which converts
express both active and verbal commitments to the
organization.
13 A number of economic, social, and personal
strains may impinge upon a medical professional at
any one time. Presumably, individual responses to
these factors will vary considerably. The issue
that is of importance to this study is the process
that occurs when these individual tensions lead to
a determinable social pattern of response, which
in this case involves medical professionals
obtaining practice management training from
Scientology and its affiliated PMCs.
14 In order to establish a cursory but objective
measure of the amount of practice management
training that students receive during their
professional education, I obtained information
regarding the proportion of educational hours
devoted to imparting these skills in dental,
veterinary, and chiropractic colleges in Canada.
In procuring this information, I utilized two
complimentary methods. First, whenever possible, I
acquired information directly from
university/calendars. Second, when that
information was not available, I contacted the
colleges and requested the appropriate
information. By using both methods, I was able to
obtain usable data from ten of the fifteen
colleges in the sample. This summary does not
evaluate the content or quality of information
imparted to students during their coursework.
Instead, it represents an objective measure of the
amount of time spent on training medical
professionals in practice management skills. The
analysis indicates that the percentage of
instructional hours devoted to imparting practice
management skills within designated practice
management courses to dental, veterinary, and
chiropractic students in Canada ranged from 0-1.7
percent of their total time spent in coursework
and training. The apparently low to non-existent
emphasis on developing these skills supports
subjects' claims that their professional training
did not prepare them to effectively manage their
practices.
15 Veterinarians also appear to be encountering
significant financial pressures. In 1989, the
average annual salary for American veterinarians
was only $48,000, while medical doctors' salaries
averaged $110,000 (Crain 1989: 25). Similar to
Canadian dentists, American veterinarians' income
also has been declining relative to the cost of
living. In addition, more professionals are
entering the field than leaving it, increasing
intraprofessional competition (Crain 1989: 25).
16 Lofland and Stark (1965: 867-868) documented
the necessity of converts holding a religious
problem-solving perspective prior to their
conversions to what we now know was Unification
Church. By analogy, I argue that professionals
heighten their chances of joining Scientology
through a PMC if they value a scientific or
rational problem-solving perspective that
parallels the PMCs view of management
"technology." The scientific/rational perspective
that the PMCs emphasize focuses on record-keeping
that allows professionals to measure and reward
business expansion and punish productivity
decline, in a manner similar to Frederick Taylor's
Scientific Management (Krahn and Lowe 1998:
213-216).
17 Between 1983 and 1992, thirty-five thousand
North American health care practitioners took part
in Sterling Management Systems' basic analysis and
consultation services (WISE 1992: 5). In 1988,
after a four-year association with Scientology,
Singer Consultants had an annual client base of
between eight hundred and one thousand medical
professionals, with an associated financial intake
of approximately eight million dollars (Koff 1987;
WiSE 1985: 8).
18 Adherents are individuals who support the
social movement ideologically.
19 Bird and Westley (1988: 51) indicate that the
fee-for-service mobilization techniques that these
groups utilize have two distinct purposes. They
serve both as a method of raising money and as a
proselytization tool. The groups offer their
services to a largely transient body of clients
who have little or no initial ideological
commitment to the group. Bird and Westley also
note that the groups' initial interest in clients
is in obtaining financial resources (1988: 53).
Important to realize, however, is that the groups
eventually may seek to obtain more involvement
from clients. Groups need greater commitment from
at least some constituents because "drop-out"
rates in these various programs are very high
(Bird and Westley 1988: 53). By encouraging
constituents to make ideological commitments and
become constituent-adherents, social movements
such as Scientology assure that individuals
involve themselves both ideologically and
financially.
20 In addition to its stated goal of information
dissemination, WISE has additional objectives of a
more religious nature. Within WISE publications,
the organization describes itself as a "religious
fellowship organization" formed "in order to
promote and foster [Hubbard's] Administrative
Technology in society" (WISE 1992: 1). In an
interview with Prosperity magazine, Alan
Hollander, president of Hollander Consulting,
summarized the relationship between WISE, WISE
members, their clients, and the Church of
Scientology:
PROSPERITY: What is your objective as a WISE
member?
HOLLANDER: My objective is to get as much
technology into the environment as possible
because that is contributing to Clearing the
Planet. In fact, our real product here is clients
who are winning with L. Ron Hubbard's Technology
and reaching for more. We have gotten literally
hundreds of people on the lines. In 1986 alone, we
got 82 people started on the Bridge. From March
1986 to March 1987 the income to [Scientology]
organizations from our clients has been $362,197.
My feeling about this is that WISE members like
ourselves can have a great impact on Clearing the
Planet in terms of dissemination (WISE 1987: 9).
In this case, Alan Hollander described one of the
goals of his organization as directing clients
into Scientology/in an effort to support the
movement's goal of "Clearing the Planet." Thus,
PMCs operate on behalf of Scientology, mobilizing
resources of both money and new members towards
its ideological ends.
21 The similarities in the content and format of
courses that both PMCs and Scientology offer
reflect the fact that almost without exception,
employees and executives of Hollander and Sterling
also are practicing Scientologists (Cartwright
1990: l, 4; Jakush 1989: 7; Koff 1988; Lopez 1993:
HI; Ochart 1993b: 193, 263; Witt 1989: 11). At one
PMC, raises and promotions depend upon acceptance
of and enrollement in Scientology courses, so that
even if employees are not Scientologists when they
are hired, they may be pressured to become church
members (Cartwright 1990: 1).
22 Prior to purchasing courses directly from
Scientology, PMC clients represent isolated
constituents of the social movement (McCarthy and
Zald 1987: 29). Isolated constituents have no
direct involvement with the larger social
movement, and are thus tied only tenuously to the
organization (1987: 30). Recruiting these isolated
constituents directly into the social movements
and converting them into constituent-adherents
ensures an increased level of solidarity and
financial support (McCarthy and Zald 1977: 9,
1987:29-31). Thus, from a resource mobilization
perspective, Scientology utilizes PMCs to locate
and obtain potential elite constituent-adherents
to help ensure its continued existence.
When medical professionals purchase management
consulting from a PMC affiliated with Hubbard's
teachings, the PMC forwards a portion of that
money to the Scientology social movement. In this
stage of involvement, the professional is a
constituent of the social movement. If the
professionals agree with the results of the
personality profile and agree to participate in
Scientology counseling or training, then they
accept the social movement's ability to assist
them in personal issues. In this stage of
involvement, they become both constituents and
adherents of the movement.
23 In order for an individual to join a movement,
"an affective bond must develop, if it does not
already exist" (Loftand and Stark 1965:871). The
development of a positive, interpersonal tie
between a prospective member and one or more
movement members is the strongest precipitating
factor in organization entry (Snow and Phillips
1980: 440).
24 The agreement between Scientology and the IRS
required that Scientology "no later than 31
December 1995, effectuate the dissolution of WISE,
Inc. and transfer all of its assets, including but
not limited to the Scientology religious marks, to
the Inspector General Network [a high level
Scientology management structure]" (Department of
the Treasury - Internal Revenue Service, 1993). A
new variant of the old WISE, Inc., however, now
operates under a slightly different name, as
indicated by the continued publication of
Prosperity magazine (WISE 1997).
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-----
--
An Inuit hunter asked the local missionary priest: "If I did not know about
God and sin, would I go to hell?" "No," said the priest, "not if you did
not know." "Then why," asked the Inuit earnestly, "did you tell me?"
-Annie Dillard, Pilgrim at Tinker Creek
Cheerful Charlie
Android Cat
> http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0SOR/is_4_59/ai_53590311
>
>
> Managing to recruit: religious conversion in the
> workplace
> Sociology of Religion, Winter, 1998
> by Deana Hall
Thank you! A nice scholarly article that just got added to the WISE wiki
page.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Institute_of_Scientology_Enterprises
> The scuttlebutt was that . . . this guy was a
> recruiter for Scientology, and everybody knew
> that. So everybody, all of us, all the dentists
> and podiatrists, . . . and periodontists and
> chiropractors that were there with us, we all went
> in [to the private meeting with the Scientology
> recruiter] with our eyes open, knowing that this
> guy was going to try to get us to sign up for
> Scientology. And so we all had this sense of
> invulnerability, that we were tough and we weren't
> going to fall for this. . . . None of us were
> going to sign up for this. In reality, every
> single one of us did, every single one of us did
> (Hall and Kent 1995: 17-18).
I wonder how many people know it's a trap, hear all the voices in the
audience yelling "No! Don't go in there! Don't open that door!", and walk in
there anyway thinking that they can tough it out? They should understand
that CoS *knows* that you know, and have fine-tuned their recruitment to get
past that.
--
Ron of that ilk.
Eldonbraun
> I wonder how many people know it's a trap, hear all the voices in the
> audience yelling "No! Don't go in there! Don't open that door!", and walk in
> there anyway thinking that they can tough it out? They should understand
> that CoS *knows* that you know, and have fine-tuned their recruitment to get
> past that.
Very good question. The obvious answer is that more of those who walk
in prewarned, do walk out quickly. Those who are more gullible stay for
awhile, but lots of those walk out sooner. So no matter how fine-tuned
the recruitment is, the overall quality of new recruits and devotees
declines -- in terms of sanity, awareness, intelligence, or whatever
value you want to put on it.
To speed up the process here, what's needed is just one good article,
with slight variations, in various trade magazines that reach
Sterling's audiences.
Android Cat
> Android Cat wrote:
>> I wonder how many people know it's a trap, hear all the voices in the
>> audience yelling "No! Don't go in there! Don't open that door!", and
>> walk in there anyway thinking that they can tough it out? They
>> should understand that CoS *knows* that you know, and have
>> fine-tuned their recruitment to get past that.
>
> Very good question. The obvious answer is that more of those who walk
> in prewarned, do walk out quickly. Those who are more gullible stay
> for awhile, but lots of those walk out sooner. So no matter how
> fine-tuned the recruitment is, the overall quality of new recruits
> and devotees declines -- in terms of sanity, awareness, intelligence,
> or whatever value you want to put on it.
Education always helps, but those people knew that it was Scientology,
figured that they were in control and could walk out at any time, but still
got trapped by the gradiant. Lots of mundane sales come-ons are designed
that way and they're not as life-invading.
> To speed up the process here, what's needed is just one good article,
> with slight variations, in various trade magazines that reach
> Sterling's audiences.
Accounts of people who did get involved, even when they knew better, are
powerful reading and by the Internet, they're only a search away--if people
take the time to look. Excellent sites like http://stop-wise.biz organize
it as a one-stop shoppe (heh) for information. With Wiki, it's tough
because as much as I'd like to join the vandals posting "THIS IS A LOAD OF
BULLOCKS! RUN AWAY! RUN AWAY!", it has to stick to a neutral voice
collaborative effort of referenced facts.
No doubt CoS will be unhappy even with that, but not only does the emperor
have no clothes, but he hasn't bathed in years. Deal with it.
wbarwell
It would be nice to come up with a sort of standard DVD off
line website of this stuff, and mail copies to major newspapers and
magazines like Time, Newsweek, Forbes, Business Week et al.
And for chiropractor, veterinarian and dentists' journals.
These people need to give heads up warnings to the business
community.
wbarwell
Another site people should know.
Well, here is another counter-spam
slap down.
*************************************************
* Scientology's Business "Consulting" *
* front groups *
*************************************************
Mike Gormez (mgo...@chello.nl) organized these
web pages because he feels that "religious"
organizations should be honest with their members
about their true goals, and businesses should be
honest about religious connections with their
clients and employees.
Trust is vital when doing business. A check of
a dozen or so Scientology front groups in the US,
such as the Citizen's Commission on Human Rights
(CCHR), Narconon or its management consultants arm,
World Institute of Scientology Enterprises (WISE),
reveal that their main statement of purpose, filed
with the IRS (US tax authority), indicates the
group's main purpose is to prosletyze Scientology.
The Organization has numerous facades and front
groups, many of which flat out deny their connection
to Scientology. Many suspect this is so because if
its doctrine and practices were revealed to the
"raw meat" (Scientologese for potential recruit)
they would run away and never come back.
Information on:
WISE
Sterling Managment
U-Man
Hollander Consulting
And others.
http://www.whyaretheydead.net/misc/work/index.html#declaration
Declarations and personal experiences
Don't be tricked!
*************************************************
wbarwell
> x-no-archive:yes
> Pee Pee
>
> Doo Doo
>
> Pee Pee
>
> Doo Doo
>
The business community is being preyed on by Scientology.
I am sure that if the exact depths of thsi were available to
the press in a more targetted fashion, more reporters would
take a deeper look at the problem.
Its good for a few stories.
wbarwell
> BARWELL, WE ARE TIRED OF THE DAILY MASSIVE WILLIAM CHARLES BARWELL
> SPAM, LIES, DEFAMATION, ABUSE AND HARASSMENT.
You'll just have to get used to it. Clam
Get this one!
Introduction to Scientology Ethics - 1989
"There are two stable data which anybody has to have,
understand and KNOW ARE TRUE in order to obtain
results in handling the the person connected to
suppressives.
These data are:
1 That all illness, in greater or lesser degree, and all
foul-ups stem directly and only from a PTS condition.
2. That getting rid of the condition requires three basic
actions: (A) Discover, (B) Handle or disconnect."
-------
This is science?
What about those sea org members who get sick, who long
ago disconnected from their families and the world at large
and only have contact with their fellow true believing OT
bretheren and sisters?
This whole chapter, "Handling the Potential Trouble
Source" is stupid and nasty. Its all that is wrong
with this stupid cult. All medical doctors and
nutritionists are failures because they don't have
Hubbo tech. Fer sure!
Its amazing the crap Scientology pours into the heads
of naifs. I think of all those hundreds of people
wandering lost in the bowels of Flag in Clearwater
having their brains filled with nonsense like this and
wonder, how CAN so many people fall for obvious nonsense
like this?
Out-and-out quackery and not even good quackery at that.
Cheerful Charlie