ABSTRACT

The ideologies of totalist organizations vary from left to right, from a belief in aliens to post-modern therapy, from “peaceloving” to militant, or from apocalyptic to pseudo-scientific – but they all share a set of common formal traits and functions. This chapter explains the two purposes of the ideology and the specific use of language in totalist organizations: the first purpose is to reflect and justify the absolute control and single point of power of the leader and the isolating structure he or she creates; and the second purpose of totalist ideologies is to maintain dissociation. The total ideology is central to the leader-enforced interpretation of individuals’ felt experiences. In creating a situation of fright without solution in followers, and thereby causing them to dissociate and become unable to think about the fear-arousing situation, the group can then further insinuate its own ideology as a substitute for the follower’s critical thinking.