ABSTRACT
The ideologies of totalist organizations vary widely in content, but they share common formal traits and functions. This chapter explains the two purposes of totalist ideologies. The first purpose is to maintain dissociation: to prevent the integration of sensory and cognitive processing creating a cognitive vacuum that allows the group to further inculcate its ideology.The second purpose is to reflect and justify the absolute control of the leader. These two purposes are served through special private language, the often incomprehensible nature of the ideology, the exclusive nature of the beliefs, and other ways by which thoughtful reflection is made almost impossible.
