Are you in a managed culture or are you being brainwashed?

A young man or women leaves their home and travels across the country to go to college. After just a few months of being in a new location and meeting new people, values and experiences suggest there are different ways to behave and learn about the world. When employees enter into a new workplace the same cultural phenomena occurs (Robbins, & Judge, 2009). Brainwashing is having another person, group, or organization’s impose a set of beliefs, attitudes, and behaviors, forcibly if need be, with the aim of destroying an individual’s convictions and attitudes, while replacing them with their desired alternatives (Long, & Hadden, 1983). When individuals are invited into a structured environment, they learn attitudes, beliefs, and values that they then carry with them to display in often creative ways that answer the needs of their lives and their perceived careers (Leavitt, 1991). 

To be socialized into a group or organization it does not happen through one or two events. Socialization is an ongoing process that involves relating to others through a social environment where individuals learn the display rules, unspoken values, norms, informal and formal hierarchy, and the required skills to succeed through the managed culture and circumstances (Hunter, 1956). Robbins and Judge (2009) state that while organizations will bring new hires into the managed culture of an organization with the aim of assisting employees in adapting to the profession and the environment itself. Brainwashing is not about learning to integrate information into a person’s behavioral possibilities. It is about limiting responses and attempting to decree that there is only one legitimate source of cultural information (Hunter, 1956). Since all differences in culture are socially constructed, any organization or group has to continually evolve with the cultural environment around them while educating the people that will advance the organization/group culture (Robbins, & Judge, 2009). 

There is a big difference between a managed culture and that of brainwashing when it comes to socialization. Managed cultures educate those people interested and investing in by sharing who they are in relation to what they believe, operate (ethically, and industrially), and how they cooperate with other cultures (Robbins, & Judge, 2009). Individuals have to be brought up to speed if they wish to be perceived as professionals through their organization who anchors an individual with membership into an industry. Brainwashing can be as systematic and similar to a managed culture, but it is totally without the freedom to believe and process the information in any other way except those directed by its source. The only thing left to debate is what a person means by freedom and the consequences of not buying into a managed culture. 

Peterson (2009) defines indoctrination as the willful and intentional action of a person to get someone to accept their beliefs without question or without seeking the truth from outside sources. Snook (as cited in Peterson) adds that the person introduces their beliefs without evidence and expects others to accept their beliefs. Indoctrinators may provide reasons for their belief but they do this in such a way that encourages others to ignore opposing beliefs or the person may not be able to engage in activities that will question rather or not the belief is truthful.

I believe that brainwashing is a form of socialization but not all processes of socialization involves brainwashing. For example, Charles Manson is known for his ability to brainwash his followers by first drugging them and next influencing their thoughts by disturbing their memories and facilitating aberrant behavior (Kent, 2008). Although this is a negative form of socialization, the court ruled that through brainwashing Manson persuaded his followers to accept his beliefs without question. Even when his followers were sober, they continued to live by his wishes and were responsive to his whims.

In examining the relationship between socialization and brainwashing, many may believe that brainwashing occurs through the use of some type of force. However, the Manson case demonstrated that people can be brainwashed without force (Kent, 2008). I believe the difference between brainwashing and positive socialization is that positive socialization involves the person’s awareness and willingness to change whereas brainwashing does not always include a person full awareness of potential outcome of brainwashing. Thanks for reading my post.

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Joseph Santiago, Guest Writer, is the Instructional Program Coordinator for the University of Rhode Island's GBLT Center, an independent writer, and the founder for Santiago, Inc., his own publishing company. Check out his website: www.worldvoiceproject.com

Listen to Joe's commentary here: www.uri.edu/glbt/images/SantiagoJ.mov

Works Cited:

Hunter, E. (1956). Brainwashing: The story of men who defied it. New York, NY US: Farrar, Straus and Cudahy. Retrieved from PsycINFO database.

Kent, S. (2008). Contemporary uses of the brainwashing concept: 2000 to mid-2007). Cultic Studies Review, 7(2), 99-128.

Peterson, Barbara. (2009). Reason-giving versus truth-seeking: Reconceptualizing indoctrination in education. Philosophy of Education Yearbook, 367-374.Thanks for reading my post.

Leavitt, H. (1991). Socializing Our MBAs: Total Immersion? Managed Cultures? Brainwashing?. California Management Review, 33(4), 127-143. Retrieved from Business Source Complete database.

Long, T., & Hadden, J. (1983). Religious Conversion and the Concept of Socialization: Integrating the Brainwashing and Drift Models. Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, 22(1), 1. Retrieved from Academic Search Complete database.

Robbins, S., & Judge, T. (2009). Organizational behavior (13th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.

New Year, New Adventures, and a Whole Lot of Memories!

Happy 2011, mes amis! It's a new year, and we are excited to push you to your creative limits! We begin with an extended deadline of the 1st Bi-Annual MCC e-Journal Publication. We understand the holidays can be a crazy time, and hope the new due date of Friday, January 14th, 2011 will give you some time to sit, think, and reflect. The theme and accepted formats still stand--additional details maybe obtained by referring to our original post HERE.

What other exciting opportunities do you have in store for us?!, you ask? Well, buckle up, because we're about to take you on a week-long journey filled with music, yoga, and engaging discussion--among other activities--in celebration of Martin Luther King, Jr. Day! The celebration is URI's 25th annual event running from Monday, January 31st - Saturday, February 5th, 2011. We invite one and all to come join us in remembrance and celebration of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.'s legacy. Please check out our SCHEDULE OF EVENTS and let us know what workshops you are looking forward to in the comments below!

P.S. Are you planning to bring your class to one of our events? Do you see a workshop that would be perfect for all of your facebook friends? Shoot us an e-mail or give us a ring at (401) 874-2851 to let us know so we can adequately accommodate you! Thank you!

Breaking Out of the Comfort Zone

       Last month a good friend of mine held a diversity forum for her Honors Colloquium course that focused on race. To my pleasure and the pleasure of my fellow PINK sisters, we were given the opportunity to collaborate with the forum facilitators.

       It was clear no one was comfortable enough to just pour their hearts out to one another at the start. Even the prepared questions prompted to dry responses. I even found myself answering questions just to fill the dead air. Despite their good intentions, the forum facilitators didn’t seem to be accomplishing much.

       It wasn’t until my friend Abeje, the group facilitator, asked us if we feel we have to change the way we act in order to fit into a society where the standards are based on white ideals. I personally can attest to a number of times when I’ve done things to appease people in my surroundings. Even things as petty as not wearing a shower cap when I walk to the bathroom so my suitemates (who happened to be white) wouldn’t see me.

That is when something started to click into my head. WHY is it that I can’t walk 15 steps to the bathroom in my shower cap? Why can’t my PINK sister walk to class with her hair wrapped? Why do we even buy UGGS? As we continued to share our experiences, the consensus of the ladies seemed to be that we do these things to ‘fit in’.

Sometimes I feel like society has turned its head away from the fact that prejudice still exist. And one of the most commonly used phrases I’ve heard to justify this is, “I don’t see color, I only see people”. As commendable as this may sound, it falls right into the same pool of prejudice along with the inventors of the Grandfather Clause and Jim Crow Laws.

       The fact is that WE ARE DIFFERENT. Different in color, culture, experiences, and the list goes on! So to void any acknowledgement of our differences is no less ignorant as exploiting them. The key is to ACCEPT and APPRECIATE the differences we all have as HUMAN BEINGS.

       I could honestly go on and on about how moving this forum was for me. But to prevent myself from going on a cyber rant I will the leave you with the moral of my story. We have more in common than we think. And if we could just look past the superficial and appreciate the person’s actual essence, society would be far better off. I truly believe that!
 

       As a multicultural student, I strongly believe it is the small, persistent steps that matter. So break out of your comfort zone!  Talk to someone new! Make it a goal to bridge the gap and close these cultural stereotypes we have of one another! You can’t change the mind of the world before you change the mind of your neighbor.

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Tyler Curry, Contributing Writer, is currently an undergraduate student at the University of Rhode Island pursing a study in Journalism.

The Mechanics of Time

                                                                  
       It’s just about that time of year again when families and friends gather to celebrate the holiday season. People travel far and long to reunite with their families and students head home for the holidays. The holidays are a special time that only happens once a year. Since the bulk of the holiday season is toward the end of the year, I often reflect on the year and what I was doing the following year during this time. This time last year, I was nearing the end of my first semester in college. I remember counting down the cold long days to the end of the semester, and to my liberation from URI for a month.


        Having the thoughts of my prior year cross my mind, I became astonished at the idea that I am almost done with my sophomore year of college. Toward the end of my high school career, when college became more of a reality to me, the college graduates around me always told me that college goes by fast. I never thought that they were lying to me, but never did I think that I’d be at the end of my sophomore year in what would have seemed like a month’s time. I guess that was the point of those college graduates telling me about college and how fast it can go by. So that I wouldn’t take my time for granted like they may have done.


        Time stops for no man or woman, which is the reason why it would be wise for everyone to try and make the most of what time we have. During my freshmen year, I couldn’t wait for the end of the spring semester so I could get as far as possible from URI. Reflecting on my freshmen year today, it doesn’t seem like it was all bad. And although I have had a hectic fall semester this year, I did have my share of good times. The future is bound to bring more frustrations, especially on the campus of URI. Although, in the future I’d like to try my best to enjoy my experience, because it will soon be over; and these are times I will never be able to get back.


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Stefan Correia, Staff Writer, is currently a sophomore undergraduate student at the University of Rhode Island studying Economics.

Flashback!

Take a look at some moments from the 7 Continents Culture Couture Show from Diversity Week 2010!

'Tis the Season

     This is the time of the year where you can smell the winter in the air. The leaves begin to show their deep red hues, and the thick wool coats come out of the closet. The holiday music begins to grace the radio frequencies and retail stores start to stock their shelves with gift-able merchandise wrapped in eye-catching ribbon. Amongst the seemingly decrease in nature's thermostat and the chaotic scene of the shopping centers, it's important to remember what this time of the year is all about.

     I'm the type of person who finds myself reminiscing about my childhood adventures and precious moments that happened way back when or even last week. I look through photo albums, notes, and little nick-knacks and sometimes find myself wishing that I was still close to that person, that I still spoke with that person. Life changes and people move away, relationships fray at the ends, and people fall apart. It happens. But I also believe that things happen for a reason. Things fall apart so you can find something new. People leave your life to make room for the new ones that come in. And every person that you encounter leaves you with something--may that be a lesson learned, a memory to cherish, or just an ear when you needed one the most. Everyone we meet impacts and affects us in some way, shape, or form, and we in turn do the same for those who we encounter. Those moments are special moments that are often unexpected and quick to pass by. 

     Time is quick to pass by. Words that are unspoken, remain unspoken, and unheard. Permanence is only determined by relative time. If someone makes an impact in your life, I think it is important to acknowledge that. 'Tis the season for family, friends, and loved ones. 'Tis the season to give thanks--thanks for the food that graces the table each night, thanks for the roommates who listen to you rant about the dramas of college, thanks for the friends who accept you for your quirkiness, thanks for the strangers who hold the door open for you, thanks for each day that you are able to laugh, cry, love, and smile.


     It doesn't take much for someone to touch my heart, and it doesn't take much to acknowledge someone for doing just that. So, I will start off by thanking you, dear reader. Thank you for taking the time out of your day to read what I have to say. Thank you for taking the time to appreciate the product of all our hard work. If you do anything after reading this post, I hope you take some time out of your day to thank at least one person who has impacted your life, in any degree, for the better.

     Kindness is contagious. Spread it.


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Holly Tran, Staff Writer, is currently a sophomore at the University of Rhode Island pursing a major in Biological Sciences.
    
    

"For Colored Girls": A Review

       How much power do we have as individuals over the relationships we keep? Whether it is between men and women or friends, we all tend to submit in some way or another. After watching Tyler Perry’s For Colored Girls for the URI Multicultural Center Dialogue Group, my eyes opened to the different ways we, as women, friends, daughters, sisters, and peers, submit to the pressures of the relationships that we carry. This movie showed the extremes that women go through with their marriages and the relationships that they keep. Now I am much more aware of the different power struggles that I have with friends and family members. 
       
       After watching the movie with the group, we were asked to sit and talk about how we felt about it; and to be quite honest, I was not ready. My mind was racing through the situations that were portrayed before me--"What would I have done if put in the situations presented? Have I ever focused on myself and not taken the opportunity to make a major difference?"--All this while processing the poetry that resounds within my mind today. A few days later, I was able to put the array of emotions, questions, and thoughts I had together. It was a truly enlightening and empowering feeling. 


       With friends, we either submit to the decisions made by the group without much of an argument, or are the ones making the decision for the group. In the case of male-female relationships, women tend (note I said the word ‘tend’) to submit to the needs of their counterpart. After watching the extreme situations that the characters of the movie went through I realized that everyone experiences this on one level or another. Despite the severity of the experiences (violent or not), we need to be aware that these issues affect us, and we all need to find the power to be who we are and have equality within the relationships that we keep. 


       I would recommend that everyone to go and see this movie, I plan on reading Ntozake Shange’s book from which the movie was based to gain more insight into the power we all have within us and I hope you get as much from this as I had!

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Addendum: FOR COLORED GIRLS brings to the screen Ntozake Shange's Obie Award-winning play, "For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide When the Rainbow is Enuf," a poetic exploration of what is to be of color and a female in this world. --Rotten Tomatoes Synopsis

The URI Multicultural Center Sustained Dialogue Project meets every Monday at 6PM at the Multicultural Center. This is an open event where all individuals are welcome to join in.

Denise Dujon, Staff Writer, is a senior undergraduate student at the University of Rhode Island majoring in Biology.