Cultic Studies Review, Vol. 4, No. 2, 2005, Page 13
sleeping pills, and went to sleep in the shed [near the house] knowing that when they woke
up, their parents and grandmother would be dead,‖ a Quebec police official said
(Washington Post, 1997). These teenagers survived, but the mere fact that their parents
and a grandparent tried to kill them, and then let them awake to their family members‘ fiery
deaths, shows to what extent the deindividuation of the teens by the adults had devolved.
Dehumanization
After group members have dichotomized the world and deindividuated members of out-
groups, then they can easily remove all positive characteristics (such as ―moral virtue,
intelligence, responsibility, honesty, trustworthiness, reliability‖) from them while they
assign to them completely negative ones (such as ―moral degeneracy, stupidity,
irresponsibility, dishonesty, untrustworthiness, [and] unreliability‖ [Stahelski, 2004]). Going
further, in-group members assign nonhuman, animal characteristics to the others. Perceived
opponents become vermin, infections, rodents, and the like. Consequently, by viewing
others as subhuman, in-group members devalue outside criticisms and justify any actions
that they themselves might take against out-group members (see Stahelski, 2004). Of
particular importance here is evidence of how some groups dehumanized the young
dissenters among their own ranks, which is an important if not troubling extension of the
basic claims that Stahelski makes.
Several examples from the Krishna organization demonstrate how adults, especially
organizational leaders, dehumanized children, often to their great harm. Former member-
turned-writer Nori Muster takes one perspective on the issue, pointing out that
[t]he Hindu scriptures offer old-fashioned concepts of women‘s place,
comparing women to menacing animals or children. ISKCON could have tried
to modernize the philosophy for a late twentieth century Western audience [.
..],but [founder] Prabhupada and other men in the hierarchy amplified the
chauvinistic points instead (Muster 2004:13).
In essence, ISKCON‘s all-male leadership saw women and children as less than full humans,
and hence not subject to equal treatment with men. ISKCON women were, however, better
literature distributors and fundraisers (activities called sankirtan) than men, and raising
children hindered if not prevented them from doing these activities (because sankirtan
usually required extensive traveling). Consequently, a common saying among Krishna
followers in one of their larger communities that provided child care was ―Dump the load
and hit the road‖ (cited in Rochford and Heinlein, 1998:11). In essence, children were
―loads‖ or burdens on the women, hurting their ability to work for the organization.
Scholar E. Burke Rochford added another dimension to the issue of ISKCON children being
dehumanized. He reported that ―[u]p until the early 1980s, children born within ISKCON
were commonly portrayed as being spiritually pure.... Yet this view changed by the mid-
1980s, as some leaders complained that ISKCON‘s children were turning out to be little
more than ‗karmies‘ (that is, non-religious outsiders) ...‖ (Rochford with Heinlein, 1998:9).
This pejorative label came about as ISKCON children who had gone through its own school
system had not become the spiritually pure and devoted teens that leaders had expected.
Rather than blame the results on the contents of their education and the behaviours of
numerous abusive teachers, leadership blamed the youth themselves (Rochford with
Heinlein, 1998:10).
Analogous pejorative labels befell Children of God teens, as adults in that group had to face
the fact that their education and socialization efforts toward the second generation had
serious problems. By the mid-1980s, leaders became aware that many Children of God
teens were rebelling against the faith of their parents, and they established a series of ―teen
training camps‖ in various parts of the world, plus additional ―victor camps‖ or ―detention
sleeping pills, and went to sleep in the shed [near the house] knowing that when they woke
up, their parents and grandmother would be dead,‖ a Quebec police official said
(Washington Post, 1997). These teenagers survived, but the mere fact that their parents
and a grandparent tried to kill them, and then let them awake to their family members‘ fiery
deaths, shows to what extent the deindividuation of the teens by the adults had devolved.
Dehumanization
After group members have dichotomized the world and deindividuated members of out-
groups, then they can easily remove all positive characteristics (such as ―moral virtue,
intelligence, responsibility, honesty, trustworthiness, reliability‖) from them while they
assign to them completely negative ones (such as ―moral degeneracy, stupidity,
irresponsibility, dishonesty, untrustworthiness, [and] unreliability‖ [Stahelski, 2004]). Going
further, in-group members assign nonhuman, animal characteristics to the others. Perceived
opponents become vermin, infections, rodents, and the like. Consequently, by viewing
others as subhuman, in-group members devalue outside criticisms and justify any actions
that they themselves might take against out-group members (see Stahelski, 2004). Of
particular importance here is evidence of how some groups dehumanized the young
dissenters among their own ranks, which is an important if not troubling extension of the
basic claims that Stahelski makes.
Several examples from the Krishna organization demonstrate how adults, especially
organizational leaders, dehumanized children, often to their great harm. Former member-
turned-writer Nori Muster takes one perspective on the issue, pointing out that
[t]he Hindu scriptures offer old-fashioned concepts of women‘s place,
comparing women to menacing animals or children. ISKCON could have tried
to modernize the philosophy for a late twentieth century Western audience [.
..],but [founder] Prabhupada and other men in the hierarchy amplified the
chauvinistic points instead (Muster 2004:13).
In essence, ISKCON‘s all-male leadership saw women and children as less than full humans,
and hence not subject to equal treatment with men. ISKCON women were, however, better
literature distributors and fundraisers (activities called sankirtan) than men, and raising
children hindered if not prevented them from doing these activities (because sankirtan
usually required extensive traveling). Consequently, a common saying among Krishna
followers in one of their larger communities that provided child care was ―Dump the load
and hit the road‖ (cited in Rochford and Heinlein, 1998:11). In essence, children were
―loads‖ or burdens on the women, hurting their ability to work for the organization.
Scholar E. Burke Rochford added another dimension to the issue of ISKCON children being
dehumanized. He reported that ―[u]p until the early 1980s, children born within ISKCON
were commonly portrayed as being spiritually pure.... Yet this view changed by the mid-
1980s, as some leaders complained that ISKCON‘s children were turning out to be little
more than ‗karmies‘ (that is, non-religious outsiders) ...‖ (Rochford with Heinlein, 1998:9).
This pejorative label came about as ISKCON children who had gone through its own school
system had not become the spiritually pure and devoted teens that leaders had expected.
Rather than blame the results on the contents of their education and the behaviours of
numerous abusive teachers, leadership blamed the youth themselves (Rochford with
Heinlein, 1998:10).
Analogous pejorative labels befell Children of God teens, as adults in that group had to face
the fact that their education and socialization efforts toward the second generation had
serious problems. By the mid-1980s, leaders became aware that many Children of God
teens were rebelling against the faith of their parents, and they established a series of ―teen
training camps‖ in various parts of the world, plus additional ―victor camps‖ or ―detention
