Mechanisms of Social Control - References
- Actually, as some readers will note, information was listed only as a form of influence in the 1959 paper (French & Raven, 1959), but has been included subsequently (since Raven, 1965) among the six bases of power.
- Although Buddhism does not include a concept of "God" or "gods," Sakai explains that in Japan there is some belief in the indigenous Shinto religion, which includes many gods and goddesses, somewhat parallel to Greek mythology. Though current adherence to Shinto is not widespread, the folk belief in various gods continues.
3 Since our discussion here is presented from various religious perspectives, we will use the terms BCE (Before the Common Era) and CE (Common Era), instead of the more conventional BC and AD.
4 Once the power of God has been established, His power has been invoked frequently by kings and other rulers, to establish and maintain their power in the name of God. Machiavelli (1532/1940) notes that "prudent men know of many beneficial things which, having no persuasive evidence for them, they cannot get others to accept. Consequently, wise men who wish to avoid this difficulty, resort to divine authority. . . . Where a fear of God is lacking, the state must either fail or be sustained by a fear of the ruler which may substitute for the lack of religion" (pp. 103-104).
5 This position is presented even more forcefully by Luther in his Small Catechism: "Jesus has redeemed me, a lost and condemned creature delivered me from all sins, from death, and from the power of the devil . . . with his holy and precious blood and with his innocent sufferings and death, in order that I may be his, live under him and in his Kingdom and serve him in everlasting righteousness and blessedness. . . ." (quoted in Armstrong, 1993, p. 278, emphasis added).
6 Though informational power is not characteristic in the Old Testament, there are exceptions, particularly in the Prophets. For example, Ezekiel (Ezekiel 34), speaking for the Lord, makes a plea for ethical treatment of animals, pointing out that shepherds take the wool of their sheep, feed themselves of the meat of the sheep, but yet do not properly feed the sheep, mend their broken bones, or look after them, treating them with force and cruelty. Surely, shepherds should behave ethically toward their animals. But the Lord follows this with a threat of extreme punishment. For those who treat their flock ethically. He offers a reward: He would treat them as a good shepherd should look after his sheep. Informational power is strengthened through reward and coercive power.
7 One cannot fail to be impressed with an elaborate series of requirements that the Lord gave to Moses and Aaron, which they were in turn to pass on to the children of Israel. These specified what should be done if "a man had a running issue out of his flesh," what signs one should look for, how these should be dealt with as these might change over time, with a priest brought in to make certain that the correct things were done. These included destroying the clothing and bedding of the infected person, cleaning and bathing of that person, as well as anyone who might come in contact with him, shaving of body hair, destroying earthen vessels that the person might have used, thoroughly cleaning or even destroying the dwelling place, and the like (Leviticus 13-15). If one omitted the dicta requiring certain sacrifices of turtledoves and lambs, much of what was ordered by the Lord was similar to what our National Centers for Disease Control recommend for the prevention and control of nosocomial infections (Raven & Haley, 1980). However, these requirements are not presented as well-reasoned procedures to avoid spread of infection, but as behaviors required by the Lord, and they are presented shortly after the story of the sons of Aaron being consumed by fire for even a slight deviation from their orders. Given the difficulty that the CDC has in gaining compliance even today with even simple recommended hand-washing procedures, who can say that the earlier influence strategies were less effective?
8 Among the most esteemed philosophers and codifiers in Judaism is Moses Maimonides (Moses ben Maimon or Rambam. 1136-1204 CE), who is particularly remembered for his belief in the love of God through reason. His great philosophical work, Guide for the Perplexed, attempted to show the way to "the science of the law in the true sense," pointing out the rational bases for dicta and requirements in Holy Works - what we would interpret as an emphasis on informational power. He became an uncompromising adversary of all that would not stand up to reason. For deviating from literal interpretations, traditional Jewish scholars condemned his works as heretical, he was subjected to an excommunicatory ban, and his books were burned by Christian Dominicans. The influence of his writings continues to this day, even among traditionalists (Hartman, 1977; Minkin, 1993).
9 There have been other, similar attempts to examine religious orientations in how religions determine individual behaviors and beliefs. Fromm (1941) distinguished between authoritarian and humanistic religious orientation. Gordon Allport (1950, 1966) began by distinguishing between mature and immature religion, then developed this into a conception of religious orientations that involve extrinsic versus intrinsic motivations (anticipating later motivation theories by Deci, 1975). Intrinsic religionists follow their religion because an internally felt acceptance of the propriety of such behavior. Extrinsics do so because they hope to receive certain rewards and void punishments by adherence. (See Paloutzian, 1996, pp. 201 ff., for further discussion.) The distinction is most clear for religions that operate on the basis of informational power versus reward or coercive power. However, we argue that it is also useful to consider various forms of legitimate power, as well as expert and referent power, that don't fit so neatly into this dichotomy.
10 Hue Fortson (personal communication, May 1997), who had been assistant pastor and archivist for the Reverend Jim Jones of the People's Temple and Jonestown, reported a number devices used by Jones to establish his power: To demonstrate his omniscience, Jones would have trusted accomplices go into a persons' quarters without their knowledge and report to Jones very personal and private things, which Jones would bring out at the next prayer meeting. When a member died, he would discuss instances in which that member had not been completely obedient to Jones's wishes. He would give very long speeches in which he would use his intelligence and logic to convince everyone of both his wisdom (expert power), and the true bases of his beliefs. Members would wonder about how he could speak for 3-4 hours without a toilet break; he did this by having a hidden container behind his podium. He also performed miraculous "surgery" on stage, removing with his hands a presumably cancerous growth, with the "patient" immediately jumping off the stage in triumph. To demonstrate the relative weakness of the opposing Deity, be would fling the Bible across the room, challenging the Lord to punish him for his impunity.