Disciplined Minds: a critical look at salaried professionals and the soul-battering system that shapes their lives. . - Reviews - book review

Radical Teacher, Winter, 2001 by Brian Martin

So while there are some sections in the book where an engagement with other literatures, such as critiques of credential systems or analyses of hegemony, might have added insight or nuance, in other sections Schmidt tackles areas that are neglected elsewhere, such as "cooling-out work." Arguably, working out his own framework was what enabled him to make his most original contributions.

Another limitation of Disciplined Minds is its restriction mainly to the US experience. While much of the analysis applies to other countries and cultures, there are also significant differences. For example, old-fashioned patronage plays a much larger role in some European countries, making an exam-based system seem egalitarian by comparison. The existence of powerful left-wing parties in many countries changes the situation for left-wing professionals, offering both opportunities and dangers that are not easily appreciated in the U.S. Cross-cultural assessments of themes covered in Disciplined Minds are needed. My fear is that there are few individuals with the inclination or opportunity to write them!

Where the book most obviously goes beyond usual critical analyses of professions is in the final part, "Resistance." Schmidt begins by drawing an analogy between professional training and ideological indoctrination in cults. He recognizes that students have many more opportunities to organize and resist than typical cult members. Nevertheless, he argues that "life in graduate or professional school can be very much like life in a cult--and that for students who aren't careful, it will be" (218). He then looks at the characteristic features of totalistic organizations, such as big promises, control of the milieu, no questioning of authority and shaming. He gives examples from professional training reflecting each of these features.

For example, Schmidt says that the leaders of totalistic organizations "would rather have total control of a group that does a poor job of fulfilling its all-important mission than be rank-and-file members of a democratic but more effective organization" (227) and then quotes a sociology graduate student's experience of an intimidating faculty member.

How to survive? Well, how can captive soldiers survive what is commonly called "brainwashing"? The U.S. Army has a manual on resisting indoctrination when a prisoner of war. As Schmidt amusingly notes, this manual wasn't written for students, but "students in graduate or professional school should be able to put such resistance techniques to good use" (239). A person who maintains an independent, nonconforming outlook in any institution, including a prisoner-of-war camp, is seen as deviant and threatening. The keys to resistance are knowing what you're up against, preparing to take action, working with others (organization!), resisting at all levels, and dealing with collaborators by cutting them off from key information and attempting to win them over. Schmidt gives a revealing account of his own difficulties in graduate school and how he survived as a radical.