Managing to recruit: religious conversion in the workplace

Sociology of Religion, Winter, 1998 by Deana Hall

One of the central arguments of resource mobilization theory is that social movements need resources in order to survive (McCarthy and Zald 1987: 28). New Religious Movements with expressed goals of effecting change in society fall within McCarthy and Zald's conceptualization of a social movement, and as such researchers have examined the resource mobilization strategies of a number of these social groups (Bird and Westley 1988; Bromley 1985; Johnston 1980; Khalsa 1986; Richardson 1988; Robbins 1988; Tipton 1988). One new religious movement, however, that has not been examined extensively regarding its resource mobilization strategies is the Church of Scientology.(1)

This article utilizes resource mobilization theory's general precepts to examine a specific component of Scientology's economic activities.(2) It focuses on the movement's recruitment of medical professionals through medically-based practice management companies (PMCs). Through a licensing agreement with Scientology, the PMCs have obtained the right to use the writings of Scientology's founder, L. Ron Hubbard, to teach management skills to medical professionals, including dentists, veterinarians, podiatrists, and chiropractors (among others). In addition to practical management advice, PMCs also offer their clients an introduction to the Church of Scientology. The link between PMCs and Scientology provides an example of the mediation of ideological recruitment through front companies, as originally described by Bird and Westley (1988).(3)

Although resource mobilization theory allows us to explain the economic activities of social movements, it does not offer provisions for analyzing the motivations of individuals who join them (Kent 1982). In order to amend this theoretically-based oversight, I use Lofland and Stark's conversion model to explain how and why some individuals become involved in particular social movements. In essence, Lofland and Stark's conversion model offers theorists an opportunity to examine the motivation of individuals in joining ideological organizations, which strategy heretofore has been missing from resource mobilization theory. The model allows researchers to identify the social factors that foster individual involvement in a social movement such as Scientology, and is thus particularly appropriate for application to the present study.

Interaction between medical professionals, PMCs, and Scientology generally follows a pattern of increasing commitment that I divide into three distinct stages: initial contact, practice management consulting, and direct participation in Scientology. This article outlines the general pattern of interaction between the medical professionals and Scientology, then examines this interaction in the context of resource mobilization theory and Lofland and Stark's conversion model in order to explain the motivations of both the social movement and its potential members.(4)

Interaction between medical professionals and Scientology's affiliated practice management companies generally begins with a PMC-initiated meeting either for an introductory seminar or free analysis of the medical practice. During the introductory seminars, recruiting staff present L. Ron Hubbard's management principles and provide examples of how the professionals can apply these techniques in both professional and personal arenas (WISE 1988: 8). Following these introductory seminars, PMC consultants arrange individual consultations with each medical professional, during which they discuss training programs appropriate to the doctor's medical practice (WISE 1992: 5; Hall and Kent 1995: 6). If the practitioners agree to purchase consulting services, then the next step in the process is a practice analysis.

Practice analyses generally involve intense and exhaustive examinations of the individual medical practice.(5) In addition to providing PMC staff with information about the general financial accounting and patient loads of the practice, the medical professionals also provide personal information about themselves, their spouses, and their staff through a personality profile, the Oxford Capacity Analysis. These personality profiles represent an essential element of the practice analysis, and according to one subject, "from [the PMC's] point of view, we were not allowed to have employees who didn't want to answer the test" (Hall and Kent 1995: 9).

Often practice analyses go beyond professional issues and enter into the personal life of the practitioner. According to one subject, "[The consultant] asked me a lot of very, very personal questions about me: 'Are you a drinker? Do you do drugs? Do you have sex outside of marriage?'" (Dexheimer 1991: 12). The subject's wife added:

After the [practice analysis] meeting, they knew everything about us. They knew how much life insurance he had, with whom, his parents' income, any inheritance he was coming into, every checking account, our mortgage. They knew how much I paid for my horse-trailer. They knew how many portable radios we have in the house. They knew more about our finances than I do (Dexheimer 1991: 13).