Thought Reform and the Psychology of Totalism: A Study of Brainwashing in China
by Robert Jay Lifton
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Informed by Erik Erikson's concept of the formation of ego identity, this book, which first appreared in 1961, is an analysis of the experiences of fifteen Chinese citizens and twenty-five Westerners who underwent ""brainwashing"" by the Communist Chinese government. Robert Lifton constructs these case histories through personal interviews and outlines a thematic pattern of death and rebirth, accompanied by feelings of guilt, that characterizes the process of ""thought reform."" In a new show more preface, Lifton addresses the implications of his model for the study of American religious cults. show lessTags
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37+ Works 2,800 Members
A distinguished professor of psychology & psychiatry at John Jay College & the Graduate Center of the City University of New York, Robert Jay Lifton is the author of many important works, including "The Nazis Doctors," winner of the "Los Angeles Times" Book Prize, & "Death in Life," winner of a National Book Award. (Bowker Author Biography)
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Common Knowledge
- Epigraph
- How intoxicating to feel like God the Father and to hand out definitive testimonials of bad character and habits.
Albert Camus
Only simple and quiet words will ripen of themselves. For a whirlwind does not last for the whole morning. Nor does a thundershower last the whole day. Who is their author? The heaven and earth. Yet even they cannot make such... (show all) violent things last. How much more true this must be of the rash endeavors of man.
Lao Tze - First words
- When confronted with the endless discussion on the general subject of "brainwashing," I am sometimes reminded of the Zen Buddhist maxim: "The more we talk about it, the less we understand it."
- Last words
- (Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)Provided I am able to keep up my efforts, I shall ultimately succeed.
- Blurbers
- Allport, Gordon W.; Feis, Herbert
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- Languages
- English
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- Paper, Audiobook, Ebook
- ISBNs
- 7
- ASINs
- 8
