The Five Progressive Qualities of the Committed Cult Member

Recruitability. I was either raised in the cult or already so blind, deaf, dumbed down, gullible and senseless that I was a perfect mark for the bait. (But see below.)

Exploitability. Got enough Codependency to be an approval junkie? You betcha!

Dependability. Got a "mission?" Count on me to git 'er done.

Deployability. Just show me the target. I'll suffer and die for the bite, errrrrr, The Cause.

Expendability. Wad me up and throw me out when I'm no longer useful.

(Developed further from a pair of concepts in Alexandra Stein's Terror, Love & Brainwashing. See also A Comprehensive -- and Free -– Online BOOK on How Cults Work and how to recover from them.)

Relative to the first quality above, Stein suggested a more nuanced and less totalistic notion she calls "situational vulnerability." Especially with respect to the typically more educated and higher functioning people who become involved in the so-called "human potential" cults like Scientology and Landmark, I support the notion that surrounding cultural conditioning (e.g. in the high-technology, media and entertainment industries) predisposes those who place a high value on achievement to seek whatever "legs up" they can get, wherever they can get them. But in the less educated and lower functioning world of those born into the welfare and lower working classes, I continue to assert that the precise wording of my definition of recruitability (or "pre-conditioned vulnerability") is largely accurate.

In similar regard, see also: The Typical Path of Cult Involvement and The Cultic Pyramid, and the following six stages from a Redditor:

"First, the world is a mess and we want to fix it. We have the answers. Second, we work hard evangelizing because we must save as many as possible. Third, the group is better than ever other group above because…see above. Fourth, you are never quite good enough. You must confess and repent daily for everything. Fifth, you must spend most of your time with the group and live with group members so as not to be corrupted by the world. Sixth, we must use our money to further the cause because remember, only we are saved. Give, give, give."