Captive Mind

Abstract

The concept of the captive mind was originated by the Malaysian sociologist Syed Hussein Alatas and was developed to conceptualize the nature of scholarship in the developing world, particularly in relation to western dominance in the social sciences and humanities. The captive mind is defined as an $@#*^%#@#ldquo;uncritical and imitative mind dominated by an external source, whose thinking is deflected from an independent perspective$@#*^%#@#rdquor; (Alatas 1974: 692). The external source is western social science and humanities and the uncritical imitation that influences all the constituents of scientific activity such as problem selection, conceptualization, analysis, generalization, description, explanation, and interpretation (Alatas 1972: 11). Among the characteristics of the captive mind are the inability to be creative and raise original problems, the inability to devise original analytical methods, and alienation from the main issues of indigenous society. The captive mind is trained almost entirely in the western sciences, reads the works of western authors, and is taught predominantly by western teachers, whether in the West itself or through their works available in local centers of education. Mental captivity is also found in the suggestion of solutions and policies. Furthermore, it reveals itself at the levels of theoretical as well as empirical work.