Alternative term for 'cargo cult'

Question

In my line of work as an IT Security Engineer it is common to come across articles written by prominent technology companies describing their practices and processes. It is then also common for another organisation to some time later adopt those ways of working with an expectation to see similar success.

I believe this can be an example of a 'cargo cult'. A term that Wikipedia can explain far more eloquently than I can.

However, the term 'cargo cult' appears problematic and pejorative against and not in particular Pacific Island cultures, and I would like to avoid using it.

I am therefore interested in finding alternative words, terms, idioms or phrases (ideally in common use in British English) that describe in a negative light the practice of copying the example of a successful activity and expecting similar results.

Answer 1

If you're writing for an IT audience, the term "cargo cult" might be perfectly appropriate. Refer to the Wikipedia entry for cargo cult programming or this article on Medium, "The Curious Case of Cargo Cults and Corporate Innovation."

You do seem to want a slightly pejorative term here, since the practice in question is maladaptive.

I suggest "copycat" or "monkey see monkey do" if you still want an alternative term.

Answer 2

I'm going to give you a sad answer:

There isn't one.

I posted the same question quite a while ago on an "inclusive language" forum and the dozen people there -- folks who are paid to think about making language more inclusive for IT professionals -- were unable to come up with an alternative.

Since we cannot use discriminatory terminology in technical documentation, we've had to resort to less descriptive phrases like "mindless duplication" or even "copying without understanding", but there's nothing that really substitutes for the phrase.

Answer 3

Magical thinking is a possibility. Wikipedia defines it as "the belief that unrelated events are causally connected despite the absence of any plausible causal link between them, particularly as a result of supernatural effects".

It's often used in the context of superstitions such as "If I do this, my sports team will win." (Healthline article) But it can be extended to programming beliefs that verge on superstition such as "if I put X in my code it will work" or "if I use X language it will work", and it has been used in the context of software engineering: TechRepublic, Wrong Side of Memphis blog.

It doesn't directly relate to copying other successful models, but does relate to doing things without understanding why they'll work or not work, as a result of irrational beliefs.

Answer 4

It's a verb rather than a noun, but "ape" might be useful.

From Mirriam-Webster:

ape verb, transitive verb

: to copy closely but often clumsily and ineptly

She apes the speech and manners of the rich.

Answer 5

Copying parrot-fashion, or 'parroting' almost works, although unfortunately is only applied to saying, rather than doing, things without understanding them.

Answer 6

The behaviour being described is that of imitation.

In terms of describing a body of people engaged in imitation, but lacking any understanding of how their behaviour relates to their goals, I'm not sure one can do much better than cargo cult if the intention is to suggest that the imitative behaviour is not in fact related to the goals. It is difficult to avoid the pejorative connotations.

And in any context where people are expected to have a command of their subject, and at least a tacit understanding of how means relate to outcomes, then it is difficult to avoid a pejorative connotation even if the imitation is successful, because the intent is still to observe that the imitators do not understand why their behaviour produces the beneficial outcomes, and to cast them as fools or pretenders.

You might idiomatically say that they are operating on blind faith, and as a group they comprise a body of the faithful, rather than a body of the learned. But again in any technical arena, it can only be pejorative.

It's a common enough behaviour amongst individuals who are following some sort of moral leadership, but in the IT industry case as in the original context of the Pacific Islanders whose behaviour the word "cargo cult" was coined to describe, the implication is often that people are engaged autonomously in some sort of followship based just on what they have seen, rather than actually engaged in a close interaction with a leadership which has a decent understanding.

The only other thing I ever heard that seems to describe this, in a context I've since forgotten, is that people are behaving "like gibbons with access to welding equipment", and thus taking on a task or responsibility far in excess of their expertise, but that's not a recognised idiom and it was of course nakedly pejorative.

Answer 7

The Canadian psychologist Albert Bandura propounded the theory of observational learning, and one of the key concepts of the theory is vicarious reinforcement.

There is no pejorative connotation here unlike with cargo cults and you could therefore exploit the meaning of the term to suit your purpose.

Reinforcement that occurs when you imitate the behavior of someone who has been reinforced for that behavior, as when avoiding hot water having seen another person burned by it.

[Wiktionary]

Answer 8

“Follow (in) the footsteps” is fairly idiomatic and can be used to refer to a company as in:

Following Google’s Footsteps, Apple Creates a Company to Sell Wholesale Renewable Energy

(greentechmedia.com)

Corporations following the footsteps of Start-ups

(kps.com)

Following the footsteps of the most successful names in tech.

(itbusiness.ca)

Answer 9

Probably go for a descriptive term - I like

Mindless copying

Or

Mindless copying of best practices

E.g. as used in https://www.flowtoolz.com/2019/08/24/architecture-is-principled-software-development.html

It is not as precise as “Cargo cult” but it more or less works in context.

Answer 10

Cargo cult programming is essentially a jargon term. Its slang. So we can feel at liberty to find or invent another way to express the same concept, even of there isn't an exact similar phrase ready-made.

The phrase actually signifies, the idea that something has worked once, and because the programmers don't really understand what's gone on, they ritualistically/automatically include the same code or coding practices in their work, without really checking or understanding what its doing or why, because "that's how we've always done it and it worked, so let's keep doing it".

Its for that reason it is also described as ritual, or magic thinking.

How else could we express the same basic idea in a way that captures the imagery and imagination? Here are some ideas, not all are exact but maybe some will be exact enough for your situation.

• the company's culture - where culture means how things work internally, its sacred cows and white elephants and so on.
• copy-paste programming
• historical/outdated/unthinking practices
• old retained practices
• magical beliefs/believing in magic

Make up your own!!

Answer 11

When you're talking about an organisation applying rules in the hope they will solve a problem without really understanding the root cause of the problem, this is often called a

silver bullet

This is an especially common term in software development, to the extent that Fred Brooks wrote a famous article called No Silver Bullet back in 1987.

This may actually be a more common term than "cargo cult", and has no negative cultural baggage.

Answer 12

Folklore

Example at https://utcc.utoronto.ca/~cks/space/blog/unix/TheLegendOfSync

There is persistent bit of folklore in the Unix world that you should do several sync commands before shutting down or rebooting a Unix machine [...]

Answer 13

Alternative terms could be a craze, a fad or a fashion. These terms also suggest that the activities in question are being imitated.

There's nothing wrong with calling some group activity a cargo cult. The term is meant to be pejorative as it signals the speaker or writer's attitude towards it and this is a signifying act that is part of the meaning of the term.

In that sense, the terms fad or craze are the closest synonyms, in that they cannot be interpreted other than pejoratively, whilst fashion can be either way, depending on the writer or speaker's intentions signalled in the rest of the sentence or piece of text.

Answer 14

False correlation . . . highlights the faulty reasoning that defines cargo cults, so that might lead you to the eventual phrase you land on.

Secret ingredient might be useful as a modifier to whatever noun phrase you settle on.

For this particular shade of meaning, see This American Life (episode 241, Act 14):

"Since I first heard this story years ago on a tour of this very plant, I found myself telling it now and then. I think that what I love about it is the fact that these guys at the factory had done everything right-- finally built their dream factory with the best equipment and expertise that money could buy. But you can't think of everything. Sometimes you have no idea why you were a success in the first place."

Audio

Transcript

Answer 15

jump on the bandwagon

Idiom (also get on the bandwagon)

To join an activity that has become very popular or to change your opinion to one that has become very popular so that you can share in its success.
Cambridge

climb, hop, jump, etc., on the bandwagon

Originally US

To join in what seems likely to be a successful enterprise, to strive to join the winning side.
[OED online]

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Hence, perhaps the greatest dangers to innovation aren't posted by the laggards or the ones who openly resist innovation. It's the cargo cult manipulators who jump on the bandwagon when it's fashionable but have neither the interest nor the talent for the hard work that brings innovation about. Learn the difference between authentic innovation and cargo cult innovation, and you're well on your way to neutralizing their threat.
Langdon Morris et al.; Agile Innovation (2014)

Being emotive or affectual, interpreting Kalberg ..., a cargo cult scenario could be to embrace the "hype" and to "jump on the bandwagon" just because others seem to do so.
T.E. Maki-Runsas et al.; Cargo Cults in Information Systems Devleopment in Bo Andersson et al. (eds.); Advances in Information Systems Development