Initiation structures force the initiate into compliance through staged threat.

Evidence

I was summarily searched to check whether I was carrying any weapon. They told me that I was going to be blindfolded with a large handkerchief and that they were going to put a piece of burning paper in my hands and that in order to avoid being burned I had to pass the paper from one hand to the other. I was told that the paper was a sacred image. Before putting the paper in my hands, they pricked the tip of my right index finger. As I passed the paper from hand to hand [the mafia boss] swore me to the oath, which I repeated, reproducing his words. The oath was approximately as follows: “I swear not to betray the family and to obey all orders.” Then he added, “Whoever betrays [the family] will face death.” Afterward they took off the handkerchief, and I was surprised to discover that all those present were holding either guns or knives. All the weapons were pointed at me. — Diego Gambetta, The Sicilian Mafia The Business of…, 711

Categorization

• XREF: The blindfold, staged oath, and sudden reveal of armed witnesses is a constructed credible-commitment theater: the initiate commits under coercion but also discovers the collective enforcement capacity — mirrors Milgrom’s private-judge enforcement and Schellingian deterrence.