Social Cocoons: Encapsulation and Identity Transformation Organizations*

Arthur L. Greil · David R. Rudy

120 citations0/0 files storedSociological Inquiry

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Management and Organizational Studies Social and Cultural Studies Social Movements and Cultural Identity

Abstract

The transformation of personal identities is an implicit or explicit goal of many organizations, including “new” religious movements, self‐help groups, “deprogramming” enterprises, rehabilitation programs, and others. This essay describes and accounts for one important structural feature of identity transformation organizations (ITOs): encapsulation. Three types of encapsulation are described–physical, social, and ideological–and reasons why different ITOs emphasize certain types of encapsulation rather than others are suggested. Finally, we discuss how the need for encapsulation may conflict with other organizational imperatives of ITOs and we discuss the implications of this organizational dilemma for the successful functioning of ITOs.

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References

1967The Social Construction of Reality 1962Asylums: Essays on the Social Situation of Mental Patients and Other Inmates.1977Resource Mobilization and Social Movements: A Partial Theory 1960Notes on the Concept of Commitment 1935Mind, Self, and Society from the Standpoint of a Social Behaviorist.1974Complex Organizations: A Critical Essay.1976The Strategy of Social Protest.1959The Society of Captives, a Study of a Maximum Security Prison

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