The Unobtrusive Tactics of Religious Movements

Abstract

Many religious and spiritual movements mobilize to establish sacred fields which influence everyday life in multiple social domains. Because these devout groups operate across many institutional fields, scholars of religiously motivated movements are uniquely poised to contribute to scholarship on multiinstitutional politics and on how institutional change can be initiated and influenced by external cultural movements. In this paper, I bring attention to how religious movements can mobilize through unobtrusive political tactics which build upon extant social structures in multiple institutional fields, rather than through contentious tactics which are the focus of most movement research. Based on prior scholarship on religious movements and my own research, I identify how religious movements can expand through unobtrusive, nonconfrontational tactics such as "discursive politics," developing a "state within a state," "burrowing into" targeted organizations, and "assimilating into" mainstream organizations. These mechanisms identified in religious movement scholarship contribute to underdeveloped areas of scholarship at the intersection of social movement mobilization, organizational change, and field development, and provide a platform upon which future research can build.

States of Spiritual Awareness by Time, Activity, and Social Interaction

“…This is particularly true for people working in business or in menial labor jobs, as well as in other secular professional fields where religion is stigmatized and marginalized (Ammerman ; Smith ). Yet, other scholarship brings attention to how the religious and spiritual can carry their sacred practices, beliefs, and experiences into the workplace in nuanced, and sometimes covert, ways (Ecklund ; Kucinskas ; Schmalzbauer ). We build upon existing knowledge of work and spirituality by examining sacred awareness “in the moment” while working, as well as the relationship between working long hours and sacred experience.…”

Translating Spirituality: Universalism and Particularism in the Diffusion of Spiritual Care from the United States to Israel

“…First, we draw on research that illustrates how religious identifications create transnational communities and ties that cross national boundaries (Cadge and Ecklund 2007;Ebaugh and Chafetz 2002;Levitt 2007;Vasquez and Marquardt 2003). Second, we extend and contribute to research on the transnational movement of symbols and practices and the diffusion of aspects of religious traditions (Bender et al 2013;Cadge and Ecklund 2007;Kucinskas 2014;Levitt 2007;Mooney 2009;Tweed 2006). We pay particular attention to case studies that can shed light on how different positions between particularism and universalism (including national, ethnic, and cosmopolitan identifications) lead to various translation attempts in different parts of TSFs.…”

“…Second, we extend and contribute to research on the transnational movement of symbols and practices and the diffusion of aspects of religious traditions (Bender et al. ; Cadge and Ecklund ; Kucinskas ; Levitt ; Mooney ; Tweed ). We pay particular attention to case studies that can shed light on how different positions between particularism and universalism (including national, ethnic, and cosmopolitan identifications) lead to various translation attempts in different parts of TSFs.…”

“…We pay particular attention to case studies that can shed light on how different positions between particularism and universalism (including national, ethnic, and cosmopolitan identifications) lead to various translation attempts in different parts of TSFs. Examples include the Aztec Conchera Mexican‐Catholic dance, mindfulness meditation, and yoga (De La Torre and Gutiérrez Zúñiga ; Kucinskas ; Strauss ). We return to these case studies in the discussion.…”

Edukacja wobec groźby wojny

“…Ze skalą i spiralą przemocy konfrontują się ludzie usiłujący wprowadzać mechanizmy sprawiedliwości naprawczej w miejsce tradycji zemsty lub wieloletniej izolacji sprawców w więzieniach (Clark, 2007). Z kolei ruchy zmiany osobistej, w tym ruchy religijne, wnikają w instytucje (także edukacyjne), oferując różnego typu praktyki i ćwiczenia, w które może zaangażować się każdy, a które z czasem zmieniają światopogląd tych osób, a taktyka ta bywa podchwytywana przez ruchy społeczne na rzecz pokoju (Kucinskas, 2014).…”