Linking social structure and the exit process in religions organizations: Defectors, whistle-blowers, and apostates

Journal/Book: J Sci Stud Relig. 1998; 37: Purdue University, 1365 Stone Hall, West Lafayette, IN 47907-1365. Soc Scientific Study Religion. 145-160.

Abstract: Among the processes most thoroughly analyzed by social scientists studying religion have been conversion/affiliation and, more recently, deconversion/disaffiliation (Snow and Machalek 1984; Bromley 1991). Recent theory and research on these processes have been stimulated by a variety of developments, such as the historic, absolute decline in mainline church membership coupled with an unanticipated surge in conservative church membership, a mass exodus from traditional religious orders, the rapid growth and subsequent decline of controversial new religious movements, and widespread experimentation with a diverse array of New Age and quasi-religious groups. The primary focus of research has been on the nature of individual transformation and the process by which it occurs, which has concentrated theory and research at a microsocial level. Indeed, in assessing recent theory and research on conversion, Machalek and Snow (1993:69) observe that ''it is somewhat ironic that sociologists have shown little reluctance to subordinate social contextual variables to individual variables in their efforts to explain the causes of conversion'' and call for a shift in analytic focus ''to the role of temporal, organizational and macrosocial factors.'' The same observation can be made about deconversion/disaffiliation. In fairness, there is a long history in sociology of analyzing ''role types'' that emerge in specific social contexts (Klapp 1954), and there have been some attempts to create types of conversion/affiliation (Lofland and Skonovd 1981) and deconversion/disaffiliation (Richardson et al. 1986) in a manner that potentially would link role and organization structure. The exit typology developed hew and applied to religious organizations constitutes an effort to connect that social process and its accompanying interpretive narrative to organizational context.(1) I argue that the process of exit and the way that it is interpreted is significantly determined by the power and social location of the organization from which exit occurs. Specifically, I begin by specifying three types of organizations in contemporary American society based on level of tension with the surrounding environment Allegiant, Contestant, and Subversive - and three corresponding types of exit characteristic of these organizational forms - Defector, Whistle-blower, and Apostate.(2) The form of exit analyzed here is not the typical leavetaking that occurs in organizations of ail kinds. Rather, I examine cases where exiting is contested But these are particularly significant events because they reveal the capacity of organizations to exert power when it is in their interest to do so. I employ a variety of illustrative cases of exit to articulate the way in which the position of the organization in the social order influences the way that the exit process is structured.

Note: Article Bromley DG, Virginia Commonwealth Univ, Dept Sociol & Anthropol, Richmond,VA 23284 USA

Keyword(s): CONVERSION

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