What facilitated the institutionalization of social movement organizations (SMOs) in the Gülen Movement?
Prosperity in a society increases the availability of a wide range of resources that facilitate participation in social movements or SMOs and a movement's institutionalization.
The projects of the Gülen Movement that were formalized or institutionalized in the 1970s are still continuing today, and new ones are always being added.
In the particular case of the Gülen Movement, however, for the participants the primary loyalty is not to the Movement, or to themselves, but to action, to other human beings and to God; the action is not a temporary instrument but a vocation, even a form of devotion.
It is beneficial because formalized SMOs tend to engage in institutionalized tactics. They tend not initiate disruptive direct-action tactics or use violence to achieve their ends.
Why do Gülen Movement participants set up institutions?
The Movement deals with human needs at the cultural and spiritual level. This provides help and support for individuals against the imposition of lifestyles which do not provide them with the cultural bases for their self-identification.
The meanings and motives of the Movement, the type of conduct it encourages, and the internal processes of the formation of attitudes are not merely material and political. The Movement brings collective energies into focus so that deep-seated dilemmas and critical choices can be addressed. It asserts that the individual can only be educated, cared for, and informed within a healthy environment and sound institutions. In order to be able to do this, the Gülen Movement sets up new institutions, providing new language, new organizational patterns and new personnel.
The institutionalization of the social understanding of the Movement indicates the great range of its accumulation of knowledge, experience, and expertise. It shows what The Movement can introduce, innovate and offer to the larger society, humanity and the world. This cultural potential of the Movement is demonstrated in specific issues or specific social fields, and opens up more new arenas for innovation and change.
The institutionalization of the services is a success and indicates that people in the Movement have gained new life for their activities via traditional not-for-profit foundations. This helps legitimize the services and institutions and represents an important method of linking society’s past and present culture. It is also an important indication of people’s need for unity between their culture and modernity. So looking at the institutionalization of societal dynamics in a complex society is a more appropriate measure than simply asking whether or not the Gülen Movement is politically effective.
How can the SMOs of the Gülen Movement be categorized?
At the time of writing the SMOs of the Gülen Movement operate in the following fields and categories:
- Education: pre-school – kindergarten; primary; secondary, high school (normal, science and vocational); higher education – university, language courses, computer courses, university entrance examination preparation courses; study centers for all ages; student dormitories and hostels.
- Health: polyclinics, hospitals, health and diagnostic centers.
- Media: TV, radio; and daily, weekly, quarterly (religious, social, literary, scientific, popular, ecology, children) journals; Writers and Journalists Foundation.
- Publishing: publishing houses, printing firms, bookshops, art-design and graphics companies.
- Business and finance: a bank; an insurance company; an international and other regional business associations; human resources and consultation bureaus; holiday resorts and accommodation.
- Humanitarian aid and relief: local/regional, national and transnational aid organizations; reading halls and study centers for the poor and under-privileged; women’s clubs and foundations; cultural centers; interfaith dialogue centers.
Of the service organizations listed above, some operate as charity based foundations.
All work on the open and competitive market, and some are set up as private companies which are market-oriented. However, they are not commercial enterprises in the sense that they do not privilege market presence and paid services for member-clients; the intention (rather than profit making) is to provide quality services and in this way answer in the best way the needs of people from all walks of life.
