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Fostering flexibility
Descriptive
TitleInfo
Title
Fostering flexibility
SubTitle
emotions, power dynamics, and framing processes in a socio-religious movement
TitleInfo
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Title
Emotions, power dynamics, and framing processes in a socio-religious movement
Name
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Williamson
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Elizabeth Anne
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Elizabeth Williamson
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author
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Zablocki
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Benjamin D
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Benjamin D Zablocki
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Advisory Committee
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chair
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(type = family)
Mische
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Ann
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Ann Mische
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Advisory Committee
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(authority = RULIB)
internal member
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(type = personal)
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(type = family)
Cerulo
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(type = given)
Karen
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Karen Cerulo
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Advisory Committee
Role
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(authority = RULIB)
internal member
Name
(type = personal)
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(type = family)
Martin
NamePart
(type = given)
John Levi
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John Levi Martin
Affiliation
Advisory Committee
Role
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outside member
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Rutgers University
Role
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(authority = RULIB)
degree grantor
Name
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Graduate School - New Brunswick
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school
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Text
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theses
OriginInfo
DateCreated
(qualifier = exact)
2012
DateOther
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(type = degree)
2012-10
CopyrightDate
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2012
Place
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xx
Language
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eng
Abstract
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This dissertation examines the role intense emotions and framing processes play in strengthening commitment at recruiting events produced by Reclaiming, a socio-religious movement. Both the religious and activist sides of Reclaiming focus on personal and communal growth and change. The movement’s overall goal is to develop a “magical activist” frame for the self using rituals that expose participants to a full spectrum of affect and intense emotion. The research focuses on one recruiting and training tool: the week-long retreats known as “Intensives” because the events use intense, emotionally provocative myths. The research design incorporated multiple methods: full participant observation, in-depth interviews, and surveys. The design has three components: 1) a three year longitudinal study (2004-2006) of two annual Intensive events held in different locations in the Eastern United States, 2) a cross-sectional comparison of data gathered during 2007 at four recruiting and training events in different regions of the United States and Canada, and 3) supplementary data collected at quarterly organizer meetings of one group as well as observations from the Inter-Reclaiming gatherings in 2008 and 2010. I develop two new concepts, the “emotion shape” and the “emotion chain,” which relate to emotional patterns over time including combinations of emotions evoked by rituals. The qualitative analysis is process-oriented and includes a multifaceted analysis focused on power structures and empowering self-transformations, the interplay of movement-specific and general framing processes, and the interaction between emotional, somatic, and cognitive states. This in turn provides substantive insight into the question of who gets involved with the Intensives and whether this involvement is sustained over time. The findings from the small-N quantitative analyses indicate that men, people with families that engaged in activism and/or politics, and people whose families saw religion as not very important are slightly more likely to return to an Intensive. I conclude by arguing that the Intensive events help socialize participants into thinking, emoting, and perceiving the world in flexible, paradoxical ways and use the metaphor of recycling to develop a model of Reclaiming’s circular, cyclical self-transformation process, which proceeds in a different manner for prototypical activists and magical religious people.
Subject
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Topic
Sociology
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Title
Rutgers University Electronic Theses and Dissertations
Identifier
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ETD
Identifier
ETD_4363
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electronic resource
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application/pdf
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text/xml
Extent
xiii, 465 p. : ill.
Note
(type = degree)
Ph.D.
Note
(type = bibliography)
Includes bibliographical references
Note
(type = statement of responsibility)
by Elizabeth Anne Williamson
Subject
(authority = ETD-LCSH)
Topic
Neopaganism--United States
Subject
(authority = ETD-LCSH)
Topic
Wicca--United States
Subject
(authority = ETD-LCSH)
Topic
Emotions--Religious aspects
Subject
(authority = ETD-LCSH)
Topic
Emotions--Sociological aspects
Identifier
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http://hdl.rutgers.edu/1782.1/rucore10001600001.ETD.000067026
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Graduate School - New Brunswick Electronic Theses and Dissertations
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rucore19991600001
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NjNbRU
Identifier
(type = doi)
doi:10.7282/T3H993XM
Genre
(authority = ExL-Esploro)
ETD doctoral
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Rights
RightsDeclaration
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The author owns the copyright to this work.
RightsHolder
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Name
FamilyName
Williamson
GivenName
Elizabeth
Role
Copyright Holder
RightsEvent
Type
Permission or license
DateTime
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(qualifier = exact);
(point = start)
2012-10-03 08:25:38
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Name
Elizabeth Williamson
Role
Copyright holder
Affiliation
Rutgers University. Graduate School - New Brunswick
AssociatedObject
Type
License
Name
Author Agreement License
Detail
I hereby grant to the Rutgers University Libraries and to my school the non-exclusive right to archive, reproduce and distribute my thesis or dissertation, in whole or in part, and/or my abstract, in whole or in part, in and from an electronic format, subject to the release date subsequently stipulated in this submittal form and approved by my school. I represent and stipulate that the thesis or dissertation and its abstract are my original work, that they do not infringe or violate any rights of others, and that I make these grants as the sole owner of the rights to my thesis or dissertation and its abstract. I represent that I have obtained written permissions, when necessary, from the owner(s) of each third party copyrighted matter to be included in my thesis or dissertation and will supply copies of such upon request by my school. I acknowledge that RU ETD and my school will not distribute my thesis or dissertation or its abstract if, in their reasonable judgment, they believe all such rights have not been secured. I acknowledge that I retain ownership rights to the copyright of my work. I also retain the right to use all or part of this thesis or dissertation in future works, such as articles or books.
Copyright
Status
Copyright protected
Availability
Status
Open
Reason
Permission or license
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