April 2, 2012

The institutionalization and categorization of the SMOs in the Gülen Movement

fgulen.org

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.