Dynamics of generating commitment within the Gülen movement

Helen Rose Ebaugh

A major empirical finding of Kanter’s study of American utopias that has subsequently influenced the commitment literature is that for a community to survive, three basic challenges of commitment have to be addressed (1). First, individuals come to see their own interest as sustained by group participation (2). Secondly, individuals feel an affective solidarity with the group (3),and, thirdly, the individual experiences a moral, transcendent authority in the group (4). These mechanisms can be summarized as strategies by which the group attempts to reduce the value of other possible commitments and increases the value of commitment to the group; in other words, processes both detaching him or her from other options and attaching him to the community. In particular, Kanter’s research shows a positive correlation between sacrifice and investment in terms of generating commitment. The more costly the sacrifice, the greater the value placed by the individual on the goals of the group. Data in this book support Kanter’s contention by showing that financial contributions to Gülen-inspired projects not only manifest belief in the goals of the movement but that the giving itself is a commitment mechanism for involvement in the group.