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Abstract:

This paper analyzes the limits to ideology in civil society organizations. Based on an analysis of how leadership representatives in two civil society organizations in Sweden perceive the role of ideology, the paper can be said to carry out a discussion on two fronts. On the one hand, it seeks to discuss the degree to which ideology should be considered in organizational research in general, and on the other, to nuance the assumed unambiguous positive status of ideology in civil society studies. The empirical material, on which the analysis is based, consists of a number of interviews, focusing on the role of ideology, with leadership representatives from two “study associations” in Sweden. Theories, empirical results, and assumptions from previous organizational research and literature, primarily from a Swedish context, are also used in the paper. In addition to establishing that ideology seems to have a role, regardless of it’s qualities, in organizations and organizational research, a key conclusion in the paper is that the suggested theoretical and empirical limitations to ideology in civil society organizations, such as inescapable trade-offs between totality – relevance and inclusion – exclusion, point to the need for a more nuanced and elaborated framework for future studies on the role of ideology in organizations in general and civil society organizations in particular.

Keywords: leadership; ideology; civil society organizations; Sweden

17 pages, August 11, 2007

Note: Paper presented at: The 19th Nordic Academy of Management Conference Bergen, Norway August 9-11 2007

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RePEc:hhh:senior:2007_069

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