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15 - Alternating between Partial and Complete Organization: The Case of Anonymous

from Part 4 - Social Movements and Collective Action

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 July 2019

By
Dennis Schoeneborn  and
Leonhard Dobusch
Edited by
Göran Ahrne  and
Nils Brunsson
Göran Ahrne
Affiliation:
Uppsala Universitet, Sweden
Nils Brunsson
Affiliation:
Uppsala Universitet, Sweden
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Summary

This chapter is concerned with further advancing a process perspective on partial organization. More specifically, we address the question of how the different organizational elements of partial organization (i.e. membership, hierarchy, rules, monitoring, and sanctions) interrelate dynamically. Based on the emerging ‘communication as constitutive of organization’ (CCO) perspective in organization studies, we argue that social collectives can alternate between states of organizational ‘partialness’ and ‘completeness’ over time. The temporary and situational completion of partial organization can occur in and through communicative events that demonstrate and ‘celebrate’ a social collective’s ability to mobilize all five elements simultaneously. We illustrate our theoretical considerations by drawing on selected findings from an earlier empirical case study of the hacktivist collective Anonymous.

Keywords

Anonymouscommunicative constitution of organization (CCO)hacktivismorganizationalitypartial organizationprocess perspective
Type
Chapter
Information
Organization outside Organizations
The Abundance of Partial Organization in Social Life
 , pp. 318 - 333
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2019

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