The Show Must Go On: Corporate Narratives in the Anthroposophical Society
When new religions reach a mature and settled phase, they resemble in many respects secular organizations and are therefore amenable to being studied with methods inspired by organization studies. One group of such methods deals with corporate narratives and corporate communication. This article tak...
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| Contributors: | |
| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Journals Online & Print: | Drawer...
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| Interlibrary Loan: | Interlibrary Loan for the Fachinformationsdienste (Specialized Information Services in Germany) |
| Published: |
2020
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| In: |
International journal for the study of new religions
Year: 2020, Volume: 11, Issue: 1, Pages: 91-117 |
| Further subjects: | B
Goetheanum
B Anthroposophy B New Religious Movements B corporate narratives B Organization theory and religion |
| Online Access: |
Presumably Free Access Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) |
| Summary: | When new religions reach a mature and settled phase, they resemble in many respects secular organizations and are therefore amenable to being studied with methods inspired by organization studies. One group of such methods deals with corporate narratives and corporate communication. This article takes a structuralist approach and applies a version of the actant model originally developed by the Lithuanian literary theorist Algirdas Greimas to a specific case involving a set of texts, namely the so-called Christmas appeals in which a spokesperson for the leadership of the General Anthroposophical Society at the Goetheanum initiates a fundraising campaign. Since money is a limited resource, these texts reveal which objects the organization’s leaders present as being important and why. The analysis reveals an organization that largely resembles a secular corporation but with the crucial difference that there are ultimate aims that transcend such arguably mundane concerns as maintaining a balanced budget. |
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| ISSN: | 2041-952X |
| Contains: | Enthalten in: International journal for the study of new religions
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| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.1558/ijsnr.19732 |