Humble saints and righteous heroes: Sustaining intense involvement in altruistic social movements

This dissertation is an investigation of altruistic groups. I studied the day-to-day interactions in altruistic social movement organizations in order to understand how members maintain intensity of involvement in these groups. My focus was on the process of maintaining the energy required to do the work, a sense of responsibility for others, commitment to the work, cooperation among group members, and the ability to deal with failure. The purpose of this study is to understand the emotional dynamics of groups, and how these group dynamics can motivate the production of collective goods, or drain people of their feelings of efficacy and enthusiasm. I conducted ethnographies within two altruistic social movement groups, a Catholic worker house and an anti-death penalty group, and used the comparison of findings from these ethnographic studies to develop theory about the role of face-to-face interaction in building group culture and generating group emotion. This research has significance for understanding the sources of emotional exhaustion or burn out associated with helping work, as well as the emotional dynamics and organizational patterns that support the continued efforts of charities, social movements, and other non-profits dedicated to helping others. The findings from this research are also relevant to the recent and increasing focus on the role of emotions in social life within the field of sociology

Humble saints and righteous heroes: Sustaining intense involvement in altruistic social movements

This dissertation is an investigation of altruistic groups. I studied the day-to-day interactions in altruistic social movement organizations in order to understand how members maintain intensity of involvement in these groups. My focus was on the process of maintaining the energy required to do the work, a sense of responsibility for others, commitment to the work, cooperation among group members, and the ability to deal with failure. The purpose of this study is to understand the emotional dynamics of groups, and how these group dynamics can motivate the production of collective goods, or drain people of their feelings of efficacy and enthusiasm. I conducted ethnographies within two altruistic social movement groups, a Catholic worker house and an anti-death penalty group, and used the comparison of findings from these ethnographic studies to develop theory about the role of face-to-face interaction in building group culture and generating group emotion. This research has significance for understanding the sources of emotional exhaustion or burn out associated with helping work, as well as the emotional dynamics and organizational patterns that support the continued efforts of charities, social movements, and other non-profits dedicated to helping others. The findings from this research are also relevant to the recent and increasing focus on the role of emotions in social life within the field of sociology