ORI GIN AL PA PER

How to Establish a Study Association: IsomorphicPressures on New CSOs Entering a Neo-CorporativeAdult Education Field in Sweden

Tobias Harding

Published online: 25 March 2011

� International Society for Third-Sector Research and The John’s Hopkins University 2011

Abstract This article aims to increase understanding of how the institutional

model of a (neo) corporative state meets new forms in a changing civil society. This

objective is accomplished by analyzing two case studies of Swedish organizations

entering into the field of government-subsidized popular education: one youth

organization and one Muslim organization. The institutionalist concepts isomor-

phism, isopraxism, isonymism, packaging and translation are used to analyze these.

Empirically the article is based on qualitative analysis of interviews, observations

and written documents. It is concluded that the translation of popular education as

an organizational concept in these cases is characterized by coercive and mimetic

isomorphism, isopraxism and isonymism to an extent that hinders development in

the popular education field. There are also examples of emerging packaging

changing the relationship between state and civil society. That issue, however,

requires further qualitative research, as does the influence of corporatism on civil

society organization in general.

Resume Le present article vise a une comprehension accrue de la maniere dont le

modele institutionnel d’un etat neo-corporatif prend des formes nouvelles au sein

d’une societe civile en pleine transformation. Cet objectif est accompli par l’analyse

de deux etudes de cas d’organisations suedoises integrant le secteur de l’education

populaire subventionnee par le gouvernement : une organisation pour la jeunesse et

une organisation musulmane. Les concepts institutionnalistes d’isomorphisme,

d’isopraxisme, d’isonymisme, de presentation et de transfert sont utilises pour les

analyser. L’article se fonde empiriquement sur une analyse qualitative d’entretiens,

A previous version of this paper was presented at the conference of The European Society for Research

on the Education of Adults (ESREA), Linkoping 23–26 September 2010.

T. Harding (&)

Department of Culture Studies (Tema Q), Linkoping University, SE 601 74 Norrkoping, Sweden

e-mail: tobias.harding@liu.se

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DOI 10.1007/s11266-011-9186-4

d’observations et de documents ecrits. La conclusion est que le transfert d’une

education populaire au titre de concept organisationnel dans ces cas est caracterise

par un isomorphisme, un isopraxisme et un isonymisme de nature coercitive et

mimetique dans une mesure telle que le developpement dans le secteur de l’edu-

cation populaire s’en trouve freine. Il existe egalement des exemples de presenta-

tions emergentes qui viennent modifier la relation entre l’etat et la societe civile.

Cette question requiert cependant une recherche complementaire qualitative, tout

comme l’influence du corporatisme sur l’organisation de la societe civile en general.

Zusammenfassung Das Ziel dieses Artikels ist es, das Verstandnis zu erhohen,

wie das institutionelle Modell eines (neo) korporativen Staates neue Formen in einer

sich andernden Zivilgesellschaft annimmt. Dazu werden zwei Fallstudien uber

schwedische Organisationen - eine Jugend- und eine muslimische Organisation -,

die auf das Gebiet der staatlich geforderten ,,popular education‘‘ treten, analysiert.

Fur die Analyse werden die institutionalistischen Konzepte ,,isomorphism‘‘ (glei-

chartiger Aufbau), ,,isopraxism‘‘ (gleichartige Praktiken), ,,isonymism‘‘ (gleichar-

tige Bezeichnungen fur verschiedene Formen und Praktiken), Verpackung and

Umsetzung genutzt. Dieser Artikel basiert auf der empirisch-qualitativen Analyse

von Interviews, Beobachtungen und schriftlichen Dokumenten. Es wird gesch-

lussfolgert, dass in diesen Fallen die Umsetzung von ,,popular education‘‘ als

Organisationskonzept von zwanghaften und mimetischen ‘‘isomorphism, isoprax-

ism and isonymism‘‘ in einem Ausmaß charakterisiert ist, das die Entwicklung auf

dem Gebiet ,,popular education‘‘ behindert. Es gibt auch Beispiele, dass Verpack-

ungen zutage treten, die die Beziehung zwischen Staat und Zivilgesellschaft andern.

Allerdings erfordert dieses Thema sowie der Einfluss des Korporatismus auf

zivilgesellschaftliche Organisationen im allgemeinen weitere qualitative Forschung.

Resumen Este artıculo pretende dar a conocer como el modelo institucional de un

estado (neo)corporativo cumple con nuevas formas en una sociedad civil cambiante.

Para lograr este objetivo se analizan dos estudios de caso de organizaciones suecas

que entran en el campo de la educacion popular subvencionada por el gobierno: una

juvenil y la otra musulmana. Para analizarlas, hemos recurrido a una serie de

conceptos institucionalistas como son el isomorfismo, el isopraxismo, el isoni-

mismo, el « envoltorio » o packaging y la traduccion. Empıricamente, el artıculo se

basa en un analisis cualitativo de las entrevistas, las observaciones y los documentos

escritos. Se concluye que la traduccion de la educacion popular como concepto

organizativo en estos casos se caracteriza por un isomorfismo, un isopraxismo y un

isonimismo coercitivo y mimetico, hasta el punto de obstaculizar el desarrollo en el

campo de la educacion popular. Son tambien ejemplos de envoltorios emergentes

que cambian la relacion entre el estado y la sociedad civil. No obstante, esta

cuestion requiere mas investigaciones cualitativas, al igual que la influencia del

corporacionismo en la organizacion de la sociedad civil en general.

Keywords Civil society � Corporatism � Study associations � Sweden � Muslims

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This article aims to increase our understanding of the changes that occur when the

institutional models of a corporative state meet new forms of organization in a civil

society which is increasingly globalized and medialized. In this article the

institutionalist concepts of isomorphism (DiMaggio and Powell 1991), isonymism

and isopraxism (Erlingsdottir and Lindberg 2005), packaging and translation (Røvik

2008) are used to analyze organizational change in two qualitative case studies

focusing on Swedish organizations entering into the field of government-subsidized

popular education (folkbildning): one youth organization and one Muslim organi-

zation. The article thus analyzes two organizations focused on groups otherwise

underrepresented in Swedish civil society organizations (CSO) and more inclined to

organize in ways dissimilar to the established forms: young people and people with

immigrant backgrounds (Amna 2007; Svedberg et al. 2010).

Sweden is a classic example of established neocorporatism combining strong

CSOs with a large welfare state. Civil society is dominated by a number of large

CSOs with a (neo)corporative relationship to the state (Rothstein 1992; Rothstein

and Tragardh 2007; Amna 2007). Study circles have often been pointed out as a

central feature of Swedish democracy and civil society (e.g., Putnam 2002), an

opinion that is often found in Swedish official discourse (e.g., Government bill

2005/06:192). The government-sponsored study associations that organize study

circles can be seen as an important interface between the established popular

movement organizations (which are usually members of study associations) and the

state. As in many cooperatively controlled fields, Swedish popular education has

proved to be difficult to enter for new organizations (von Essen and Aberg 2009;

Aberg and von Essen 2010; cf., Munk Christiansen et al. 2010).

Yet, recent years have seen at least three attempts to start new study associations.

Two such have been made by culture-and-leisure associations, one by a group of

cultural amateur associations (Kulturens bildningsverksamhet), and another by a

national association for role-playing games, computer games, and board games

(Sverok). The most successful attempt so far is the establishment of a study

association by a number of Swedish-Muslim CSOs. The result is the association Ibn

Rushd (named after the medieval philosopher also known as Averroes). To fulfill

the aim of this article, I describe how various factors, including systems for

government subsidies, have contributed to reshape these new actors. More

specifically, I analyze the meeting between them and the institutional structures

in and around the established study associations; in what ways have the new

organizations changed when they entered the field of study associations, and how

does the concept of the study association change when it translates to a new

organizational context?

Methods, Sources, and Theoretical Concepts

This article draws on the Scandinavian school within neo-institutional theory

(Czarniawska and Sevon 2001; Røvik 2008) to analyze what happens when an

institutionalized Swedish concept of popular education and its organizational model

(the study associations) are translated (Røvik 2008; Aberg 2008) to new cultural and

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organizational contexts within Swedish civil society, as well as what happens to

these organizations when they enter the field dominated by it. Three theoretical

concepts used in this paper are isomorphism (homogeneity of form) (DiMaggio and

Powell 1991), isonymism (homogeneity in description), and isopraxism (homoge-

neity of practices) (Erlingsdottir and Lindberg 2005). These concepts are connected

to the notion of organizational fields, the areas within which these similarities

develop (DiMaggio and Powell 1991), in this case most often the field of study

associations. Following DiMaggio and Powell (1991:64), organizational fields are

defined as ‘‘those organizations that, in the aggregate, constitute a recognized area

of institutional life’’. Another important concept in this article is that of packaging, a

description of the process by which a way of organizing is translated from a practice

in one context to a commodified concept transferable to another context: ways of

doing things that were previously practical knowledge are thus made explicit (Røvik

2008).

The empirical material used in this article consists of written sources, notes from

participant observations (DeWalt and DeWalt 2002) and interviews. Written sources

used here include information material1 from the organizations, proceedings,

statutes, and other official documents, and material from Sverok’s Internet forum

(Sverok 2010a). In 2009 and in the spring of 2010 twenty semi-structured

qualitative interviews2 (Kvale 1997) were made with people who are, or have been,

in leading positions in Sverok or Ibn Rushd, or with experience of cooperating with

these as representatives of other organizations. Participant observations have been

made at the annual congresses of Sverok 2009 and 2010, Sverok Stockholm 2010,

and Swedish Muslims for Peace and Justice (SFMR) 2010, as well as at a Sverok

gathering for district board members in the spring of 2009. The study of Ibn Rushd

relies more on interviews and previous research than on observations.

These sources have been used to understand the norms expressed in interviews

and internal meetings and discussions that I have observed; or in the form of written

discussions and recounts of discussions. This method can be described as

hermeneutic (cf., Bjurstrom 2004). The same sources have also been used as

sources for information on specific events and on how the organizations function.

Historical source criticism (Nilsson 2002) is used in the sense that descriptions

given in this paper are based either on several sources or on sources of the first

degree where I refer directly to the statements that I describe. I have been able to

verify all official decisions mentioned in this article via publicly available official

documents. I refer to these sources (sometimes published, sometimes found in

archives) as they occur in the text. Quotations used in this article are chosen as

illustrations of norms that are commonly occurring in the empirical material.

Written sources are listed separately under references.

1 Primarily Sverok’s internal newsletters/journals, published under the titles Signaler fran Sverok (1989–

1994), Saga (1996–1997), Sverox (1997–2006), and Signaler fran Sverok (2006–2009).2 The interviews have been relatively open, with prepared interview guides, with good opportunities for

the interviewer to adapt and follow up questions. Interview guides have been prepared specifically for

each interview. All quotes made in this paper are from transcribed recordings of interviews, translated and

sometimes adjusted to written language by the author of this article.

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Civil Society, the Government, and Adult Education in Sweden

Civil society is in this article defined in relation to the market, the state, and to the

private sphere. The market is considered to be a sphere characterized by profit-

oriented activities, and the state as one characterized by being financed by taxes and

ruled by public law and politics. Civil society is characterized by non-profit motives.

These spheres of public life are separated from the private sphere, which is

characterized by family relations (cf., von Essen 2008; Habermas 1996; Wijkstrom

and Lundstrom 2002). This is not to say that these characteristics cannot be mixed.

These spheres are, on the contrary, considered to be overlapping. They are also

viewed as a typology used to describe present day late-modern society, not as being

universally applicable. Civil society and its relationship to the state may differ

greatly between countries and sectors in society (Amna 2007; Kendall 2010;

Zimmer and Evers 2010). For this reason I will provide a brief description of the

Swedish context, as well as of the existing research describing this context, which is

in many cases not available in English.

Swedish civil society—and perhaps even more government policies on it—has

during most of the 20th century been dominated by large CSOs based in popular

movements (folkrorelser) established around the beginning of the century. The

workers’ movement can be seen as a paradigmatic case of such a popular movement

(Rothstein and Tragardh 2007). The temperance movement and the non-conformist

churches are also commonly referred to as classical examples of such. The type of

organization most associated with them is characterized by an open membership, a

high number of members, an internal member-based democracy, and a federal

structure with several levels, including local clubs, regional districts, and a national

level, all of which form a geographic structure covering the Swedish territory. I will

refer to such organizations as popular movement organizations. This description is

also valid for the major political parties, which are typically embedded in popular

movements. As in many other cases, organizations supported by the state are highly

isomorphic (Hvenmark 2008; Wijkstrom and Lundstrom 2002). Membership in

popular movement organizations is now decreasing, especially among young

people, in spite of the fact that willingness to volunteer in CSOs (as opposed to

becoming a member) remains in Sweden relatively constant (Svedberg et al. 2010).

The study associations are a distinctive feature of Swedish civil society. In all

cases but one (Folkuniversitetet3), each study association is organized as a

federation consisting of a number of mass movement organizations or other similar

associations (often including political parties), typically with similar ideology. The

study associations are strongly connected to the concept of popular movements, and

many of them have originated in the first wave of such movements. In many cases

they continue educational work previously conducted by their founding members

(von Essen and Aberg 2009; Sundgren 2007). The idea of popular education

3 Folkuniversitetet, ‘‘The People’s University’’, was a result of movements among students and academic

teachers for popular education. The foundations were thus each initiated by a university and its student

union. Connections to these founding organizations still exist, as manifested in the statutes of the

foundations. This is sometimes described as a connection to a student movement (Askling and Nilzen

2003).

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(folkbildning) has also become associated with a specific view of education as

informal and non-hierarchical. This can be seen as a democratic development of the

concept of bildung which, much like liberal education, suggests knowledge as a way

of cultivating the personality, not merely as an instrument to be used for

professional purposes. Today the concept of popular education is connected with

notions of both deliberative democracy and a hermeneutic meeting of perspectives

(Gustavsson 2009; Kristensson Uggla 2007). The study associations are thus

supposed to be both similar and dissimilar; sharing a common pedagogy and

embedded in different—often opposing—popular movements. This double view is,

for example, stated in the government’s objectives for supporting them. Popular

education is supported by government to strengthen democracy and civil society by

enabling people to take part in them. They are also supposed to combat differences

in education by offering alternative education to those who have fewer resources

(Aberg and von Essen 2010:192; Government bill 2005/06:192).

Study associations today are actors in civil society, on a general education market

and in government policy on adult education and popular movements. Together,

they form the Swedish National Federation of Study Associations (Folk-bildningsforbundet). It, in turn, is one of the members of the Swedish National

Council of Adult Education (Folkbildningsradet, FBR), together with the National

Association of Local and Regional Authorities (SKL), and the Interest Organization

of Popular Movement Folk High Schools (both concerned with folk high schools). It

is the FBR which is responsible for allocating government grants to study

associations and folk high schools (Statskontoret 2003).4 While the FBR is a non-

profit organization (a separate legal body, not a government agency), its decisions

are based in statutes decided by the government and parliament. It can thus, at the

same time, be described as a federation, a meta-organization and a quasi-

governmental organization.

The study associations can thus be seen as one of the ways in which Swedish

civil society is intertwined with the state in a corporative relationship. If corporatism

is defined as an ‘‘institutionalized and privileged integration of organized interests in

the preparation and/or implementation of public policies’’ (Munk Christiansen et al.

2010: 27), this is a clear example of corporatism, especially since the study

associations and the FBR are involved not only in policy implementation, but also,

as most major Swedish CSOs, in the preparation of government policies (ibid.).

Another corporative feature, and possibly a result of the present corporative system

(in which existing study associations can influence the acceptance of new ones), is

the relatively small number of associations accepted to receive grants for study

associations (at present only 10). This creates a strong incentive for other

federations to join one of the approved study associations as members. This system

may not only, as suggested by Aberg and von Essen (2010), encourage isomorphism

(homogeneity of form) among the study associations, but may also lead to various

4 This system that dates back to 1991. Previously, this authority was the province of government agencies

(Statskontoret 2003). The study associations have, however, had a close relationship to the state and to

government funding from the start, to the extent that the availability of grants have in many cases been the

direct reason for separating popular education from the organizations that became founding members of

the study association (von Essen and Aberg 2009).

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kinds of isomorphism among member associations, and thus in Swedish civil

society in general.

The corporative position of the FBR and the connections between study

associations and strong organizations such as political parties, have given them a

strong position vis-a-vis the state. Government grants for popular education have

increased significantly during the last two decades, in spite of an otherwise strained

economy (Harding 2010). Recent research (von Essen and Aberg 2009; Aberg and

von Essen 2010; Gustavsson 2009), however, describes how the connection between

the study associations and their member associations is growing thinner and more

similar to market relations than previously, especially in relation to new member

organizations. There also exists an isomorphic trend towards increased similarity

between the study associations as they become increasingly marketized. At the same

time, government grants for specified projects and purposes, rather than general

grants for popular education, are increasing in financial importance. Study

associations have, furthermore, been merged with other study associations that do

not share their origin. The ideological influence of member associations with

traditions from the various popular movements on the study associations may thus

become less significant than governmental pressure. These trends towards more

businesslike modes of organization form the backdrop against which new

organizations approach the study association field.

Case Study 1: Sverok

The first attempt to establish a new study association after 1991 was made around

2000 by the youth and hobby organization Sverok (FBR 2002-02-13), consisting of

players of board, computer, role-playing, and various other games. Since its

foundation in 1988, Sverok has grown to become the largest youth organization in

Sweden with 120,000 members.5 From the perspective of youth policy, Sverok is a

success story in organizing young people at a time of widespread concern that

young people are less inclined to join formal organizations (Amna 2007; Vogel

et al. 2003).

Individual clubs within the association have been organizing study circles and

other popular education activities in cooperation with various study associations

since 1980s, some even before the foundation of Sverok itself. Developing the

potential for new activities and increased resources, Sverok had decided to look into

the requirements for establishing a new study association, possibly together with

other hobby-oriented youth organizations. In 2003 the association’s journal

described the ambition: ‘‘The new study association will be better adjusted to the

way young people organize themselves. The keywords will be the same as for

activities in Sverok: Freedom, simplicity and trust’’ (Sverox 27: p. 7). This statement

also sums up the common explanation to Sverok’s success given to me in my

5 This is according to internal statistics (Sverok 2010a). In 2008 Sverok reported 86,847 members to the

Youth Board (Ungdomsstyrelsen 2010) under the age of 25 (and thus relevant to counting grants for youth

organizations).

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interviews with representatives of the organization: it supports young people in

realizing their own projects instead of trying to recruit them to activities organized

by older leaders; ‘‘a kind of feeling that it is actually possible to do something to

support all this fantastic energy’’, as one volunteer described it during a discussion

on what motivates volunteering in Sverok (field notes 2009-05-09). In line with this,

more than half of the Sverok budget each year goes to supporting local clubs

(Sverok 2010b, field notes 2009-11-20 – 2009-11-22). These resources are largely

provided by government grants from the National Youth Board (Ungdomsstyrelsen),

based on activity and membership. Since the Youth Board is charged with

supporting democratic organization and meaningful leisure activities for young

people (Bjurstrom 2006; Ljungberg 2009; SOU 2009b: nr296), supporting Sverok to

the Youth Board means fulfilling its objectives with regards to around 100,000

young people.

Founding a study association, however, proved more difficult than building a

youth organization. Ironically, the difficulty stemmed from some of the same

features that make Sverok a success as a youth organization. Yet, at least on the

surface, Sverok is organized according to the established model for popular

movement organizations, i.e., organizations of the type that study associations have

been formed to deal with: it has national, regional, and local levels, as well as a

member-based internal democracy within a hierarchic organization. Talking to past

and present Sverok representatives and looking back at the information material it

has sent to its member associations during the last 22 years, I found that this

organizational model was a direct result of the requirements for government grants

given by the Youth Board. The motive presented to prospective members of Sverok

around 1990 was the possibility of qualifying for such government grants to finance

their hobby. They consequently adopted the established model. Subsidies for youth

organizations were simply the most economically favorable form of government

grants available, the only major requirements being 3,000 members below the age of

25, not at all unusual in this hobby.

As often happens when an organizational model is adopted in a new context, the

model changed in translation. In this case the founders of Sverok—a group of

representatives of a small number of role-playing and board gaming clubs—

choosing to recruit new member clubs rather than individual members, and later by

encouraging groups of players to form new clubs and join. This strategy was made

possible by the comparably low demands made for founding non-profit organiza-

tions in Sweden. Sverok has, however, made the process of founding a non-profit

association even easier by supporting groups of young people in doing so to the

extent that they, for example, provide template statutes in which only facts such as

the name of the new member club have to be added (e.g., available on the website,

Sverok 2010a). In Røvik’s (2008) terminology this can be described as packaging

the concept of a non-profit association. Packaging and translation, however, tend to

create differences in form. Consequently, there are several notable differences

between Sverok and the standard model of a popular movement organization, which

6 The reports of Swedish government commissions are referred to by year and number in the official

SOU-series.

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may help explain the success of Sverok as a youth organization, as well as its lack of

success as a study association (cf., also Harding 2009):

1. While popular movement organizations at the local level are organized in clubs

each of which is responsible for a small geographic area, Sverok clubs can be

any group of gamers forming a club for activities that are in line with Sverok’s

purpose (‘‘role- and conflict games’’).

2. Sverok clubs are not always long-lived and the federation has no policy of

supporting failing clubs. According to one current member of the national board

(Interview 2009-05-04), a large part of Sverok members have the experience of

founding a club, and most of them have seen it disappear when the original

members moved or ceased to be active (which is not to say that they have not

then joined another Sverok club). In some years several hundred clubs have

closed, but the total number remain relatively constant and undiminished

(statistics from Sverok), see Table 1.

3. Sverok clubs are varied, in size and type of activity. While many Sverok clubs

consist of less than 10 members, the largest (often for Internet-based activities)

contain thousands, larger than most national youth organizations (statistics from

Sverok).

4. These features have combined to create modes of organization that rely heavily

on volunteer work (even compared to other Swedish non-profit associations). In

Table 1 The number of

member associations has varied

over time (public statistics from

Sverok’s national office)

Year Total number

of associations

Number of

associations terminated

1990 41 4

1991 143 8

1992 292 19

1993 529 14

1994 902 94

1995 1057 63

1996 999 115

1997 1100 236

1998 1027 194

1999 960 165

2000 894 356

2001 929 390

2002 1430 256

2003 1580 236

2004 1825 198

2005 1601 358

2006 1094 688

2007 978 537

2008 844 391

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2010 there were less than 20 employees in the entire organization, and nearly

all activities are organized at club level (Sverok 2010a).

While these features stand out as distinct from the popular movement

organizations, they may be more similar to the structure of late-modern civil

society expected by many researchers. What we see is not a hierarchical structure

like the established popular movement organizations, but a network (Castells 1996)

in which clusters of gamers gather temporarily to organize activities, and then

dissolve. This structure underlies a hierarchical organization with district and

national levels that roughly corresponds to the established model. In DiMaggio’s

and Powell’s (1991) terminology this is a case of coercive isomorphism that appears

when the organization adapts to the expectations of grant-giving authorities. The

addition appears to be a formal hierarchic-democratic federal structure of non-profit

associations for gatherings or nodes within the network and, of course, a large

amount of government subsidies for activities which young volunteers organize for

each other.

Founding a study association, however, proved more difficult than founding a

youth organization. Seven years after beginning preparations, one of Sverok’s

representatives in these negotiations described both those, and his later experiences

with the National Council of Adult Education (FBR) as frustrating:

We had close contacts with the FBR and pushed them for two years to get

them to present any criteria or rules for how new study associations could be

started, work, and be admitted. […] When the rules finally came, it was just to

accept that they were, of course, written in such a way as to make it practically

impossible to start a new study association. First, the requirements were very

high. Second, one did not get any grants during the start up period. During the

two years that was the ‘‘testing period’’, one did not get any subsidies. And

when one was accepted, subsidies were based on the number of hours [of

reported activity] that one had managed to scratch together during those [first]

two years […]. Then their regular rules kicked in, i.e. one can increase or

decrease at maximum 10% (I think) within a period of three years. This means

that a new and growing association is entirely inhibited in its build up phase.

We took the rules to be written with the purpose that no new associations

should be started, and thus never presented an application […]. Instead we

changed tracks to joining one of the existing associations (e-mail 2010-01-11).

This attitude is common among the Sverok representatives that I have

interviewed. Another former board member noted, quite cynically, that the problem

is that those who decide whether a new study association is to be accepted are

representatives of the already established study associations. These have no interest

in adding to the competition for government grants (Interview 2009-09-15). The

requirements for becoming eligible for such grants include reporting 25,000 h of

study time during the 2-year test period. No study association, so far, has been able

to function without government subsidies. Neither were there, as we shall see, any

guarantees that an eligible candidate would become accepted as a study association.

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After giving up their negotiations with the FBR, Sverok decided to cooperate

more closely with an existing study association; Studieframjandet, of which they

became a full member in 2008. This particular study association was chosen for its

focus on hobby organizations combined with its neutrality in party politics and

religion (Sverok being neutral according to its statutes and Studieframjandet the

only study association at the time without a political party or a religious

denomination as a member). With this choice, Sverok also conforms to the field’s

norm that study associations and their member associations should have similar

ideology. This proved a more successful, if not entirely satisfactory, strategy.

Studieframjandet requires close contacts between its employees and associations

organizing activities in cooperation with them. Study association employees often

uphold contacts with clubs and build up cooperation with them over the years. This

approach is difficult to uphold with Sverok, an organization where local clubs are

numerous, often short lived, represented by teenagers and almost always without

employees of their own (but with high numbers of young volunteer workers)

(Interviews 2009-11-02, 2009-05-04; Sverok 2010a).

While Sverok’s decentralism clashes with the pedagogical and professionalized

culture of the study association field, many of the major Sverok activities are now

recognized as popular education. Activities organized by Studieframjandet in

cooperation with Sverok in 2009 amounted to 53,248 h (information from

Studieframjandet 2010-02-15). This was more than double the minimum activity

required for a new study association. Sverok’s failure to establish a study

association thus appears to be a matter of organizational structure (either theirs or

that of the study associations) rather than of the nature of their activities. Sverok

representatives whom I have interviewed appear to believe that this is only a minor

part of the activities conducted in the organization that could be described as study

circles (and thus qualified for support). According to them, the problem is making it

worthwhile for participants to report activities. It is a source of frustration in Sverok

that existing study associations have difficulties in providing material for the types

of activities that Sverok members are interested in, such as board games and specific

historical information and handcraft skills, and the fact that study associations have

very little experience in teaching organizational skills to the relevant age group.

Sverok is currently engaged in information campaigns among its own members on

the benefits of reporting study circles. Simultaneously, the organization is

cooperating with Studieframjandet to educate their employees and create new

study material. In the words of a Sverok employee explaining the process on the

organization’s Internet forum 2009-12-11 (Sverok 2010a):

It is a bit like steering an oil tanker – it turns, but it takes a while to change its

course. The project that is in the pipeline is about us taking charge of the

educational activities ourselves – we are the experts […]. It is we ourselves

who have to build our own educational structure – not let anyone else do it.

Studieframjandet will, however, be our tool when we improve ourselves.

The relationship between Studieframjandet and Sverok is apparently still under

negotiation, between the organizations as well as within them. Interviews and

discussions at the national congress of Sverok suggest that many active people in

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Sverok do not believe that the study association will change until enough people

with a Sverok background are employed by it. Most of the active members,

however, do not appear interested enough to involve themselves in the matter.

Those who are, view the study association as a source for resources, including the

valuable resource of public recognition as an increasingly established organization

in a society marked by corporatism; but without a knowledge base useful for their

own activities. In spite of the relatively large part of Studieframjandet’s activities

that take place in cooperation with Sverok, the relationship seems to be a clear

illustration of von Essen’s and Aberg’s (2009) distinction between founder

organizations and other members. For example, in spite of their common neutrality

in political and religious matters, Sverok and Studieframjandet do not appear to

identify each other as parts of the same popular movement. Instead the relationship

appears to be a symbiotic cooperation for mutual benefit: Sverok gains resources,

Studieframjandet gets more activities to add to their own in their competition with

other study associations over government grants. Consequently, Studieframjandet

have an interest in keeping Sverok from becoming a study association in their own

right. While Sverok was successful at receiving grants directly from the Youth

Board—and thus able to create a decentralized democratic organization—such

funding hasn’t been possible to obtain from the FBR as a study association.

Case Study 2: Ibn Rushd

Ibn Rushd is a study association founded in the spring of 2001 by a group of

Swedish Sunni Muslim organizations. Its application for being admitted as a

government-subsidized study association was submitted within the year of its

founding. It was also quickly withdrawn, for much the same reasons as Sverok

withdrew its application in the spring of 2002. As with Sverok, the main goal of the

application was to make the resources of the study association field available to the

member organizations. Judging from interviews, the ambition of its member

associations can be described in Carlbom’s (2003) terms as establishing Muslim

institutions in Sweden, within the existing structures of Swedish civil society, as

well as a Swedish-Muslim identity. A goal made apparent in both written material

from Ibn Rushd, and in all my interviews with representatives of the study

association, is also that of activation and empowerment of Muslims (seen as a

disenfranchised group) in Swedish civil society. These goals tend to overlap and are

also presented as similar to those of the popular movements that originally founded

the now established study associations (e.g., Interviews 2009-09-08, 2010-05-18). In

this sense, the new association conforms to existing norms on what the purpose of a

study association should be.

The founding associations included organizations supported by the state as

religious denominations, others supported as youth organizations, and some

describing themselves as cultural organizations. All of them were, however, federal

in structure and defined as Islamic or Muslim. None of them were organized on the

basis of ethnic or national identity (other than Swedish civic nationality). Ibn Rushd

has, in fact, made a point of welcoming all kinds of participants; secular and

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believing, Sunni and Shia, Muslim and non-Muslim, and so on. It was pointed out to

me in several interviews that the rector (the highest employed official) is a Christian,

and that the Swedish Shia Association had also joined recently. One interpretation

of how this development ties into larger changes in identity perception was

presented to me when I interviewed a member of the national board, who also

stressed Swedish as a common language among the various ethnic groups:

I think [a Swedish-Muslim identity] is developing, especially among the

young people, because … the first generation [of immigrants] were more

segregated, not just from society, but also within […] the minority, that is […]

the associations; many of them are ethnic associations, they are Muslim

associations, but ethnic. Young people are [becoming] more mixed [in terms

of ethnicity] (Interview 2009-10-05b).

Other representatives emphasized the differences and pluralism that they

expected of this emerging ethnically mixed community of Muslims in Sweden.

The ambition for both Swedish Muslims and their organizations is to take a more

active part in Swedish society. This would mean that Muslims would become more

active in both Muslim and non-Muslim formal organizations, as well as in politics in

general, take responsibility as citizens, and be recognized, both as citizens and as a

legitimate community within the larger Swedish society (interviews, cf., Ramadan

1999). Eriksson and Lundberg (2008) conclude, in an evaluation report published by

the FBR, that the aim of Ibn Rushd is ‘‘that Muslims should learn more about

Swedish society and that Swedes should learn about Muslims’’ (p. 16). A

representative of Ibn Rushd was more ambitious when we interviewed him, but

apparently also more frustrated as he read aloud to us from a report on Islam from

the parliamentary inquiry service (Riksdagens utredningstjanst) sent to the study

association for consideration, commenting on this as an example of current views on

Muslims and Islam in Sweden:

This lack of knowledge and … I should stop at ‘‘lack of knowledge’’ …indicates how much could be improved and changed if there was […] access

to more knowledge, if there was access to more channels, it would develop

both Sweden and its foreign policy, as well as Swedish interior policy, in ways

that would […] benefit participation in a larger part of the population. Right

now there is a group of people [in powerful positions], with a certain culture,

and a certain style […] who create a certain norm … and they are probably

unaware of doing this […] and since they meet only each other all the time,

they are unaware of the other fields that exist [,…] competing fields […]

(Interview 2009-10-05a).

The way to cure this ‘‘lack of knowledge’’ among parliamentarians and civil

servant is not only education but also personal understanding of the other, as for

example when you meat people from a different background and with a different

world view, something that Ibn Rushd aims to facilitate (ibid.). This ambition to

create both knowledge and mutual understanding is very close to the hermeneutic

view of bildning as a way for seemingly conflicting perspectives to meet, a belief

that a mutual higher understanding may emerge when different perspectives meet

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(cf., Gustavsson 2009; Kristensson Uggla 2007). The traditional concept of popular

education is, however, turned around when those perceived as lacking the

knowledge to adjust their perspectives are the experts employed by parliament, as

well as other overly homogenous elites, rather than segments of the population

lacking formal education. These views become practical reality in a number of

projects in which Ibn Rushd educates civil servants and employees of other study

associations, about Islam.

The ambition of Ibn Rushd is for Muslims and Islam, as well as their

organizations and institutions, to become a part of Swedish consensus culture. In a

neo-corporative state such as Sweden, establishing an organization as a part of civil

society can be expressed in terms of becoming a popular movement (a goal not at all

dissimilar from those of Sverok). One of the characteristics of such a movement

today appears to be that it is represented by a study association. Establishing a study

association thus becomes an important step for a group that strives to achieve

representation as a group. The very fact that the representative quoted above holds a

report from the parliamentary inquiry service on which Ibn Rushd is to make an

official comment is an example of the benefits of becoming an institutionalized part

of the political process.

The current position has not, however, been achieved immediately. In late 2001

Ibn Rushd could have been as doomed as the application submitted by Sverok. A

position similar to that achieved by Sverok would, however, not have satisfied its

ambitions. Ibn Rushd had visibly adjusted its structure to the norms prevailing

among the study associations from the start. A senior official at another study

association (Interview 2010-02-14) describes the statutes of Ibn Rushd as a copy of

those of the KFUK/KFUM Study Association, replacing the phrase ‘‘Christian

values’’ (‘‘kristen vardegrund’’) with ‘‘Islamic values’’ (‘‘islamisk vardegrund’’).

The two statutes are in fact very similar (cf., KFUK/KFUM Study Association

1998), as are the organization of most study associations. Ibn Rushd thus from the

start had a formal organization isomorphic, or at least isonymic, to that of at least

one established study association.

This was, however, not enough. To become fully accepted as a study association,

Ibn Rushd had had to ally with an organization already in that group. Sverok had

chosen Studieframjandet as a politically and religiously independent alternative. Ibn

Rushd chose Sensus, among other reasons because they judged that a study

association founded on religious values would be more understanding towards their

approach to creating a study association based on Islamic values (interviews).

Sensus was also the organization with which KFUK/KFUM Study Association (with

which many in the Muslim associations had good experiences from previous

cooperation) had recently merged. By allying with another study association

(Sensus) they were able to finance and conduct the activities of a study association

for the 2-year testing period without any right to state subsidies of their own. To

become admitted to the status of a study association, an applicant association did not

only have to have the acceptance of the FBR, but also the active support of an

established study association already included, thus enforcing their ability to stop

emerging applicants. This is also enforced by the formal rules for acceptance which

require not only that certain formal requirements are fulfilled, but also that the FBR

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considers the activities of the new study association to ‘‘fulfill the general purposes

of popular education’’, something that can be learned by mimicking the established

association structure (FBR 2007-05-16). This was how Ibn Rushd managed to come

through the probationary period that Sverok had deemed impossible.

In the judgment of Eriksson and Lundberg (2008), the arrangement between Ibn

Rushd and Sensus was to mutual benefit. Ibn Rushd gained access to the experience

and competence of an established study association, while representatives of Sensus

described how their organization had achieved new levels of knowledge and

experience in areas relevant in a multi-cultural society. In practice the organiza-

tional apprenticeship, for many employees, became a personal apprenticeship where

representatives of Ibn Rushd were employed by Sensus during the probationary

period. According to Eriksson and Lundberg (2008) they came to identify with

Sensus to the extent that employees on the regional level, when interviewed at the

end of the period, spoke of Ibn Rushd as ‘‘they’’ (p. 41). It is thus not surprising that

many people active in study associations today think that Ibn Rushd’s approaches

are not only similar to the established way of looking at popular education, but

specifically to the Sensus perspective on popular education, thus implying

isopraxism and not merely isomorphism. While representatives of Sensus have

displayed some disappointment to the fact that Ibn Rushd ended this apprenticeship

as soon as possible, they cannot have been wholly discouraged by the experience;

Sensus are now in the process of helping yet another study association becoming

accepted. Kulturens bildningsverksamhet, founded by a group of cultural amateur

associations, became accepted as the tenth study association on 1 July 2010 after a

similar period of apprenticeship to Sensus (Interview 2010-02-14; FBR 2010-03-

26). Even if this mode of admission to the study association field may be considered

mutually beneficial to both newly accepted and already established study

associations, its consequences for the field and for Swedish civil society in general

need, however, be considered further.

Discussion

From the establishment of the FBR in 1991 and until recently, no new study

associations were accepted, and the trend among the existing ones was for smaller

associations to merge with bigger ones, sometimes with a similar historical and

ideological background, and occasionally without. Nowhere was this trend more

clear than in Sensus; an organization moving from having nearly all of its activities

in cooperation with its member organizations to increasing the part organized as

publicly available courses and events (and doing so with what one representative

described as ‘‘acquiring’’ another study association, Interview 2010-02-14). It was

Sensus that made the acceptance of the first two new study association in over

20 years possible. Competence is being built in how to establish a study association.

Isomorphism, or at least isonymism, appears to be central to this process. The

process of becoming recognized as a study association involves adjusting to the

explicit and implicit norms for organizing developed among the study associations.

On a most basic level this is a clear matter of coercive isomorphism (DiMaggio and

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Powell 1991), and even more of coercive isonymism, in the form of demands made

by the FBR on applicants (as well as by the state in the rules for government grants

to study associations that the FBR follow). The formal criteria for acceptance focus

on both volume (in terms of activity volume and geographic spread over the entire

country) and form, ‘‘That the study association has several democratically carried

member organizations’’, as well as the more general, and subjective, demand that it

fulfills ‘‘the general purposes of popular education’’. There should also be an

agreement between the FBR and any new study association (FBR 2007-05-16). In

practice, these rules have given the FBR the authority to decide on whether or not to

accept new members based on subjective evaluation of whether they can fulfill ‘‘the

general purposes’’, and not just on quantitative measures such as the size of

activities, thus increasing the isomorphic, isopraxic, and isonymic pressure.

The more fundamental of the isonymic and isomorphic demands could be

fulfilled by Ibn Rushd immediately. Their member organizations could also lay

claim to fulfill criteria placed on member organizations. To some degree they lacked

the national extent demanded, but were at least congruent with the major structure

expected of Swedish popular movement organizations, perhaps, due to demands

placed on them by other grant structures (cf., Carlbom 2003). It is likely that Sverok

cooperating with other organizations could have adjusted to these demands as well.

It should be noted that Ibn Rushd adjusted, and very possibly had to adjust, more

than the already established study associations (especially compared to the

foundation-based structure of Folkuniversitetet). This is not, however, always a

matter of explicit demands—although such have been made by the FBR—but also a

matter of gaining legitimacy in the eyes of the FBR and the other study associations

by adjusting to norms, and increasing both isomorphism and isopraxism, as well as

isonymism in order to fulfill subjective criteria.

Ibn Rushd apprenticed itself as an organization to Sensus for 2 years. This

opened up an avenue for a professional training that can be described as mimetic

isomorphism and isopraxism (cf., DiMaggio and Powell 1991). The extent of this is

outside the scope of this article. I just note that representatives of Ibn Rushd in both

my own interviews (e.g., Interviews 2009-09-08, 2010-05-18), and those made by

Eriksson and Lundberg (2008) considered it necessary to testify that they learned

popular education as a practice during this period, knowledge necessary to function

in the study association field. Let us, furthermore, note that the coercive side of this

isomorphic pressure has in no way ceased. Not only is Ibn Rushd continuously

under the evaluating eyes of the FBR, at least to the extent that every study

association is, these evaluations and report demands themselves constitute an

isomorphic (and not just isonymic) pressure. The practical knowledge of reporting is

itself a central competence to survive in the study association field. The work of

doing so places heavy demands on administrative resources that cannot be acquired

with the grants already given to Ibn Rushd. This has instead been accomplished by

special grants made by the FBR (Interview 2010-05-18; Folbildningsradet 2010-03-

26). Sverok on the other hand, has difficulties in meeting even the requirements

made on member associations; their highly decentralized and volunteer-based

organization has difficulties motivating its member clubs to fulfill report require-

ments designed to function in more professionalized and centralized organizations.

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In the coming years, it is likely that Ibn Rushd will either face serious economic

and administrative problems or change from an organization that is (compared to

the other study associations) highly dependent on voluntary work into a more

professional organization embedded in the bureaucratic structure of the neo-

corporative state. Becoming an established study association appears to imply an

increased separation from the member organizations, comparable to the process that

most of the other study associations have already gone through. How this separation

cuts to the heart of Ibn Rushd can be seen in the recent move away from its former

offices in the Stockholm Mosque into new offices of its own (yet board members, as

opposed to employees, continue to meet and work in the Mosque in order to be

closer to the member organizations). The new organization is continuously

integrated into the field of study associations, as well as into Swedish civil society

in general, but simultaneously disintegrated from its original organizational context.

It would appear that Sverok’s original ambition to found a study association in order

to obtain resources for popular education activities initiated in civil society,

organized within Sverok and based on voluntary work, is impossible to realize

within the present system; the separation between study association and member

associations appear to be necessity to be accepted as a study association. Strong

isomorphic pressures exist against a study association based on decentralized

voluntary work.

In spite of this, yet another study association—Kulturens bildningsverksamhet—

was established in 2010, under similar circumstances as Ibn Rushd. The

organizations behind it are in no way new to the process. For them, this is yet

another step in a process that has been ongoing for many years (cf., FBR 2006-12-

07). Can it be that the inhibitions against forming new study associations have

decreased, at least if help is provided by an existing study association? If this is the

case, the development might have reached a new stage. This would point towards

what can be described as ‘‘packaging’’ the organization concept of the study

association. I have, however, spoken of an apprenticeship precisely because

practical knowledge has been transferred from person to person by way of the

learning party working side-by-side and under the supervision of those considered

experts. This implies a less commodified translation process than the pure packaging

described by Røvik (2008).

The practices and forms resulting from packaging are often very different from

the original, a translation process that can be described as un-packaging (Røvik

2008). Packaging in the case of the study association is an isomorphic, or at least

isonymic, process. Diversions from packaged concept that could be allowed before

the packaging occurred (e.g., in the foundation-based Folkuniversitetet) would not

be acceptable in an applicant today. Coercive isomorphism imposed by the FBR

ensures that copying does not lead to visible diversions from the model. Corporatist

structure prevents packaging from getting out of control of the already established

members of the field, as is exemplified in the apprenticeship of Ibn Rushd and

Kulturens Bildningsverksamhet to Sensus, as well as in the failure of Sverok to

establish a study association without such an apprenticeship.

In contrast to the apprentice system that appears to be developing in the study

association field, there are other cases in which processes of packaging occur in

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Swedish civil society. Sverok, like most of the member associations of Ibn Rushd,

took at least a decade to institutionalize. Sverok has, however, been very successful

in packaging the concept of non-profit organization for its member clubs. In 2006,

the youth organization of the Pirate Party (a minor Swedish party elected to the

European Parliament in 2009) according to one of its founders modeled its own

statutes on those of Sverok and managed to become eligible for government

subsidies for youth organizations within a year. It should also be noted that the

founder in question already had organizational experiences from working in Sverok,

as well as the contacts brought by that experience. Pirate Youth reported 4,120

members to the Youth Board at the end of 2008, which makes them one of the larger

political youth organizations in Sweden. They also continued the progress to

become an established youth organization by cooperating with a study association,

and discussed formally becoming an associated organization to a study association

(Interview 2009-09-15; Ungdomsstyrelsen 2010; Piratpartiet 2010; Ung Pirat 2010).

At the same time, the vice chairman of Ibn Rushd is involved in establishing yet

another organization, this time a Muslim peace organization, SMFR (field notes

2010-02-27), which may in turn become yet another member of either Ibn Rushd or

Sensus. These examples suggest that the youth organization and the peace

organization as concepts are being successfully packaged.

Sverok and Ibn Rushd are both examples of how new parts of Swedish civil

society have adopted existing organizational forms when faced with the state and

with the field of study associations. The study association field is corporative in the

implementation of policies to the extent that the established organizations control

which new organizations will be accepted. Its isomorphic, isopractic, and isonymic

pressures have been strong enough for the new study association to become

sufficiently embedded in the field to begin to separate it from the organizational

framework of its origin. How far this separation will go yet remains to be seen.

What can be concluded is that the corporative system of Swedish popular education

creates a strong isomorphic and isopraxic pressure on its members that counteracts

the government objective of having popular education organizations embedded in

different parts of civil society or popular movements—something that requires

difference rather than isomorphism. While youth and immigrant organizations

appear to strive to integrate in Swedish society, it is also apparent that the

corporative structure of the study associations prevents these new participants from

changing the field to any significant degree. At the same time it risks further

separating them from the groups of the population they are supposed to represent.

A risk with packaging is that the organizations themselves, both new and old

could become less stable and less important (like the member clubs within Sverok)

in relation to those who run them. As professionalism increases in importance,

democratic structures, and dependence on members may decrease in importance

(cf., Skocpol 2003). This development can be seen as a part of a process in which

civil society becomes more liquid, to use Bauman’s (2000) term, and less focused

on stable organizations or ideas of popular movements. The organizations discussed

here, however, still require members, preferably in large numbers, if nothing else

because of the grant system. One of their major assets is in fact large networks

among population segments less accessible to the more established organizations.

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Ibn Rushd and Sverok did, however, not start as disembedded organizations.

Instead they function as an interface between new groups in civil society and the

more established institutions, both in terms of access to government resources and

in terms of legitimacy as an established organization—but not necessarily in terms

of knowledge useful outside the study association field. Regarding knowledge, these

organizations appear to consider themselves at least as knowledgeable as the

established study associations, and in relevant cases more so. The price for

successfully joining the study association field is a comprehensive acceptance of the

modes of organization that dominate it, including less reliance on volunteers and

member associations. The present structure may thus on one hand, inhibit the

development of new modes of organization in adult education in Sweden, as well as

in the involved parts of civil society. Organizations supported by the government

are made to conform to existing norms to an extent that influences them far more

than the intentions of their founders.

When the organizations of young people and immigrants are supported in

building their own organizations only at the cost that they are not able to choose

their own structure, we should perhaps not be surprised that young people and

immigrants are less inclined than other Swedes to join CSOs. Sverok appears to be a

clear example of that an organization can be successful among young people by

making its organization more flexible, to an extent that would not be possible in the

study association field. It could be argued that the present structures uphold

the democratic form of Swedish CSOs. This can, however, be questioned when the

study associations are developing towards increasingly marketized activities at the

same time as becoming increasingly separated from their member associations and

civil society background, a development that could be considered contrary to the

aims of government support for them. To what extent these observations are

representative of the interplay between a corporative organizational structure and

new groups and modes of organization in civil society remains an issue for further

research. CSOs entering this particular field in Sweden are, however, highly

influenced by it.

Acknowledgments This study has been conducted within the research project Democratic Learning in

Educational NGOs, financed by the Swedish Research Council. I take this opportunity to thank my

colleagues in that project, as well as at Linkoping University, for their input on my work. I would also like

to thank the people I have met within Sverok and Ibn Rushd.

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Pirate.

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22, also documented by official proceedings and photos.

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2010-02-27.

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