CONTESTED LOYALTIES: DISSIDENT IDENTITY ORGANIZATIONS, INSTITUTIONS, AND SOCIAL MOVEMENTS

In this article, the author investigates the innovative survival strategies of two organizations, both of which claim loyalty to parent institutions while simultaneously attempting to undermine those institutions in a larger political arena. The author asks how and why these organizations are able to maintain this precarious position. Findings indicate that the organizations manage to balance institutional insider and outsider status in three main ways: by reinterpreting key institutional texts in ways that support their own beliefs, by claiming to represent the majority of institutional membership, and by distancing themselves from the "corrupted" institutional elites. Their institutional loyalty claims help create a niche in a broader social movement and attracts support from external institutional opponents. But their dual identity also puts them at particular risk of being isolated from supportive communities. In general, these organizations shed light on the creative ways organizations can meet (sometimes) conflicting resource and legitimacy needs.