Institutionalization as an Interplay Between Actions, Meanings, and Actors: The Case of a Rape Crisis Center in Israel

Abstract

In this article, I present an analysis of institutionalization as an interplay between three interrelated yet separate components—actors, actions, and meanings. Drawing on ethnographic data of a rape crisis center in Israel, where the entry of therapeutically oriented members resulted in the infusion of new meanings into originally feminist practices, I examine the role of organization members as carriers of institutions and their (possible) agency in infusing actions with meanings through interpretation; how meanings connect actors with actions; and institutional meanings as political resources.