Mikaela Sundberg | Stockholm University (original) (raw)

Papers by Mikaela Sundberg

Combat and Cohesion in Twenty-First Century, 2015

The French Foreign Legion (Légion étrangère) is an elite force within the regular French army, bu... more The French Foreign Legion (Légion étrangère) is an elite force within the regular French army, but also one of the most mythical military forces in the world. As such, the Foreign Legion is a popular cultural icon, portrayed in movies and books, novels and biographies, but apart from less than a handful of French studies, the Foreign Legion has so far remained sociologically unexplored. This chapter aims to address that gap. It is based on a unique ethnographic study of the Foreign Legion, focusing on the Legion not primarily as a military force, but as an institution and organization, and on life at the regiment, rather than during operations. It examines how power and status relations in the Legion effect and indeed impede cohesion and combat performance. Because of the diverse multinational character of the Legion, deference to regimental traditions and the authority of non-commissioned and commissioned officers, is heightened. Although this generates highly robust soldiers, the rigid hierarchy may also result in problems on the complex terrain of modern operations. (This piece is a book chapter in an edited volume: King, A. (2015) (ed.) Frontline: Combat and Cohesion in the Twenty-First Century. Oxford University Press. Please e-mail the author for a copy of the chapter.)

Social Interaktion Forutsattningar Och Former, 2007

Publication View. 33768243. Making meteorology : social relations and scientific practice / (2005... more Publication View. 33768243. Making meteorology : social relations and scientific practice / (2005). Sundberg, Mikaela. Abstract. Thesis (doctoral)--Stockholms universitet, 2005.. Includes bibliographical references (p. 241-259). Publication details. ...

European Journal of Sociology, 2020

Total institutions are by definition totalitarian, but not necessarily authoritarian. Voluntary t... more Total institutions are by definition totalitarian, but not necessarily authoritarian. Voluntary total institutions consist of members who have chosen to enter, but what opportunities do they have to leave? This article addresses opportunities for exit and voice in Catholic monasteries within the Cistercian order of Strict Observance. Monasteries have institutionalized important democratic processes regarding membership and leadership. Members are involved in decision-making through community bodies and discussions, but in many practical concerns, superiors may wrest control by ensuring that final decisions rest in their hands. The superior’s decision-making style is therefore crucially affecting the range of democratic decision-making in individual monastic communities. Complete exits are common during the initial entry process. The cost of leaving is higher for full members and the internal exit option to other monastic communities in the order is therefore of great importance, and means that monastic communities cease to operate as monopolies.

Current Sociology, 2020

How do monks and nuns manage expectations regarding how to 'open their hearts'? What alternatives... more How do monks and nuns manage expectations regarding how to 'open their hearts'? What alternatives do they have and what are the consequences? Based on a multi-sited case study of Cistercian monasteries in France, this article compares the different situation of nuns and monks. The analysis shows how monks are free to choose who they will 'open their heart' to, whereas nuns are expected to rely on the abbess. While certain ways that nuns circumvent these expectations are illegitimate, some ways of distancing from the abbess align with, rather than diverge from, other central tenets of monastic life. Compared to monks, nuns face a double-penalty, being less free and facing more ambivalent expectations within this restricted space.

Ahrne, G. and Brunsson, N. (eds) (2019) Organization outside Organizations. The Abundance of Partial Organization in Social Life. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. , 2019

The argument of this chapter is that brotherhood can be conceptualized as a partially organized r... more The argument of this chapter is that brotherhood can be conceptualized as a partially organized relationship, based on membership and rules. To illustrate the conceptualization, the chapter draws examples from three different arenas where there is a strong rhetorical emphasis on brotherhood, or fraternity: the military, motorcycle clubs, and monasteries. Membership determines who is a brother or not and while the brotherly relationship sometimes extends beyond the cessation of membership in a formal organization, it presupposes membership at some point. Rules clarify important components of brotherhood including homogeneous relations among all brothers (or sisters). This makes a crucial difference relative to friendship, which is a type of relationship that can even be a threat for brotherhood. In areas where collectivist ideology, homogeneity of relationships, and requests on loyalty are especially forceful, personal or friendly relations between individual members cannot compensate for failure as a “brother.” Brotherhood justifies sacrifice of individual needs to collective demands, and this may include the sacrifice of a personal relation.

Journal of Management, Spirituality and Religion

How is work organized and experienced in monasteries? Based on a multi-sited, qualitative case st... more How is work organized and experienced in monasteries? Based on a multi-sited, qualitative case study of Cistercian monasteries in France, this article brings an archetypal setting of normative control into the purview of sociological research on work and organization. It reveals a tension between the hierarchical organization of work and the ideology of all forms of work as “services” of equal importance and shows how the ideology affects the experiences of member differently depending on their position. Whereas those who feel recognized become spokespersons, less privileged members are not only discontent, but this experience also constitutes a failure to obey “gladly.” Because members have chosen to enter a monastery, it is up to them to reach a state of acceptance regardless of the work position they have. The notion of ascetic responsibilization conceptualizes the mechanism behind this reasoning, which serves to maintain a status quo in monastic power relations.

Sociology

Tensions between different relationship forms exist in every organisational setting. Catholic mon... more Tensions between different relationship forms exist in every organisational setting. Catholic monasteries-as archetypical examples of voluntary total and greedy institutions-provide strategic cases of inquiry for understanding relational conflicts owing to the significance they assign to exclusively fraternal relations, resulting in explicit tensions regarding personal forms of relationships, such as friendship. Based on a multi-sited, qualitative case study of Cistercian monasteries in France, the present article pushes theorising on fraternal relations forward. Fraternal relations as a social form is membership-based and characterised by collectivism, egalitarianism and an imposed level of intimacy. In the monastic setting, it takes the form of prescribed impersonal love. The ideals of fraternal relations pose normative constraints for establishing friendship, but the ambition to minimise verbal interaction, perceived differences between members and the severe limits on joint, extra-organisational activities constitute additional constraints for friendship to form in monasteries.

(This piece is a book chapter in an edited volume: King, A. (2015) (ed.) Frontline: Combat and Cohesion in the Twenty-First Century. Oxford University Press. Please e-mail the author for a copy of the chapter.)

Studies In History and Philosophy of Science Part B: …, Jan 1, 2010

Social Studies of Science, Jan 1, 2011

Science, Technology & Human Values, Jan 1, 2010

Social Studies of Science, Jan 1, 2007

Science Technology & Human Values, 2008

Acta Sociologica, Jan 1, 2007

Science, Technology & Human Values, Jan 1, 2009

Books by Mikaela Sundberg

Routledge, 2023

This is a book about the tensions between Christian ideals of love and the concrete realities of ... more This is a book about the tensions between Christian ideals of love and the concrete realities of everyday monastic life. Based on a study of Cistercian monasteries in France, it develops a novel conceptualization of fraternal relations and addresses how monks and nuns strive to accomplish such relationships within their communities. By focusing on the main interaction contexts of monasteries as a form of voluntary total institution, the book shows how attempts to generate collective solidarity, relate to other members as equals and avoid preferential relations conflict with practices of everyday life. Although fraternal ideals are similar for monks and nuns, the analysis reveals significant gender differences regarding the legitimacy of different forms of interaction and relationships as well as how to control them. The book appeals to readers with an interest in total institutions, sociology of religion, sociology of friendship, sociology of intimacy and also to scholars with an interest in theology of love and practical theology.

Table of Contents
Chapter 1. Pursuing ideals of love in a voluntary total institution
Chapter 2. Studying social relations in a total institution
Chapter 3. Entering and staying in monastic life
Chapter 4. Ideals of love in fraternal life
Chapter 5. Collective solidarity and ritual stratification: The role of singing during the Liturgy of the Hours
Chapter 6. Stratified work in the context of equality ideals: Ascetic responsibilization and power failures
Chapter 7. Different conditions for friendship and conversation among monks and nuns
Chapter 8. Surveillance and sanctions through performative regulation
Chapter 9. Conclusion
MORE INFO HERE https://www.routledge.com/Fraternal-Relations-in-Monasteries-The-Laboratory-of-Love/Sundberg/p/book/9780367534912

Combat and Cohesion in Twenty-First Century, 2015

Social Interaktion Forutsattningar Och Former, 2007

European Journal of Sociology, 2020

Current Sociology, 2020

Ahrne, G. and Brunsson, N. (eds) (2019) Organization outside Organizations. The Abundance of Partial Organization in Social Life. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. , 2019

Journal of Management, Spirituality and Religion

Sociology

Studies In History and Philosophy of Science Part B: …, Jan 1, 2010

Social Studies of Science, Jan 1, 2011

Science, Technology & Human Values, Jan 1, 2010

Social Studies of Science, Jan 1, 2007

Science Technology & Human Values, 2008

Acta Sociologica, Jan 1, 2007

Science, Technology & Human Values, Jan 1, 2009

Routledge, 2023

Now available as paperback! See e g https://www.routledge.com/products/9781472455604 This book ... more Now available as paperback! See e g https://www.routledge.com/products/9781472455604

This book is about the organization of everyday life inside the regiments of the French Foreign Legion. The Foreign Legion (Légion étrangère) is an elite force within the regular French Army and one of the most legendary military forces in the world. Based on extensive and unique empirical research conducted inside the Legion regiments, A Sociology of the Total Organization is the first book that examines the Foreign Legion from a sociological perspective.

By taking its theoretical point of departure in the Foreign Legion as a voluntary total organization, the book provides studies of the armed forces with a fresh organizational perspective. Total institutions are geographically delimited places of residence and work where inmates are separated from the outside world, leading an enclosed, formally administered life. There are various accounts of involuntary total institutions, such as prisons, but this book is about a voluntary total institution. Using a modified version of Goffman’s (1961) original concept of the total institution, the aim of the book is to sociologically untangle the Foreign Legion as a voluntary total organization and explore how different kinds of social orders interplay there. The book is therefore intended as an empirical and theoretical contribution to Goffman’s original work on total institutions as well as to the subsequent research his work has inspired.

Although the book focuses on regimental life rather than combat, it is important that the armed forces demand something of their members that other professional organizations do not: a readiness to risk losing one’s life in battle. This demand is likely to presuppose great loyalty, which is a principal indication of why the armed forces should also be characterized as greedy. Greedy organizations “seek exclusive and undivided loyalty and they attempt to reduce the claims of competing roles and status positions on those they wish to encompass within their boundaries” (Coser 1964: 4). Greediness is a common characteristic of total organizations that people have chosen to enter voluntarily, and where obligations regarding members’ loyalty are maintained through symbolic, rather than physical, boundaries. Greedy organizations take measures to restrain competing obligations and hence “exercise pressure on component individuals to weaken their ties, or not form any ties, with other institutions or persons that might make claims that conflict with their own demands” (Coser 1964: 6). From this follows that greedy organizations also restrict ties to other members who “make claims that conflict” based on a “competing role.”

A central argument presented in the book is that atomistic unity is the ideal relational condition in greedy organizations. Atomistic unity signifies simultaneous unification and division and refers to commitment to a unit, based on the idea of an “us,” but also articulates impersonal ties among individuals. Atomistic unity enables a sense of cohesion, as opposed to alienation, not based on interpersonal affection, but based on mutual belief in a greater whole. Thus, atomistic unity illustrates the mechanisms through which the Foreign Legion not only cuts members’ ties to people outside the organization, but also restricts the creation and maintenance of ties among its members. Yet atomistic unity is not limited to greedy organizations. At the interaction level, atomistic unity refers to rule-based social interaction in a collectivist setting. It is the scope of this demand that distinguishes greedy organizations from non-greedy settings.

The approach presented in the book differs significantly from typical discussions of interpersonal relations in the armed forces found in the military sociology and military studies literature, which often reflects an outdated understanding of the role of “primary bonds” among soldiers. This more traditional understanding has the effect of formulating definitions of cohesion that are of limited value to other fields of research. The book, instead, introduces and develops the concept of atomistic unity, which is more generalizable.

The military sociology literature also tends to focus on combat. Yet in military life, situations of battle constitute the exceptions, far removed from mundane living in the barracks. To understand the armed forces it is important to shift the gaze from sacred combat campaigns exclusively, to also consider the organization of profane everyday life at the regiments. In addition, the multinational composition of the Foreign Legion makes its social relations particularly interesting to explore if we wish to learn more about the dynamics of such an environment.

In sum, A Sociology of the Total Organization intends to fill a gap in the military sociology literature as well as in the literature on total institutions. At the same time, by bringing these areas of studies into dialogue with organizational sociology, A Sociology of the Total Organization offers a link between different research fields.

For a description, reviews and preview, please visit https://www.routledge.com/products/9781472455604
Review in Contemporary Sociology http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0094306116681813vv