Skip to main content

Opposing Ambitions

Gender and Identity in an Alternative Organization

"Renewal" is a holistic health center run by baby boomers whose political ideals were shaped by the counterculture movements of the 1960s. Through interviews and observation, Sherryl Kleinman takes us inside Renewal and shows us how its members struggled to maintain a view of themselves as progressive and alternative even as they sought conventional legitimacy.

In Opposing Ambitions we meet the members of Renewal as individuals; learn about the differences in power, prestige, and respect they are accorded; why they talked endlessly about money; and how they related to each other. Kleinman shows how members’ attempts to see themselves as unconventional, but also as serious operators of a legitimate health care organization, led them to act in ways that undermined their egalitarian goals. She draws out the lessons Renewal offers for understanding the problems women face in organizations, the failure of social movements to live up to their ideals, and how it is possible for progressives to avoid reproducing the inequalities they claim to oppose.

160 pages | 5-1/2 x 8-1/2 | © 1996

Sociology: Social Psychology--Small Groups

Women's Studies

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments
1: Introduction
2: Money as Moral Currency
3: Conventional Signs, Unconventional Commitments
4: Alternative Rituals
5: Waking Up to Inequality
6: Conclusions
References
Index

Be the first to know

Get the latest updates on new releases, special offers, and media highlights when you subscribe to our email lists!

Sign up here for updates about the Press