6
Right?” An affirmative answer is sufficient justification for using social movement theory to
study the Christian Right.
A Theory of Institutionalization
Institutionalization According to Weber and Michels
Weber argues that as charismatic leadership becomes routinized, or replaced by
bureaucratic structures, it loses its authority and is abandoned by its followers (Gerth 1946).
Similarly, Michels (1915) claims an “iron law of oligarchy” inflicts voluntary organizations with
the characteristic that their leaders and staff dominate the decision making process rather than
their supporters, thus making voluntary organizations unrepresentative of their supporters. These
leaders will, seeking to preserve their positions, move the organization in a more conservative
direction. Weber and Michels lead to the expectation that as social movements institutionalize
their leaders will pursue more attainable goals, will become more concerned with institutional
maintenance, and will become more oligarchic (Zald and Ash 1966). Moen (1996) has made a
similar case with respect to the Christian Right of the mid-1990s:
They [the Christian Right] transform as they reshape and assimilate the societal
consensus. In a typical case, charismatic leadership yields to bureaucratic leadership;
unattainable goals are replaced by diffuse goals; organizational maintenance becomes an
objective in itself. (463)
The institutionalization of the CRSM, Moen argues, fits the Weber-Michels model of
institutionalization, but as we will see, there are other reasons to expect the Weber-Michel model
to be insufficient to understand the institutionalization of the CRSM.
Convention