M.J. (Marton Janos) Gera

As illiberalism and populism rise in many countries, organizations increasingly find themselves operating in politically turbulent and unsettled contexts (Adler et al., 2023; Berman, 2021; De Cleen et al., 2018; Rovira Kaltwasser et al., 2019; Sajó et al., 2022; Swidler, 1986; Urbinati, 2019) While such environments likely have consequential effects on organizations, it is not well understood and theorized how they respond to an illiberal milieu and how counter-organization (e.g., Clemens, 1993) takes place against this backdrop. Understanding how organizations react to illiberal threats and how they might counter-organize is important, as these examples can shed light on the forms of resistance in illiberal regimes. 

To address the conundrum above, this PhD project takes an ethnographic approach. Focusing on Hungary (Krekó & Enyedi, 2018) as an empirical context, with my supervisors, I study how independent news organizations counter illiberalism by crafting an alternative future (study 1). I also explore how culture can serve as a form of resistance in an illiberal society by investigating the independent theater scene in Hungary (study 2). In addition, I study a political internet TV channel that combats propaganda, examining how a social movement offers an alternative to the current political environment by evolving into an established organization (study 3). 

This project seeks to contribute to the literature on alternative forms of organizing and counter-organizing, and it also speaks to the scholarship on societal grand challenges (e.g., George et al., 2016) by studying the effects of illiberalism on organizations and societies.

References 

Adler, P. S., Adly, A., Armanios, D. E., Battilana, J., Bodrožić, Z., Clegg, S., Davis, G. F., Gartenberg, C., Glynn, M. A., Aslan Gümüsay, A., Haveman, H. A., Leonardi, P., Lounsbury, M., McGahan, A. M., Meyer, R., Phillips, N., & Sheppard-Jones, K. (2023). Authoritarianism, Populism, and the Global Retreat of Democracy: A Curated Discussion. Journal of Management Inquiry, 32(1), 3–20. https://doi.org/10.1177/10564926221119395

Berman, S. (2021). The Causes of Populism in the West. Annual Review of Political Science, 24(1), 71–88. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-polisci-041719-102503

Clemens, E. S. (1993). Organizational Repertoires and Institutional Change: Women’s Groups and the Transformation of U.S. Politics, 1890-1920. American Journal of Sociology, 98(4), 755–798. https://doi.org/10.1086/230089

De Cleen, B., Glynos, J., & Mondon, A. (2018). Critical research on populism: Nine rules of engagement. Organization, 25(5), 649–661. https://doi.org/10.1177/1350508418768053

George, G., Howard-Grenville, J., Joshi, A., & Tihanyi, L. (2016). Understanding and Tackling Societal Grand Challenges through Management Research. Academy of Management Journal, 59(6), 1880–1895. https://doi.org/10.5465/amj.2016.4007

Krekó, P., & Enyedi, Z. (2018). Orbán’s Laboratory of Illiberalism. Journal of Democracy, 29(3), 39–51. https://doi.org/10.1353/jod.2018.0043

Rovira Kaltwasser, C., Taggart, P. A., Ochoa Espejo, P., & Ostiguy, P. (Eds.). (2019). The Oxford handbook of populism. Oxford University Press.

Sajó, A., Uitz, R., & Holmes, S. (2022). Routledge handbook of illiberalism. Routledge, Taylor & Francis group.

Swidler, A. (1986). Culture in Action: Symbols and Strategies. American Sociological Review, 51(2), 273. https://doi.org/10.2307/2095521

Urbinati, N. (2019). Political Theory of Populism. Annual Review of Political Science, 22(1), 111–127. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-polisci-050317-070753