How can the Gülen Movement adapt to the environment while maintaining its own identity?
The Gülen Movement’s ability to maintain its identity compared with its variations over time and establishment of new relationships, organizational forms and institutions, and adaptations to the environment can at first appear contradictory: While the Gülen Movement tacitly affirms its difference from the rest of the society, it also states its belonging to the shared culture of society and its need to be recognized as a social actor for the common good. This seeming paradox is in fact a necessary prerequisite of a multicultural, diverse and pluralist society and presupposes a certain equality, a degree of reciprocity, and consolidation of democratic practice and institutions.
The Gülen Movement participants feel a bond with others because they share the same interests. This enables individuals in the Gülen Movement to make sense of what they are doing. It enables them to affirm themselves as subjects of their action, and to help to prevent the breakdown of social relations during conflicts.
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