The Constraints of Culture: Evidence from the Chicago Dyke March

Abstract

Drawing on an ethnographic study of the Chicago Dyke March, this article focuses on an instance in which a movement's ideology and identity contradict in order to advance, the theoretical question of how culture `works'. In forming as a reaction to perceived exclusions by the national and annual Gay Pride parades, Dyke March organizers developed an ideological commitment to inclusion.This ideology affected the March in three key areas: constructing an organizing structure, establishing recruitment and outreach procedures, and engaging in framing processes. However, the Dyke March's broad ideological commitment to inclusion conflicted with organizers' narrower collective identity, which formed around and celebrated a specific type of movement participant, and thus undermined their mobilization efforts. This study suggests that organizational dilemmas can arise for movements when their culture has internally contradictory elements. It introduces new theoretical perspectives about the conditions under which cultural elements work more or less effectively.