SOCIAL AND SPIRITUAL CAPITAL OF THE GÜLEN MOVEMENT

Abstract

This paper examines the Gülen movement from the perspective of social and spiritual capital theory. It argues that, in an increasingly globalised world, this movement has been distin- guished by its consistent ability to convert its social network and spiritual capital into crea- tive projects that contribute positively to the transformation of Islamic thought and practice in many different settings and socio-political contexts. In the past, traditional spiritual and religious movements remained largely indifferent to the new forms of transformative agency such as civil society organisations, the media, modern educational establishments, corpora- tions and global networking. Social capital theory is derived from the idea that social net- works have both importance and power as civil actors in modern democratic societies. The Gülen movement was able to adapt to the modern conditions and successfully turned its spiritual, intellectual and human resources into effective social capital. Three areas of that adaptive success are examined: education (establishment of institutions from primary school to university level, attracting students of diverse backgrounds); the media (a wide range of products in print and audio-visual communication, from a mass circulation daily to TV and radio channels); and civil society organisations (foundations and associations to promote democratic participation and dialogue among various sections of the society). The paper con- cludes that the Gülen movement has built up a huge social capital and turns it into a number of transformative agents informed by Islamic spirituality.