Institutionalization as an interplay between actions, meanings, and actors: The case of a rape crisis center in Israel

In this article, I present an analysis of institutionalization as an interplay between three interrelated yet separate components - actors, actions, and meanings. Drawing on ethnographic data of a rape crisis center in Israel, where the entry of therapeutically oriented members resulted in the infusion of new meanings into originally feminist practices, I examine the role of organization members as carriers of institutions and their (possible) agency in infusing actions with meanings through interpreration; how meanings connect actors with actions; and institutional meanings as political resources.