Recruitment Strategies, Ideology, and Organization in the Hare Krishna Movement

Author(s): E. Burke Rochford, Jr.

Reviewed work(s):
Source: Social Problems, Vol. 29, No. 4 (Apr., 1982), pp. 399-410
Published by: University of California Press on behalf of the Society for the Study of Social Problems
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 SOCIAL PROBLEMS Vol. 29, No. 4, April 1982

RECRUITMENT
STRATEGIES, ANDORGANIZATION
IDEOLOGY,
IN THEHAREKRISHNA
MOVEMENT*

E. BURKEROCHFORDJR.
University of California, Los Angeles

Studies of recruitmentto social movements have focused mainlyon the social

psychologicalreasons for joiningor the interactionbetween membersand prospec-
tive recruits. This paper examines the inter-relationshipbetween recruitment
strategy, ideology, movement structure,and external social forces in the develop-
ment of the Hare Krishnamovement.A survey of over 200 Hare Krishnadevotees
shows that opportunisticexploitationof local conditions, rather than ideology or
structure,has been responsiblefor the growthof the HareKrishnamovementin the
UnitedStates.

Why people act collectively has long been a subject of debate among scholars. Yet not until the
1960s, when collective movements became prominent in the United States, did sociologists begin
to take a special interest in why some people join movements while others do not. A variety of
social psychological attributes were identified to explain why people join movements bent on
changing society and/or hearts and minds of their adherents, including: alienation (Judah, 1974;
Seeman, 1959, 1975), the search for meaning (Klapp, 1972), deprivation (Davies, 1971; Glock,
1964; Gurr, 1970), tension (Lofland and Stark, 1965), personal problems (Stark and Bainbridge,
1980), and troubles (Rochford, 1978). Common to all these theories is the belief that people with
personal troubles join movements to alleviate their sources of distress.'
Critics of this perspective argue that many people experience tension, alienation, and other
troubles, yet few join movements (Lofland, 1977; Snow and Phillips, 1980; Snow et al., 1980;
Turner and Killian, 1972; Wood, 1974). Contact with somebody offering an alternative ideology
and/or way of life is essential, as Snow et al. argue:
Howeverreasonablethe underlyingassumptionthat some personsare more susceptiblethan othersto
movementparticipation,that viewdeflectsattentionfromthe fact that recruitmentcannotoccurwithout
priorcontactwith a movementagent.The potentialparticipanthas to be informedaboutand introduced
into a particularmovement(1980:789).
This perspective focuses on how people make contact with participants in a movement, and vice
versa. Differential recruitment is seen in interactional and relational terms, rather than cognitive
and social psychological terms.2
Movement contact is not a random event. Rather, movements develop recruitment strategies
for reaching out and contacting prospective recruits. Such strategies are usually seen as
emanating from a movement's ideology (Freeman, 1979; Garner, 1972; Wilson, 1973). Yet Snow

* Revised version of a paper presentedat the Sociology of Religion Conferenceon the new religious
movements,April 1981,Lincoln,England.The authorthanksJeanBurfoot,RobertM. Emerson,Roderick
Harrison,MelvinSeeman, RalphTurner,and three Social Problemsreviewersfor their comments.Cor-
respondenceto: Departmentof OccupationalTherapy, Medical College of Virginia, Virginia Com-
monwealthUniversity,MCVStation, Richmond,Virginia23298.
1. Of course, social movementsare only one way of dealingwith personaltroubles;politicalactivityand
psychotherapy areothers.See LoflandandStark(1965)andRichardsonandSteward(1978)for discussionof
the generalorientationsused to deal with felt problems,and Emersonand Messinger(1977)on the micro-
politicsof trouble.
2. Loflandand Stark(1965)andSnowand Phillips(1980)haveshownthatcultaffectivebondsandintensive
interactionare essentialto the conversionprocess.I arguethat similarrelationalfactorsare likewisecrucial
to the influenceprocessandthe decisionto join a particularmovement.Barker(1980:394)reportsthat most
potentialrecruitsattendedone of the UnificationChurch'sprogramsin Britainbecausethey wereseeking
some kindof truth,or becausetheyhadan "interestin or curiosityaboutthe personwho hastalkedto them."
400 ROCHFORD
et al. also suggest that recruitment strategy is strongly influenced by a movement's organizational
structure:
Movementsrequiringexclusiveparticipationby theirmembersin movementactivitieswill attractmembers
primarilyfrompublicplacesratherthan from amongextramovement interpersonalassociationsand net-
works. Movementswhichdo not requireexclusiveparticipationby theirmembersin movementactivities
will attractmembersprimarilyfrom among extramovementinterpersonalassociationsand networks,
ratherthan from publicplaces(1980:796).
I propose that under certain conditions recruitment opportunities and associated recruitment
strategies can themselves shape movement ideology and organizational arrangements. In par-
ticular, I argue that as external social forces change, a movement's recruitment strategies,
ideology and organization also change. In this paper I examine the inter-relationships between
recruitment strategy, ideology, movement structure, and external social forces through a study of
the growth of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON), popularly known
as the Hare Krishna movement.3 ISKCON's recruitment strategies have been tailored to local
conditions rather than tied to the movement's ideology or structure. Such opportunism has
played an important role in the development of ISKCON by helping to shape its ideology and
structure.

METHODAND DATA
This paper relies on three sources of data:
1) I observed the Los Angeles ISKCON community over a five-year period, taking part in day-
to-day activities, conducting formal and informal interviews, and on several occasions living in
the community as a new recruit and taking part in the Bhakta program for neophyte members.
2) I reviewed the scholarly literature on ISKCON (Daner, 1976; Johnson, 1970; Judah, 1974;
Pilarzyk, 1978), as well as Goswami's (1980) inside account. These sources were supplemented by
numerous interviews and conversations with some of the first Krishna devotees.
3) I conducted a non-random survey of six ISKCON communities in the United States in 1980.
Data were collected from 214 adult devotees in Los Angeles, Denver, Chicago, Port Royal (a
farm community in Pennsylvania), New York, and Boston. Response to questionnaires4 ranged
from nearly 50 percent for the large communities (Los Angeles and New York) up to more than
90 percent for several of the smaller communities. Based upon estimates by devotees in the move-
ment, my sample represents approximately 10 percent of the total ISKCON population in the
United States.

TYPES OF CONTACTWITH ISKCON

There are four general types of contacts between prospective recruits and a movement: (1) self-
initiated contacts, where an individual seeks out a movement and/or its representatives; (2) con-
tacts made with movement members in public places; (3) contacts made through social network
ties with friends, acquaintances, and family members who belong to a movement; and (4) non-
member network ties where movement sympathizers influence persons in their sphere of social

3. ISKCONis a movementoriginatingin India that is dedicatedto spreadingKrishnaConsciousness

throughoutthe world. The aim of the Krishnadevoteeis to becomeself-realizedby practicingthe bhakti
yoga process:chantingthe HareKrishnamantraandlivingan austerelifestylewhichrequiresavoidingmeat,
intoxicants,illicit sex, and gambling.At its heightin the early 1970s,ISKCONhad approximately5,000
membersthroughoutthe world.Thiscase studyof ISKCONfocusesonly on its growthin the UnitedStates.
For a discussionof the movement'shistoricalroots in India, see Judah(1974).
4. Among the issuesaddressedby the questionnairewere:how devoteesfirst madecontactwith ISKCON
and/or KrishnaConsciousness;factorsand circumstances whichattracteddevoteesto the movementandin-
fluencedtheir decisionto join; devotee involvementsin other social movementspriorto ISKCON;and,
devotees'currentcommitmentsto ISKCONand KrishnaConsciousness.
 Movement
HareKrishna 401
TABLE1
Modeof Recruitmentby Yearof Entry
Year Entered Devotee Non-Member Public
ISKCON Networksa Networksb Places Otherc Total
1967-1971 29% 7% 54% 10% 100% (40)
1972-1974 16% 33% 38% 13% 100% (44)
1975-1976 18% 26% 46% 10% 100% (50)
1977-1978 23% 40% 31% 6% 100% (35)
1979-1980 30% 12% 40% 19% 101% (43)
Mean Percent (23%) (23%) (42%) (12%) (100%) (212)

Notes:
a Devotee networks are contacts leading to membership initiated through social ties with persons who are
already ISKCONmembers.
b Non-membernetworks are contacts initiated with movement sympathizers which lead to persons taking up
membership with ISKCON.
c Contacts coded as "other"include being picked up hitchhiking by ISKCONmembers,
visiting a Krishna
community for a school project, and meeting the devotees at an anti-nuclearrally.Since only six percent of
the devotee respondents indicated that they initiated contact with the movement on their own (i.e., attended
a Sunday feast at a local temple or read ISKCON'sliterature)we have grouped them in the "other"category.

relations to join a movement. Sympathizers are those "who believe in or agree with the goals of a
movement or movement organization, but who do not devote any personal resources to it" (Snow
et al., 1980:789).
While social ties have played a prominent role in recruiting people to new religious movements
(Bibby and Brinkerhoff, 1974; Gerlach and Hine, 1970; Harrison, 1974; Snow et al., 1980; Stark
and Bainbridge, 1980),5 recruitment to ISKCON is an exception. Judah's (1974) study of the San
Francisco ISKCON community in the early 1970s found that two-thirds of the 63 devotees sampled
made their initial contact with the movement in encounters with other devotees in public places.
Only three percent made contact through pre-established social ties. Snow et al. (1980) found
only one of the 25 ISKCON devotees they interviewed in Los Angeles and Dallas had been
recruited by a former acquaintance.
In contrast, my survey reveals that both social network ties and encounters in public places
have been crucial in recruiting new members to ISKCON. Table 1 shows nearly half of the
devotees made contact with ISKCON through a social tie with ISKCON members or sym-
pathizers, while 42 percent made contact in public places.6 Table 1 also reveals historical changes
in the contact process. Approximately one-third of the recruits joining prior to 1971 first learned
about ISKCON from a friend or family member who had been previously recruited. Devotee net-
work influences declined in importance after 1971, but again became a major source of recruits
after 1977. Between 1972 and 1978, non-member networks increasingly became a major source of
recruitment.
Table 2 shows recruitment patterns varied widely with locale, as well as over time. The Los
Angeles community has expanded mainly through social network ties, while other communities

5. The importanceof social networkties have also been noted for traditionalreligions(Starkand Bain-
bridge, 1980);non-religiousgroupsand movements(Leahy, 1975;Sills, 1957);job contacts(Granovetter,
1973);seekingan abortionist(Lee, 1969);the diffusionof medicalinnovations(Colemanet al., 1966);seek-
ing psychiatrictreatment(Horwitz, 1977);and the mobilizationof politicalsupport(Sheingold,1973).
6. Sixty-sevendevotees surveyed had multiple contacts with Krishna Consciousnessprior to joining
ISKCON.I codedcaseswheresocialties wereinvolvedalongwithotherformsof contact(e.g. publicplaces,
self-initiated,or other)as eitherdevoteeor non-membernetwork,becausethe socialtie ultimatelyled to the
decisionto join.
402 ROCHFORD
TABLE2
Modeof Recruitmentby CommunityWherethe Devotees Joined ISKCON
Non-
Devotee Member Public
Community Networks Networks Places Other Total
Los Angeles 40% 33% 20% 7% 100% (30)
New York 28% 14% 42% 16% 100% (43)
San Francisco* 13% 0 88% 0 100% (8)
Denver 13% 9% 65% 13% 100% (23)
Boston 21% 16% 47% 16% 100% (19)
Other ISKCON Communities in U.S. 14% 39% 39% 9% 101% (65)
ISKCONCommunities in Foreign Countries 31% 15% 39% 15% 100% (26)
Mean Percent (23%) (23%) (42%) (12%) (100%) (214)
Note:
Despite the small numberof respondents in the present survey who joined ISKCONin San Francisco, these
data generally correspond to those collected by Judah (1974:162).

have had greater success recruiting in public places.7 These variations suggest that ISKCON's
recruitment strategies are determined locally and not by either ideology or organizational struc-
ture. As the following analysis of ISKCON's growth and development shows, leaders and
members of the movement have been sensitive to the settings in each of the communities where
ISKCON has expanded, developing what must be seen as opportunistic recruitment strategies.

THE SOCIO-SPATIALDIMENSIONSOF ISKCON'S RECRUITMENT STRATEGIES

ISKCON began modestly in New York City in 1965. A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada,
or "the Swami" as he was known by his followers, came to New York from Calcutta on the in-
struction of his spiritual master to spread Krishna Consciousness to the western world. With no
organizational backing or followers to help him begin his Hare Krishna movement, Prabhupada
first tried to gain a following among the elderly on New York's West Side. Unsuccessful, he turned
to the youth living on the Bowery on the Lower East Side. As one of his early followers explained:

I think most of the teachersfrom India up to that time had older followers, and sometimeswealthy
widowswould providea sourceof income. But Swamijichangedrightawayto the youngerpeople.The
nextthingthat happenedwasthatBill Epstein[anearlyfollowerof Prabhupada]andothersbegantalking
abouthow it wouldbe betterfor the Swamito comedowntownto the LowerEastSide.Thingswerereally
happeningdown there, and somehowthey weren'thappeninguptown(Goswami,1980:66).
Most of the Swami's early followers were musicians and Bohemians that lived in or frequented
the Bowery (Goswami, 1980:72). Their interests in Prabhupada were often far from philosophi-
cal: many were only interested in fitting Krishna Consciousness into their own lifestyle:

Personswerecomingto see whatPrabhupadawasdoingso theycouldincorporateit into theirown ways.

Somewho wereinto drugssawwhatPrabhupadawasdoingin thoseterms.Otherslike myselfweremore
impersonalist(in theirphilosophy)and werelookingto see whatthe Swamiwas sayingin termsof this. I
mean, a lot of people came becauseof the music. People came for a lot of differentreasonsbut not
becausethey understoodwhat Prabhupadawas doing and whatthe philosophywas about. I didn'tknow
whatPrabhupadawasabout. I mean,we understoodaboutone-millionthof whatPrabhupadawassaying
(personalinterview).

7. WhileJudah(1974)does not say wherethe devoteesin his surveyjoined, we assumethe vastmajoritydid

so in San Francisco,sinceonly a handfulof Prabhupada's disciplesrelocatedfromNew YorkCity. Snowet
al.'s (1980)data is moredifficultto interpret:they do not reportwherethe devoteesthey interviewedjoined
and we cannotmakean accurateinference,sinceby the mid-1970smanyhad movedto communitiesother
than those in whichthey had joined.
 Hare KrishnaMovement 403
Prabhupada recognized that his early followers were not interested in forsaking their lifestyle
to become Krishna conscious. He did not try to restrict their activities, and did not insist that
followers give up meat, intoxicants, illicit sex and gambling. Nor did he require them to live with
him in his temple. The majority of his followers continued to live and work in the surrounding
community and helped to support the temple through their earnings. Only a few of the most
downtrodden ever lived with Prabhupada in the temple, and next to none of them stayed on to
become his disciples (Goswami, 1980:124). ISKCON at this time had few spiritual practices or
programs which in any way restricted the Bohemian lifestyle of Prabhupada's followers:
You haveto rememberthat [intheseearlydaysin NewYork]therewas onlythe chanting,kirtanas[music
and dancing],the Swami,and prasadam[spiritualfood]. Thatwasall, it was a simpleprocessnot compli-
cated and culturallyinvolvedlike it is now (personalinterview).
Given the structural openness of ISKCON in those first days in New York and the availability
of social networks as a means to disseminate information about the movement, we would expect
that social ties would serve as the primary means of recruitment. Indeed, during Prabhupada's
first year in New York City he initiated 19 disciples; of the 14 for which information is available
(Goswami, 1980), eight met Prabhupada through network ties. Only six encountered
Prabhupada or his disciples on the street or in nearby Thompkins Park where they chanted.
Public chanting as a recruitment strategy was not well developed at the time.
ISKCON changed radically after it moved its headquarters in 1967 to the emerging "hippie"
mecca, the Haight-Ashbury district of San Francisco.

Duringthe firstweekof the newyeara letterarrivedfromMukunda[oneof Prabhupada's firstdisciplesin

New York]. He had renteda storefrontin the heartof the Haight-Ashburydistrict,on FrederickStreet.
"Weare busy convertingit into a templenow,"he wrote. And Prabhupadaannounced:"I shall go im-
mediately."Mukundahad told of a "Gatheringof the Tribes"in San Francisco'sHaight-Ashbury.
Thousandsof hippiesweremigratingfromall overthe countryto the veryneighborhoodwhereMukunda
hadrentedthe storefront.It wasa youthrenaissancemuchbiggerthanwhatwasgoingon in NewYorkCity
(Goswami,1980:270).
Haight-Ashbury was a fertile environment for ISKCON's recruitment efforts; during its first two
years in San Francisco, an estimated 150 to 200 persons were converted (Johnson, 1970:4).
The location of the new temple brought potential recruits literally to the doorstep.

The largescaledislocationaccompanyingthe migrationof youngpeopleto the Haight-Ashburycreateda

large, continuallywalkinggatheringof unattachedpersons. Severalmembersnoted that they had first
discoveredthe KrishnaConsciousnessmovementby accident- by walkingby the templeor hearingthe
mantraperformedin the park..... The immediateareaaroundthe templewas characterized by extensive
foot-trafficcomparedto othersectionsof the city. Belowthe large"HareKrishna"sign on the outsideof
the templewas a smallerplacardwhichstates:"StayHighAll theTime, DiscoverEternalBliss"(Johnson,
1970:13emphasisadded).
Cavan (1972:94) similarly observed that the Haight-Ashbury in the late 1960s was crowded with
youth taking part in the hippie practice of "just being," that is, meandering "through the day,
caught up in no particular thing and in the company of no particular person."
With public places providing such an abundance of potential recruits, chanting parties were
sent into the streets of the Haight-Ashbury and nearby Berkeley to spread Prabhupada's
message. These encounters between the devotees and hippies were central to ISKCON's expan-
sion during this early period. Social network ties yielded relatively few converts in San Francisco:
Prabhupada's first disciples had only recently relocated from New York, and the majority of
those recruited in Haight-Ashbury had weak social ties in the community.
The Unification Church experienced similar problems in trying to recruit through social net-
works when the Moonies first moved from Oregon to San Francisco in the early 1960s:
404 ROCHFORD
In San Francisco[the church]was unable to grow for a considerabletime becauseits memberswere
strangerslackingsocialties to potentialrecruits.Indeed,some new recruitscontinuedto come out of the
originalEugene[Oregon]network.Only whenthe cult found waysto connectwith othernewcomersto
San Franciscoand develop seriousrelationshipswith them did recruitmentresume.But in relyingon
befriendinglonelynewcomers,the Moonieswereunableto growrapidly.New membersdid not open new
social networksthroughwhichthe cult could spread(Starkand Bainbridge,1980:1379).
Unlike the Moonies, ISKCON had a readily available source of potential recruits when it moved
to San Francisco. Rather than waiting to establish social relations within the community, the
devotees took to recruiting on the streets outside the temple-an option not available to the
Moonies several years earlier.
While the environment in San Francisco encouraged recruiting in public it also shaped the
emerging structural arrangements within ISKCON. In New York, the structure of the movement
had been fluid and open to surrounding worldly influences. Indeed, it was this relative openness
that helped ISKCON grow prior to moving to San Francisco. Only after the move did a more
closed, communal structure develop. Many of the young people joining ISKCON in San Fran-
cisco had only recently migrated to the area and hence were without stable or permanent
residence in the area. Given the living situation of these hippie recruits, ISKCON's communal
structure emerged as a means to hold those attracted to Krishna Consciousness.

EXPANSIONAND ADAPTATION
ISKCON's San Francisco organization served as a model for devotees who were deployed to
other cities to establish Krishna temples and recruit new members. But while a closed communal
structure emerged in each of ISKCON's communities, it was modified to meet local opportunities
for recruitment. For example, the socio-spatial environment encountered by ISKCON when it
moved into Los Angeles in 1970 was quite different from that of Haight-Ashbury. Rather than
locating in Hollywood or the Venice Beach area, where countercultural youth of Los Angeles
could be found in large numbers, ISKCON established its community in a middle-class residential
area. This environment offered few opportunities for the devotees to confront people, and
especially youth, on the street around the temple. While chanting parties were sent out into the
community, they had little success in persuading people to come to the temple and participate in
the Krishna lifestyle. Thus, the ISKCON community in Los Angeles focused their recruitment ef-
forts on the friends and family of existing members. Unlike recruits in San Francisco, most of
those recruited in Los Angeles were from the local area. Being well connected socially the
devotees used these ties to disseminate information about the movement and recruit new
members.
While there were local variations in ISKCON's structure, the Krishna lifestyle in general af-
forded few opportunities for maintaining contacts with the outside society. Isolation was ac-
celerated in the early 1970s as ISKCON came under attack by deprogrammers and other op-
ponents of cults. Social ties with persons outside the movement increasingly came to be seen as
sources of potential trouble, rather than as possible avenues of recruitment (Rochford, 1976).
During this period, and up until Prabhupada's death in 1977, ISKCON was more closed to the
outside society than at any other time in its North American history. Growth was sustained only
by the proselytizing of movement sympathizers.

THE ROLE OF MOVEMENTSYMPATHIZERSIN THE RECRUITMENT PROCESS

As a movement becomes more structurally closed and members concern themselves exclusively
with its activities, recruitment through pre-established social ties becomes more difficult. If
adherents are cut off from their previous social relationships, a movement must disseminate in-
formation about its mission in other ways. Snow et al. (1980:796) argue that movements like
 Hare KrishnaMovement 405
ISKCON, which demand total commitment from members, are "structurally compelled" to
recruit new members in public. While this may be true for core adherents, who live within the
context of the group, a larger body of movement supporters also contribute to the recruitment
process. Table 2 shows that as ISKCON became increasingly closed to society, it relied on move-
ment sympathizers to promote its cause and encourage potential recruits to seek out ISKCON.
While devotees continued to have some success recruiting in public places, the relative impor-
tance of movement sympathizers in the recruitment process grew significantly.
Little or no research has been done on the role which movement sympathizers play in the
recruitment process. Snow et al. (1980) discuss why sympathizers do not participate in movement
activities, but they did not consider the role of sympathizers in influencing others to participate.
Yet many devotees first learned about ISKCON through a friend or relation who, while not a
member of ISKCON, was nevertheless knowledgeable and sympathetic toward the movement
and/or its philosophy. Two devotees who responded to my questionnaire described how they first
made contact with ISKCON:

My fatherreceiveda book froma devoteein the airportandbroughtit home. He told me to readit andtry
chantingHare Krishna.He broughtme to various templesand was also interestedin KrishnaCon-
sciousness.
I studiedreligiousstudieswitha notedreligiousscholarwho is activelyinvolvedwith ISKCON.I also had
student friendsin his courseswho were likewisefamiliarwith the philosophyand/or had been to an
ISKCONtemple.
Other devotees reported that, while they first made contact with the movement in a public
place, it wasn't until they were introduced to the movement by a non-devotee friend that they
seriously considered ISKCON:
I first saw the devoteeschantat city hall in 1968and I took an invitationcard [to the Sundayfeast]. The
next SundayI wentto the feast. I didn'tlike it muchbut throughthe yearsI didn'tmindthe devoteesas
muchandwouldsometimeslook at theirliterature.In 1971,a friendtook me twiceto the templeandI en-
joyed the food and friendshipvery much. I joined rightafter that.
I encounteredthe devoteeson the streeta few timesbutwasveryunimpressed.Latersome friendsof mine
[whowerenot involvedwith ISKCON]took to chantingand influencedme. Six monthslaterI joinedthe
movement.
While most sympathizers have no direct ties to ISKCON, some people were recruited only after
making contact with a former devotee.
One bloopeddevotee[formerISKCONmember]cameand got a job whereI wasworkingas an electronic
technician.He introducedme to Krishna.He took me to the feasta numberof timesand encouragedme
to chantand be moreseriousaboutbecomingKrishnaconscious.He had a family,a wife apd four kids,
and I was very attractedto them becauseof theirhigherconsciousnessand activities.
Non-member networks can be important to the recruitment process in more direct ways as
well. Several devotees first came to the Krishna community at the urging of a friend or spouse
who also joined. In some instances, the non-devotee initiating the contact could be seen as a
movement sympathizer. Other cases seem less clear:

I marrieda manwho hadpreviouscontactwiththe devoteesandwho wantedto becomea devoteehimself.

We joined togetherone year later.
My friendtook me for dinnerat the templeand we both becameinvolved.As it turnedout we joined
togetherand will probablybe married.
As the above responses to my questionnaire suggest, potential recruits can come into contact
with a movement in ways other than through direct contact with core adherents. As a movement
grows and becomes more visible within society, indirect means of contact can become increasing-
406 ROCHFORD
TABLE3
Percentof Devotees WhoSee TheirCommunityas Moreor Less Open
to Outside WorldlyInfluences*
More Open Less Open
to Outside to Outside
Community Influence Influence Neither Total
Los Angeles 53% 0 47% 100% (45)
New York 27% 9% 64% 100% (44)
Boston 31% 8% 62% 101% (13)
Chicago 28% 11% 61% 100% (18)
Denver 7% 3% 90% 100% (29)
Port Royal (Farm Community) 15% 23% 62% 100% (13)
Mean Percent (30%) (7%) (63%) (100%) (162)
Note:
* Includes those devotees who have been in the movement for more than one year.

ly important. Furthermore, as adherents defect from the movement they may become vehicles by
which others come into contact with the movement's ideology and lifestyle.

RECENTCHANGES IN ISKCON'S RECRUITMENT STRATEGIES

As a movement develops in a cultural setting, its relationship with the surrounding society
changes. In the extreme cases, a movement may become institutionalized, and thereby no longer
be a social movement at all (Messinger, 1955; Turner and Killian, 1972; Wilson, 1973; Zald,
1970). Usually, the changes are less dramatic and affect only certain ideological and structural
features of the movement.
By the mid-1970s, ISKCON was declining as a social movement. Few recruits were being at-
tracted, and Prabhupada's death in 1977, with the resulting politicization of ISKCON, resulted in
an exodus of many long-time Krishna devotees.8 In response to these developments, ISKCON's
ideology and organizational structure changed. Many ISKCON communities relaxed their com-
munal structure and membership criteria, and opened themselves to influences from the outside
society. As evidence of the trend: (1) Relationships with non-devotees outside the community are
becoming more common. One-fourth of the devotees surveyed said they had close friendships
with persons outside the movement. (2) Thirty percent of devotees surveyed felt that their com-
munity was "more open to outside worldly influences" than during their early days in ISKCON
(Table 3). Only seven percent felt that the community in which they were residing was now less
open to outside influences. (3) In those communities where social networks have served as a rich
source of recruits (e.g., Los Angeles and New York), devotees are both more involved in non-
devotee relationships and see their community as more open to outside influence.
Since 1976, the Los Angeles ISKCON community has been the most open to influences from
the surrounding urban environment. Automobiles, televisions, furniture, newspapers, and week-
ly news magazines have become commonplace within the community. An attempt by the leader-

8. WithPrabhupada's deathISKCONwas reorganizedin 1978.Prabhupadareportedlyappointed11of his

closest disciplesas gurusjust priorto his death. Each guru was placedin chargeof a particular"zone,"
responsiblefor initiatingnewdisciplesto KrishnaConsciousnessandoverseeingthe affairsof ISKCONcom-
munitiesin his territory.Withina yearfollowingPrabhupada's death,however,ISKCONfacedserioussuc-
cession problemsas many long-timeISKCONmemberschallengedthe legitimacyof the gurusto lead the
movement.Manyof thesedevoteesarenow overtlyquestioningthe appointmentof the gurus,claimingthat
Prabhupada,in fact, neverappointedthemto theirpositions.ThiscontinuingdebatewithinISKCONhasled
to factionalism,splintering,the defectionof manylong-timedevoteesfrom ISKCON,and the purgingof
othersby the leadership(Rochford,1982).
 Hare KrishnaMovement 407
TABLE4
Modeof Recruitmentby YearEnteredISKCONfor the Los Angeles Community
Year Entered Devotee Non-Member
ISKCON Networks Networks Public Places Other Total
1969-1971 33% 0 69% 0 (100%) (3)
1972-1976 27% 47% 13% 13% (100%) (15)
1977-1980 58% 25% 17% 0 (100%) (12)
(30)

ship to purge these objects, especially television, in 1980 was largely unsuccessful. A number of
Los Angeles devotees hold jobs outside the ISKCON community, and an increasing number are
living on the outskirts of the community where they are less under the control of the leaders.
In keeping with Los Angeles' image throughout the movement, devotees in other ISKCON
communities refer to it as "Loose Angeles," implying that devotees there are too involved in the
activities of the dominant society ("Maya") and are therefore not adhering to the Krishna Con-
sciousness process. The temple president of one of ISKCON's communities in Texas accounted
for the large fringe community of former, or marginal, ISKCON devotees in Los Angeles by
pointing to the lack of preaching in that community:
Thereis a definitereasonfor the growthof the fringecommunityin LA. The fact is that the householders
who are livingout theresimplyhaveit too easy. Theyaretoo comfortable.Thereis no emphasison going
out and preaching,distributingPrabhupada'sbooks. This movementis basedupon preaching.Without
maintainingthe properpreachingattitudeone loses touch with KrishnaConsciousnessand falls into the
fringe. Let them emphasizethe preachinglike they do in other [ISKCON]communitiesand all this
nonsensewill go away. That is the essenceof this movement(personalinterview).
The structural openness of the Los Angeles community in recent years has increased recruit-
ment through devotee network ties. As Table 4 shows, devotee networks have become more im-
portant than movement sympathizers in the recruitment process in Los Angeles.9
This emphasis on network recruitment seems likely to grow with ISKCON's recent decision to
try and build a congregation of "patron members" and "life members" whose commitment to
Krishna Consciousness and ISKCON varies from mainly financial support to more or less regular
participation. This strategy, aimed at recruiting "part-time" devotees, was summed up by a
devotee of nine years:
If [potentialrecruits]can only acceptfive percent,fine, then we shouldencouragethemso that they can
acceptmore, makemore progress.If a man drinksbeerbut has some feelingfor KrishnaConsciousness
thenwe shouldattemptto increasehis feeling,not discouragehimbecausehe drinks.In the pastwe would
havecriticized,now that we havematuredwe see the needto encouragepart-timedevotees.We now need
to build up our congregationaldevotees, encouragethem. In this way we can spread KrishnaCon-
sciousness(personalinterview).'0
While there are a number of young persons becoming patron members of ISKCON, there are also
a growing number of "life members," usually immigrants from India, who contribute financially
toward ISKCON's support. In Los Angeles, the local East Indian community uses the ISKCON

9. Recruitmentin the New Yorkand Bostoncommunitieshas also shiftedawayfrom publicplacestoward

devoteenetworks.
10. The UnificationChurchhas madea similarattemptto builda congregationof less committedmembers.
Barker(1980:393)reportsthat since 1978therehas been a growingnumberof "HomeChurch"membersin
Britain:"Theseare peoplewho acceptthe truthof the DivinePrinciplebut who remainassociatemembers
living at home ratherthan devotingtheirwhole lives to the movement."
408 ROCHFORD
temple each Sunday to worship and take part in the vegetarian feast. Their involvement is for the
most part limited to these Sunday services.
Thus, as the boundaries between ISKCON and the dominant social structure have broken
down, recruitment through social networks has once again become possible- just as it was during
ISKCON's early days in New York City. ISKCON communities continue to become more struc-
turally open, and as public recruitment declines due to the demise of countercultural areas like
Haight-Ashbury, we expect that recruitment will increasingly occur through pre-established
social ties. "

SUMMARYAND CONCLUSIONS
No social movement emerges with a fully developed ideology, set of goals, or organizational
structure (Turner and Killian, 1972). These evolve as the movement develops and expands within
a cultural setting. From tenuous beginnings in New York, ISKCON's ideology and structure took
shape as the movement began to attract committed adherents in Haight-Ashbury. But neither the
movement's religious beliefs and practices, nor its lifestyle, determined its recruitment strategies
as it spread through the United States in the 1970s. Instead, the success of ISKCON's com-
munities depended on the ability of devotees to adapt recruitment strategies to specific, local
socio-spatial environments. In order to take advantage of the local lines of access, ISKCON's
communities modified the movement's structure and ideology. Thus, analysis of ISKCON's ex-
pansion suggests that there is no fixed linear relationship between ideology and structure on the
one hand, and the recruitment strategies devised by a social movement to assure its growth on the
other.
The growth and expansion of ISKCON highlights two additional issues:
1) Opportunism lies at the heart of efforts by world-transforming movements to recruit new
members to their cause. Such movements see social change as resulting from recruiting and con-
verting the masses to their values and way of life (Bromley and Shupe, 1979). Hence, leaders and
members alike face considerable pressure to recruit more persons into the movement. But despite
the importance placed on recruitment within world-transforming movements, there are external
constraints which limit their ability to win new converts. All world-transforming movements
challenge the values of the prevailing social order. Growing awareness of these movements' objec-
tives often generates a public reaction which restricts their access to legitimate avenues of pro-
moting their cause and recruiting new adherents. If the movement is seen as peculiar, as is the
case with ISKCON, these lines of access may be further curtailed (Turner and Killian, 1972). The
resulting dilemma posed for world-transforming movements necessitates that they become op-
portunistic. While my findings demonstrate ISKCON's opportunism, a similar pattern has been
discovered in other world-transforming movements, such as the Unification Church (Bromley
and Shupe, 1979; Lofland, 1966), the Children of God (Davis, 1981), and Nichiren Shoshu
(Snow, 1976, 1979).
2) My analysis of differential recruitment processes has identified the potentially critical role of
movement sympathizers. This study further suggests that movement sympathizers can be in-
strumental for the growth of exclusive movements. Given the intense and total commitment
demanded of members in exclusive movements, many who come into contact with such
movements remain outside the organization despite their attraction to its ideology. Conversely,

11. ISKCON'sdecliningabilityto recruitin publichas also beenaffectedby recentchangesin the devotees'

use of these settings.After Prabhupada'sdeath public places were used more as financialcenterswhere
organizationalcommoditiessuch as candles,records,candy and other productswere sold as a meansto
maintain ISKCON financially. Since public places now serve as settings where customers are sought rather
than prospectiverecruits,recruitmentis of secondaryimportance.For a more detailed discussionsee
Rochford (1982).
 Hare KrishnaMovement 409
for less demanding and inclusive movements like Nichiren Shoshu (Snow, 1976), persons with an
equal degree of sympathy would probably be granted formal membership. As a result of these
differing membership criteria, I expect that member networks are more critical to the expansion
of inclusive movements, while non-member networks are more critical to exclusive movements.
Furthermore, as an exclusive movement becomes structurally more open to the outside society,
and more inclusive in its membership, the role of network ties in recruiting will change toward a
greater reliance on member networks.

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