The production of magic in a non-profit organization: Commodification, rationalization and volunteer experiences

Historically, there has been a connection between magic and health. In each era, an expert (e.g., magician, healer, physician) would draw upon the unknown to effect an emotional, physical, or spiritual change in a person, family, or community. Over time, the role of magic in society was replaced by religion. Subsequently, rather than disappearing, magic became embedded in rationalized social processes, such as bureaucratic organizations and consumption. Magic, thus, had material (e.g., consumer goods and services) and spiritual (e.g., meaningful) dimensions. Magic became an organizing principle and discursive strategy in contemporary organizations (e.g., the Disney Corporation). Despite the changes, magic continued to draw upon meaning, process, and performance to effect significant changes in people.; This project examines the production of magic in the Dreamers Foundation (a pseudonym), a non-profit organization that works with children with serious illnesses. Dorothy Smith's Institutional Ethnography approach provides the framework to explore shifts in the meaning of dreams, the dreammaking process, organizational practices and policies, and volunteer experiences. Beginning with the experiences or standpoints of volunteers, I investigated organizational change and dynamics. I also explored the ways in which institutional processes and ruling relations framed experiences and organizational processes.; The project's findings suggested that the nature of dreams, as well as the dreammaking process, are imbued with significant meanings (e.g., memories, magic). The production of magic suggests that besides possessing meaning, dreammaking also involves increasingly detailed, rationalized processes, and involves the unpaid and emotional labor of volunteers. Over time, social relations, such as consumption and the tendency of non-profits to adopt business models of operation, pressured the organization to standardize the nature of dreams (i.e., what the dream included). Volunteers were charged primarily with producing the dreams and negotiating magic through interactions with the families with whom they worked. Survey data suggested that despite tensions and shifts in organizational policies, their experiences with dreammaking were positive and rewarding.