Abstract
Using a case study analysis of Heath House, a Santa Barbara residential care facility for People Living With HIV/AIDS, this paper examines the effects of protease inhibitors on the life of an AIDS care organization. The case of Heath House reveals that when care providers are committed to static conceptualizations of an epidemic and its “victims,” and have defined the value of their work in relationship to these conceptualizations, new technologies threaten organizational identity and stability. While prior research on goal displacement has emphasized the process by which an organization's members lose sight of their original goals to achieve greater efficiency or legitimacy, this study offers an example of the process by which members adhere to original goals and ideologies, even when change becomes necessary for organizational survival. This article examines tensions between residents and staff at Heath House that occurred when the very institutional culture that allowed it to thrive became anachronistic as AIDS changed. I explore problems of internal dissent and external problems of legitimacy.
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Ward, J. A New Kind of AIDS: Adapting to the Success of Protease Inhibitors in an AIDS Care Organization. Qualitative Sociology 23, 247–265 (2000). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1005507409698
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1005507409698