In 2020, Dr. Andreea Gorbatai and two co-authors published a research paper in the journal Organization Science titled: "Making Space for Emotions: Empathy, Contagion, and Legitmacy's Double-Edged Sword." It's about the maker movement and what holds it together. It turns out, it's not skills and tools as much as it is emotions and empathy -- they are the glue for community.

Dr. Gorbatai is a professor in the management department at the Haas School of Business at UC Berkeley. Growing up in Romania, she is a sociologist by training and she is particularly interested in studying "new forms of organizations and organizing." Her "Making Space for Emotions" paper looks at how a new field of endeavor starts with a core community and then struggles to maintains its connections and coherence as it grows. As it becomes more popular or recognized, a process called legitimation, more people are exposed to it and the community grows but at the expense of losing some of its less coherence. This is the double-edged sword that the paper refers to.

Her own interest in the maker movement led her to use it as a case study. She wondered what role Maker Faire played in maintaining those connections in the community and inviting more people to understand makers and participate. She believes that having a shared emotional experience is what connects people to each other and the community. "What happens at Maker Faires that revitalizes the maker community and brings people together into a shared maker identity?" was one of her research questions. Her answer is that being a maker is less about credentials and accomplishments and more about how you feel about yourself, your projects and the stories that you share with others who realize, in turn, that they have stories of their own to share.

Link to research paper: https://pubsonline.informs.org/doi/10.1287/orsc.2020.1387

Transcript: http://www.makezine.com/2021/07/01/emotion-and-empathy-are-glue-for-makers/