We study loose social collectives, which are social formations characterized by fluid forms of organizing, unclear or contested membership, and minimal hierarchy. Specifically, we focus on communities of practice (CoPs), which can be viewed as loose social collectives. Our objective is to examine the processes through which these collectives are organized and sustained. Our study is informed by the notions of organizationality and partial organizing. We conduct a longitudinal, qualitative multi-case study of CoPs. Our findings point to three types of work, namely facilitation work, boundary work and custodial work, which contribute to organizing and sustaining the collectives to varying degrees. We show how the different types of work sometimes attenuate and sometimes exacerbate the tensions experienced by the collective. The findings also indicate that material practices play a role and interact with human practices in organizing and sustaining the CoPs. Finally, we show how democratic, loose social formations can be permeated by hierarchical practices that are subtly enacted and that contribute to organizing processes.
