Affective Exaptation of Original Imprints. The Case of Women’s Admission to Freemason Lodges

Abstract We examine how historically imprinted but normatively contested organizational practices persist under changing institutional conditions. Building on imprinting and exaptation theory, we introduce the concept of affective exaptation to explain how such practices are actively reinterpreted and legitimated. Empirically, we analyze the case of Swiss Freemason lodges, which continue to exclude women despite strong societal norms of gender equality. Drawing on a qualitative research design, we analyze the members’ open-ended survey responses and identify a central mechanism through which members resolve the tension between equality and exclusion. Rather than directly rejecting inclusion, members construct a boundary-preserving workaround that symbolically acknowledges gender equality while actually maintaining male exclusivity, often through support for parallel women’s lodges. We show that the original exclusionary imprint is exapted into a new function: preserving an emotionally meaningful space characterized by trust, intimacy, and non-competitive interaction among men.