Social Movement Organization

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As a social movement organization (SMO) to German organization of movement , in the movement research is a corporate actors within social movements called. The concept goes back to the resource mobilization approach of McCarthy / Zald 1977, which as an organizational-theoretical filter was the most powerful theoretical approach according to the collective behavior or collective action theories of the fifties in movement research. However, the concept of SMO has also been used in later theories, e.g. B. "political process" received.

In the context of the resource mobilization approach, the movement organizations are seen as the backbone or essential element of social movements. McCarthy and Zald define a social movement organization in terms of formalized and structured organizations, namely as "[...] complex, or formal, organization which identifies its goals with the preferences of a social movement or countermovement and attempts to implement those goals."

Other authors use a broader definition that also includes looser associations of individuals with shared moral ideas and instead of actively implementing goals already working with articulated claims.

McCarthy and Zald believe that there is a constant level of discontent in modern societies . The movement organizations would channel this latent dissatisfaction into social movements. As delimitable, persistent units with a tendency towards self-preservation (see organizational theory ), movement organizations would also ensure the personal, ideal and structural continuity of a social movement for longer periods of time, especially over periods of declining public interest with a decreasing potential for public mobilization ("bystander public") ).

The basic task of organizations is the allocation of resources . The more resources the SMO can tie up for itself, the sooner the organization will differentiate itself functionally and become more professional. Resources can therefore primarily be time and material values ​​that are raised by the supporters ("constituents") of the SMO, but also moral support (e.g. power of opinion, legitimacy) that is provided by the totality of the adherents ("adherents"). ) is constituted.

Remarks

  1. ↑ McCarthy / Zald, p. 1218 f.
  2. ↑ della Porta / Diani, p. 140
  3. ↑ della Porta Diani, p. 141
  4. ↑ On the concept of constituents / adherents see McCarthy / Zald, p. 1221 ff.

literature