Smart Mobs: The Next Social Revolution: Transforming Cultures and Communities in the Age of Instant Access (review)

and connections to broader social and political movements (e.g., environmental, anti-globalization) are happening through Critical Mass, but without members or bylaws, such an unconventional “organization” is invisible. This is merely one example, but we must remain vigilant about rendering new associational forms visible that may fail to fit prevailing understandings of what associations look like and how they behave. In closing, Diminished Democracy offers a fresh and deeply insightful examination of the rise and fall of large membership associations that troubles many current debates, and offers a normative call to assess the toll that the deterioration of such communities of interest and influence may take on democratic life in the United States.