Resource Mobilization Theory and the Study of Social Movements

Resource mobilization theory has recently presented an alternative interpretation of social movements. The review traces the emergence and recent controversies generated by this new perspective. A multifactored model of social movement formation is advanced, emphasizing resources, organization, and political opportunities in addition to traditional discontent hypotheses. The McCarthy-Zald (1973) theory of entrepreneurial mobilization is critically assessed as an interpretation of the social movements of the 1960s-1970s, and the relevance of the Olson (1968) theory of collective action is specified. Group organization is argued to be the major determinant of mobilization potential and patterns. The debate between the Gerlach-Hine (1970) and entrepreneurial theories of social movement organization is traced in terms of historical changes in the social movement sector and the persistence of organizational diversity. A model of social movement politics is outlined, building on Gamson’s (1975) theory of strate...

[1]  R. Ash,et al.  Social Movements in America. , 1973 .

[2]  P. Converse,et al.  The American voter , 1960 .

[3]  Paul Burstein,et al.  Public Opinion, Demonstrations,and the Passage of Antidiscrimination Legislation , 1979 .

[4]  C. Tilly.  From mobilization to revolution , 1978 .

[5]  William A. Gamson,et al.  Utilitarian Logic in the Resource Mobilization Perspective , 1977 .

[6]  Godfrey Hodgson,et al.  America In Our Time , 1976 .

[7]  Amitai Etzioni.  The active society , 1968 .

[8]  J. D. McCarthy,et al.  Resource Mobilization and Social Movements: A Partial Theory , 1977, American Journal of Sociology.

[9]  C. Tilly,et al.  Urbanization, Crime, and Collective Violence in 19th-Century France , 1973, American Journal of Sociology.

[10]  J. Freeman,et al.  The Politics of Women's Liberation , 1975 .

[11]  Robert C. Liebman.  Mobilizing the Moral Majority. , 1982 .

[12]  R. Collins.  On the Microfoundations of Macrosociology , 1981, American Journal of Sociology.

[13]  Frances Fox Piven,et al.  Poor People''s Movements , 1977 .

[14]  Paul Schumaker,et al.  The Scope of Political Conflict and the Effectiveness of Constraints in Contemporary Urban Protest , 1978 .

[15]  R. L. Curtis,et al.  Social Movements: An Analytical Exploration of Organizational Forms , 1974 .

[16]  S. Barkan.  Strategic, Tactical and Organizational Dilemmas of the Protest Movement Against Nuclear Power , 1979 .

[17]  W. Breines,et al.  Community and Organization: The New Left and Michels' “Iron Law” , 1980 .

[18]  W. Gamson.  Power and discontent , 1968 .

[19]  R. Salisbury,et al.  An Exchange Theory of Interest Groups , 1969 .

[20]  G. Marwell,et al.  Experiments on the Provision of Public Goods. II. Provision Points, Stakes, Experience, and the Free-Rider Problem , 1980, American Journal of Sociology.

[21]  W. Korpi.  Conflict, Power and Relative Deprivation , 1974, American Political Science Review.

[22]  G. Marwell,et al.  Experiments on the Provision of Public Goods. I. Resources, Interest, Group Size, and the Free-Rider Problem , 1979, American Journal of Sociology.

[23]  Bert Useem.  Solidarity Model, Breakdown Model, and the Boston Anti-Busing Movement. , 1980 .

[24]  Norman H. Nie,et al.  The Changing American Voter. , 1976 .

[25]  R. Albritton.  Social Amelioration through Mass Insurgency? A Reexamination of the Piven and Cloward Thesis , 1979, American Political Science Review.

[26]  Edward J. Walsh,et al.  RESOURCE MOBILIZATION AND CITIZEN PROTEST IN COMMUNITIES AROUND THREE MILE ISLAND , 1981 .

[27]  D. Yankelovich.  The new morality , 1974 .

[28]  Roberta Ash,et al.  Social Movement Organizations: Growth, Decay and Change , 1966 .

[29]  J. Berry.  Lobbying for the people , 1978 .

[30]  J. Freeman,et al.  The Origins of the Women's Liberation Movement , 1973, American Journal of Sociology.

[31]  A. Aveni.  Organizational Linkages and Resource Mobilization: The Significance of Linkage Strength and Breadth* , 1978 .

[32]  Sheldon Ekland-Olson,et al.  Social Networks and Social Movements: A Microstructural Approach to Differential Recruitment , 1980 .

[33]  C. Tilly.  Social Movements and National Politics , 1979 .

[34]  Charles Perrow,et al.  Insurgency of the Powerless: Farm Worker Movements (1946-1972). , 1977 .

[35]  Norman Frohlich,et al.  Political leadership and collective goods , 1971 .

[36]  Mark S. Granovetter.  Threshold Models of Collective Behavior , 1978, American Journal of Sociology.

[37]  P. Golding,et al.  Making the News , 1980 .

[38]  A. Oberschall,et al.  The Whole World Is Watching , 1980 .

[39]  C. Taylor,et al.  World handbook of political and social indicators , 1972 .

[40]  P. Samuelson.  The Pure Theory of Public Expanditure , 1954 .

[41]  H. Molotch.  Media and Movements , 1980 .

[42]  W. Gamson.  Understanding the Careers of Challenging Groups: A Commentary on Goldstone , 1980, American Journal of Sociology.

[43]  J. Kirk,et al.  The Organizational Substructure of Disorderly Politics , 1971 .

[44]  J. Goldstone.  The Weakness of Organization: A New Look at Gamson's The Strategy of Social Protest , 1980, American Journal of Sociology.

[45]  K. Tierney.  THE BATTERED WOMEN MOVEMENT AND THE CREATION OF THE WIFE BEATING PROBLEM , 1982 .

[46]  John R. Petrocik,et al.  The Changing American Voter , 1979 .

[47]  B. Fireman,et al.  Encounters with unjust authority , 1982 .

[48]  Homer R. Steedly,et al.  The success of protest groups: Multivariate analyses , 1979 .

[49]  F. Nielsen,et al.  The Flemish movement in Belgium after World War II: a dynamic analysis. , 1980 .