Local Chapter Outposts: A Dilemma of Federated SMOs

• In Event: 474 - Section on Collective Behavior and Social Movements Refereed Roundtable Session and Business Meeting
  In Refereed Roundtable 60min: Table 01. Social Movement Organizations

Abstract

The classic literature on federated SMOs can be successfully reexamined for further insights. This paper focuses on the specific issue of isolation that is problematic for some chapters of federated SMOs. This isolation can be social, cultural or geographic, separating the chapter from its national headquarters and turning them into remote outposts. Related difficulties that emerge from this isolation involve communication and struggles over autonomy and control that, although plaguing all chapters, isolated chapters experience differently. Examples are drawn from class-based, single-issue and identity-based federated SMOS; recent social media movements and globalized federated SMOs are also taken into consideration.

Author

• Diane M. Rodgers, Northern Illinois University