How Converts Benefit Movements: Case Studies of the Use of Conversion in Four Movements

• In Event: 474 - Section on Collective Behavior and Social Movements Refereed Roundtable Session and Business Meeting
  In Refereed Roundtable 60min: Table 07. Identity Work

Abstract

This research extends the sociological understanding of conversion by looking at how converts and the social movement organizations they are affiliated with use conversion stories for their benefit. Although converts are often treated differently from other SMO members, there has not been a comprehensive study on that way converts are deployed by SMOs and within social movements more generally. To begin to address this gap in the research, I examine the role converts play in four contemporary movements. I analyze news articles, blog and website entries, expositional memoirs, and organizational documents covering four converts. I find conversion stories are primarily used to verify pre-existing claims and theories, demonize the opposition through exposé, gain media attention and other resources, symbolize success, and provide movement actors with inside knowledge of the opposition. In this paper I focus on three of the specific functions converts serve: (1) to legitimize movement claims, (2) vilify the opposition through exposé, and (3) perform a “cheerleading” function by demonstrating how members’ actions have led to success.

Author

• Alexa Jane Trumpy, St. Norbert College