Rethinking Institutional Infrastructures: Institution Building as Social Movement Activity

• In Event: 403 - Regular Session. Infrastructures of Social Movements

Abstract

Social movements rely on institutional infrastructures—organizations and networks external to movements that provide resources, spaces, channels of communication, and other supports to social movements. Scholars have identified several cases in which infrastructures have been crucial to the success of social movements, but less is known about the effect on movements of variation in the size and strength of infrastructures. I conduct a historical, comparative analysis of one movement in two nations: the religious right in Canada and the United States. Using secondary sources, I examine the historical process of institution building in conservative, evangelical Christian communities in these neighboring countries from 1920-1950, decades prior to the emergence of the religious right. I show that conservative, evangelical Christians in the United States established a large, dense network of para-church organizations that became a strong institutional infrastructure for the religious right. In Canada, a relatively small, sparse and loosely connected set of organizations was established that provided a weak institutional infrastructure for right-wing activism. I argue that this historical difference in institution building contributed to the significant difference in the size of the religious right movements in these countries decades later. This case study suggests that not only do institutional infrastructures matter to social movements, but that the historical process of institution building is a critical step in producing strong, effective social movements.

Author

• Tina Fetner, McMaster University