You, Me, and All of Us: Using Individual Identity to Build an SMO Identity

• 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

Individual identity has long been discussed in relation to collective identity. Typically, collective identity is conceptualized as the identity of a collection of actors based on their common interests and experiences (Taylor & Whittier 1995), though it is only loosely connected to organizations. Organizational identity, on the other hand, focuses on the goals and values of an organization, but is rarely associated with the identity of actors. Instead, the organization itself is treated as an actor within a social field (Gioia 1998; Whetten & Mackey 2002). This paper will explore how individual identities are used to develop an organizational identity, as it is through organizations that social movements are mobilized and sustained (McCarthy & Zald 1977). In particular, I will examine how social movement organizations establish an organizational identity. Using the literature on collective identity and organizational identity, I argue that there are two important components to this process. First, as the literature on collective identity shows, the identity is derived from individual identities (White & Fraser 2000) and based on the common interests and experiences of members (Taylor & Whittier 1995). Thus, I will incorporate narratives that explain how individual members understood personal identities how they identified commonalities. Second, the organizational literature explains that organizational identity comes from what is central and distinctive about an organization among a field of organizations (Whetten 2006). Thus, it is necessary to describe the social context of the organization and the features that were central and distinct.

Author

• Molly S. Jacobs, UCLA