Hierarchy, Local Factionalism, and Leaving the National Organization for Women

• In Event: 474 - Section on Collective Behavior and Social Movements Refereed Roundtable Session and Business Meeting
  In Refereed Roundtable 60min: Table 24. Leadership and SMOs

Abstract

In this book chapter, I present four cases of local factionalism in the National Organization for Women (NOW) to argue that in NOW’s nationally federated structure, are embedded “pushes” for factions to break away and form new groups. This is in direct contrast with NOW’s reputation in the literature on feminist organizations, which overwhelmingly views its structure as ideal for reining in conflict and retaining factions. Instead, I show how this structure creates a broadly dispersed membership, organized into localized cultures and networks that are often a poor fit with the national organization’s agenda. Despite their efforts, factions in this context never garner enough resources to change the national organizational agenda. Using Albert O. Hirschman’s terminology, local factions don’t have the resources to effectively express their voice, leaving them with only the options of staying members in the wrong organization for them or exiting to create the group they want to be. Beyond these particular cases, their trajectories have important implications for all activists in local chapters of nationally federated organizations.

Author

• Kelsy Kretschmer, Oregon State University