Resource mobilization and Edwards’ (2011) analysis of SMO efforts to manage legitimacy in order to preserve key theory resource streams or exchange relationships. BOB EDWARDS and PATRICK F. GILLHAM From this perspective a social movement is a set of preferences for social change within a Resource mobilization theory (RMT) devel- population (McCarthy & Zald 1977). Individ- oped during the 1970s as a new generation uals who share those social change preferences of scholars sought to understand the emer- are called adherents, while those who contribute gence, significance, and effects of the social resources of various kinds to help the move- movements of the 1960s (see Jenkins 1983; ment mobilize are constituents. Those who McAdam, McCarthy, & Zald 1988; Edwards & watch from the sidelines are bystanders.Akey McCarthy 2004). Rejecting both the view held analytical issue for RMT is understanding how by some earlier movement scholars that social social movements turn bystanders into adher- movement actors were deviant or anomic, and ents and subsequently adherents into con- the pluralist assumption that all parties willing stituents and ultimately mobilize constituents to engage in the political process have a reason- to active participation. Such tasks of mobiliza- able chance that their grievances will be heard tion are undertaken most often by SMOs. and addressed, resource mobilization scholars In their classic formulation McCarthy and sought to understand how rational and often Zald (1973) identified a trend in US social marginalized social actors mobilized effectively movements toward the increasing significance to pursue their desired social change goals of large, formally organized SMOs deploying (Freeman 1975; Gamson 1975; McCarthy & professional staff to pursue the broad social Zald 1977; Tilly 1978; McAdam 1982; Mor- change goals of their constituents. Early RMT ris 1984; Zald & McCarthy 1987; Staggenborg was closely associated with the trend toward 1988; Tarrow 1994). professionalization and debates over its impact were a focus of much research (Staggenborg ORGANIZATIONAL-ENTREPRENEURIAL 1988; Andrews & Edwards 2004). Yet, while TRIBUTARY OF RESOURCE many SMOs are quite large with professional MOBILIZATION THEORY staffs and substantial resources, most are small, less formally organized groups operating at The organizational-entrepreneurial branch of the local level (Edwards & Foley 2003). At resource mobilization theory (RMT) reori- a minimum an SMO is a named group that ented social movement analysis by taking the undertakes actions to further the social change analytical insights of organizational sociology goals of the social movement. and extending them by analogy to social move- All SMOs pursuing the goals of the move- ments. More recent exemplars of this per- ment comprise a social movement industry spective include Minkoff’s (1995) analysis of (SMI). SMIs vary in size, and the capacity women’s and race-ethnic organizations; Smith, of a movement to engage in collective action Chattfield, and Pagnucco (1997) on transna- is influenced greatly by type, amount and tional social movement organizations (SMOs); distribution of resources within its SMI. RMT Andrews’ (2004) study of the impact of the expects that the greater the mobilization capac- civil rights movement on local communities ity of an SMI, the greater its potential for in Mississippi; a special issue on SMOs edited achieving some of its social change goals. by Caniglia and Carmin (2005); and Gillham The broader social movement sector (SMS) is

The Wiley-Blackwell Encyclopedia of Social and Political Movements, Edited by David A. Snow, Donatella della Porta, Bert Klandermans, and Doug McAdam. © 2013 Blackwell Publishing Ltd. Published 2013 by Blackwell Publishing Ltd. DOI: 10.1002/9781405198431.wbespm447 2 resource mobilization theory comprised of all SMIs and their component from constituents; appropriation/co-optation; SMOs. In leaning on organizational sociology and patronage (see Edwards & McCarthy to reorient the study of social movements, 2004). RMT holds that SMIs and SMOs differ from governmental and market-sector organizations Self-production because of watershed differences in goals, their A fundamental mechanism by which social structural location in civil society, and in the movements gain access to resources is to varied resources and power they wield. Never- produce those resources themselves through theless, the SMS has grown dramatically over the agency of existing organizations, activists, the last 30 years and has contributed to the and participants. Movements produce social- increasing social change potential attributed to organizational resources when they launch “civil society” worldwide. SMOs, develop networks, and form issue coalitions. They produce human resources by RESOURCE ACCESS socializing their children into the ways and values of the movement, or by training partici- Early formulations of RMT focused on broad pants and developing leaders. Movements like patterns of resource availability and paid those for civil and human rights have produced disproportionate attention to the mobilization out of their struggle a moral authority that of material resources from external sources. is a powerful resource. Social movements By contrast, recent RMT analysts emphasize also produce items with movement symbolic more explicitly the uneven distribution of significance like T-shirts, coffee mugs, posters, resources in a society, and seek to understand art, and even cakes and cookies for bake sales, how individual and collective actors endeavor which can be sold to raise money or used to alter that distribution in order to direct directly to promote the movement. resources to social movements. In other words, RMT is becoming more explicitly Aggregation a partial theory of overcoming resource inequality. Thus, questions of general resource Resource aggregation refers to the ways a “availability” have shifted toward questions of movement or specific SMO converts resources specific means of resource access. held by dispersed individuals into collective Two long-standing debates about resource resources that can be allocated by movement access center on whether social movements actors. Social movements aggregate privately obtain their support primarily from internal or held resources from beneficiary and conscience external sources andthe closely relatedquestion constituents in order to pursue collective goals. about the extent to which external support- Monetary or human resources are aggregated ers constrain movement goals and activities. by soliciting donations from broadly dispersed Recent developments in RMT seek to reframe individuals in order to fund group activities, this debate in several ways. Research has made or recruiting volunteers to help with an activ- it clear that social movements and individual ity. Yet, SMOs also aggregate other types of SMOs generally obtain their resources from a resources as well. For example, moral resources combination of internal and external sources. held by others can be aggregated by compiling All but the very smallest SMOs gain access to and publicizing lists of respected individuals resources by multiple means. and organizations that endorse group goals and actions. MECHANISMS OF RESOURCE ACCESS Co-optation/appropriation Four mechanisms of resource access are partic- Social movements often utilize relationships ularly important: self-production; aggregation they have with existing organizations and resource mobilization theory 3 groups to access resources previously produced Moral resources or aggregated by those other organizations. Moral resources include legitimacy, integrity, Resource co-optation generally carries the tacit solidarity support, sympathetic support, and understanding that the resources will be used celebrity. Of these, legitimacy has received in mutually agreeable ways. In the US context the most theoretical attention, and celebrity churches and church-related organizations perhaps the least. Collective actors who most have probably produced resources most often closely mimic institutionally legitimated or co-opted by social movements from buildings, “mainstream” expectations gain advantages members, and staff, social networks, rituals, over groups that fit those expectations poorly. and discourses or moral authority. Similarly, celebrity endorsements of an issue campaign can increase media coverage, Patronage generate public attention, and open doors to policymakers and resource providers alike. Social movements also gain access to resources Moral resources tend to originate outside of through patronage. Patronage refers to the pro- a social movement or SMO and are generally vision of resources to an SMO by an individual bestowed by an external source known to or organization that often specializes in patron- possess them, as in a celebrity lending their age. Foundation grants, private donations, or fame, the receipt of awards like the Nobel government contracts are common in financial Peace Prize by a prominent activist, or the patronage. In monetary patronage relation- certification by an external credentialing body ships actors external to the movement or SMO like the Internal Revenue Service. Nevertheless, provide a substantial amount of financial sup- some movements succeed in the difficult task port and usually exert a degree of control over of creating moral resources, as was clearly how their money can be used. Patrons may the case with the US Southern civil rights even attempt to influence an SMO’s policy movement or, more recently, the international decisions and day-to-day operations. Human human rights movement. Because moral resources can be acquired through patronage resources can often be retracted, they are relationships as when one SMO loans staff to both less accessible and more proprietary than another for a set period of time as is common cultural resources. in issue campaigns or coalitions. Cultural resources RESOURCE TYPES Cultural resources are artifacts and cultural products such as conceptual tools and spe- Despite the obvious centrality of resources to cialized knowledge that have become widely, RMT, analysts were slow to develop a clear though not necessarily universally, known. conceptualization of resources. Analysis and These include tacit knowledge about how often heated debate focused on a narrow to accomplish specific tasks like enacting a range of material and human resources. Yet, protest event, holding a news conference, resources important to social movement running a meeting, forming an organization, mobilization are more varied. In recent years initiating a festival, or utilizing new social RMT analysts have benefited from broader media. This category includes tactical reper- developments in social science and made toires, organizational templates, and technical considerable gains in specifying and differenti- or strategic know-how required to either ating between five distinct types of resources: mobilize, produce events, or access additional moral, cultural, social-organizational, human, resources. Specific cultural resources are and material (see Edwards & McCarthy widely available in a given society, but neither 2004). evenly distributed, nor universally available. In 4 resource mobilization theory other words, not every member of a society or resources, property, office space, equipment, social group possesses specific competencies and supplies. The importance of monetary or knowledge that could be valuable to a resources for social movements should not social movement or SMO. This points to a be underestimated. No matter how many key difference between cultural and moral other resources a movement mobilizes, it resources. Cultural resources are more widely will incur costs and someone has to pay accessible and available for use independent the bills. Material resources have received of favorable judgments from those outside a the most analytic attention because they are movement or SMO. Cultural resources include generally more tangible, more proprietary, movement- or issue-relevant productions like and in the case of money more fungible than music, literature, magazine/newspapers, or other resource types (Edwards & McCarthy film/videos. Such cultural products facilitate 2004). In other words money can be converted the recruitment and socialization of new into other types of resources (e.g., rent for adherents and help movements maintain office space, hiring of picketers, purchase of their readiness and capacity for collective opinion ads) while the opposite is less often action. the case.

Human resources Human resources are both more tangible and Social-organizational resources easier to appreciate than the above resource There are three general forms of social- types. This category includes resources like organizational resources: infrastructures, labor, experience, skills, expertise, and leader- social networks, and organizations, each vary- ship. Individuals typically have control over the ing in their degree of organizational formality. use of their labor and other human resources Infrastructures are the social-organizational and make them accessible to social movements equivalent of public goods like the postal or SMOs through participation. Yet, not all service, roads, or the Internet that facilitate participants offer the same mix of capabilities. the smooth functioning of everyday life. Infra- SMOs often require expertise of varying kinds structures are nonproprietary social resources. and having access to lawyers, web designers, By contrast, access to social networks and social media consultants, dynamic speakers, especially groups and formal organizations can organizers, or outside experts when the need be limited by insiders. Thus, access to resources arises can be vitally important. The use-value embedded in them can be hoarded by insiders of expertise often depends on the situation. For and denied to outsiders (e.g., donor lists). example, a prominent scientist may have little Such differential access only intensifies existing more to offer than a college intern if an environ- inequalities among groups in their ability to mental group needs to restore its web page after utilize crucial resources of other kinds. SMOs a crash. Similarly, a celebrated musician partic- often seek to overcome the problem of resource ipating in a blockade contributes no additional scarcity by forming coalitions with other SMOs human resource to the blockade, yet, from the or by co-opting resources produced by others standpoint of the moral resources contributed for nonmovement purposes, like churches, by the celebrity’s presence the evaluation would schools, service organizations, occupational be much different. groups, or, more broadly, civil society. The ease of SMO access to resources available by Material resources forming coalitions or produced by others for The category of material resources com- nonmovement purposes will vary depending bines what economists would call financial on the perceived compatibility of the groups and physical capital including monetary involved. resource mobilization theory 5

EXCHANGE RELATIONSHIPS type (Edwards & McCarthy 2004). Thus, among two professionalized SMOs actively Combining the four means of access with the involved in planning a large protest event, they five types of resources discussed above specifies may differ in the source of their moral, cultural, twenty specific exchange relationships through material, human, and organizational resources, which social movements or SMOs acquire the which will provide different constraints or various mixes of resources they use to pursue opportunities for both SMOs. For example, a their social change goals (Edwards & McCarthy union which draws resources from a diverse 2004). As indicated earlier, exchange relation- and more conservative membership base and ships can be internal or external to an SMO. In has close relations to political elites might find addition, they differ in the use-value they pro- it difficult to justify to their resource partners vide and are contextualized by time and place. the use of confrontational tactics. In contrast, Exchange relationships differ in the use-value an SMO reliant on self-generated revenues of the resources they make available to an SMO, from speaking fees and merchandise sales and whether material, human or other. Hence, an with members that favor the exercise of civil SMO wanting to influence conservative politi- disobedience will find it much easier to justify cal elites might seek out as an exchange partner engagement in confrontational tactics, all else a large nationally recognized religious organi- being equal. zation with the capacity to provide legitimacy, and thousands of dollars and letter-writing members, rather than a lesser known organiza- CONCLUSION tion with far fewer moral, material, or human resources. By contrast, an organization wish- By wedding together rational actors, strate- ing to generate significant media attention may gic action, and organizational theory with the seek out exchange partners known for engaging perennial effort by social groups to overcome in innovative and high-profile tactics. The value the differential availability and distribution of exchange relationships is context dependent of resources needed to pursue social change, in time and place. For example, valuable rela- resource mobilization theory continues to be a tions with elected officials or celebrities may central and salient theory for analyzing “pol- lose use-value when such individuals are caught itics by other means” (Gamson 1975; Zald & up in a public scandal. Conversely, relations McCarthy 2002). Promising theoretical and might increase in value when minority parties empirical directions to take for RMT schol- become the majority or when a celebrity wins ars include explorations of the importance an award. of less tangible resources, such as legitimacy This broad view of exchange relations prob- and social media networks, for movement lematizes the long and narrow debate among mobilization and the formation of movement social movement analysts over the extent coalitions. Moreover, scholars might explore to which acquiring resources from external further the breadth of exchange relationships sources constrains the actions of SMOs. That on which movement activists draw, including debate has focused almost exclusively on partnerships with agents of social control and a single exchange relationship – monetary even countermovement organizations and hos- patronage. Yet, as articulated here, SMOs tile political elites. Resource demobilization or routinely manage numerous exchange rela- reduction of resources to SMOs also needs fur- tionships providing various kinds of resources. ther investigation, as it is currently assumed Hence, the impact of “source constraints” or that the processes for mobilizing resources are the set of expectations and obligations between reversed when SMOs fail. Finally, additional exchange partners depends in part upon the theorizing and research might apply RMT to specific mix of resource access and resource collective endeavors not typically considered to 6 resource mobilization theory be social movements. For example, the emer- McAdam, D. (1982) Political process and the develop- gence of alternative or youth subcultures, the ment of black insurgency, 1890–1970. University development and diffusion of lifestyle sports, of Chicago Press, Chicago. emerging musical or performance genres, as McAdam, D., McCarthy, J.D., and Zald, M.N. (1988) well as the formation, development, and decline Social movements. In: Smelserm, N. (ed.), Hand- book of Sociology. Sage, Beverly Hills, CA. of corporations or competing views on global McCarthy, J.D., and Zald, M.N. (1973) The Trends climate change. of Social Movements in America: Professionaliza- tion and Resource Mobilization. General Learning SEE ALSO: Coalitions; Culture and social Press, Morristown, PA. movements; Grievances, individual and mo- McCarthy, J.D., and Zald, M.N. (1977) Resource bilizing; Mechanisms; Networks and social mobilization and social movements: A partial the- movements; Political process theory; Rational ory. American Journal of Sociology 82, 1212–1241. choice theory and social movements; Social Minkoff, D. (1995) Organizing for equality: The evo- capital and social movements; Social movement lution of women’s and race-ethnic organizations industry; Social movement organization (SMO); in America, 1955–1985. Rutgers University Press, Social movement sector. New Brunswick, NJ. Morris, A.D. (1984) TheOriginsoftheCivilRights Movement: Black Communities Organizing for REFERENCES AND SUGGESTED READINGS Change. Free Press, New York. Andrews, K.T. (2004) Freedom is a Constant Struggle. Smith, J., Chattfield, C., and Pagnucco, R. (eds) University of Chicago Press, Chicago. (1997) Transnational Social Movements and Global Andrews, K.T., and Edwards, B. (2004) Advocacy Politics: Solidarity Beyond the State. Syracuse Uni- organizations in the U.S. political process. Annual versity Press, Syracuse, NY. Review of Sociology 30, 479–506. Snow, D.A., and Benford, R. (1992) Master frames Caniglia, B.S., and Carmin, J. (eds) (2005) Special and cycles of protest. In: Morris, A.D., and focus issue on social movement organizations. Mueller, C.M. (eds), Frontiers of Social Move- Mobilization 10, 201–308. ment Theory. Yale University Press, New Haven, Edwards, B., and Foley, M.W. (2003) Social move- CT, pp. 133–155. ment organizations beyond the beltway: Under- Staggenborg, S. (1988) The consequences of pro- standing the diversity of one social movement fessionalization and formalization in the pro- industry. Mobilization 8, 85–107. choice movement. American Sociological Review Edwards, B., and McCarthy, J.D. (2004) Resources 53, 585–606. and social movement mobilization. In: Snow, Tarrow, S. (1994) Power in Movement. Cambridge D.A., Soule, S.A., and Kriese, H. (eds), The Black- University Press, Cambridge. well Companion to Social Movements. Blackwell, Tilly, C. (1978) From Mobilization to Revolution. Malden, MA, pp. 116–152. Addison-Wesley, Reading, MA. Freeman, J. (1975) The Politics of Women’s Libera- Zald, M.N., and McCarthy, J.D. (1987) Social Move- tion. David McKay, New York. ments in an Organizational Society.Transaction Gamson, W.A. (1975) The Strategy of Social Protest. Books, New Brunswick, NJ. Dorsey Press, Homewood, IL. Zald, M.N., and McCarthy, J.D. (2002) The resource Gillham, P.F., and Edwards, B. (2011) Legitimacy mobilization research program: Progress, chal- management, exchange relationships and the dis- lenge, and transformation. In: Berger, J., and solution of the mobilization for global justice Zelditch,M.(eds),New Directions in Contempo- coalition. Social Problems 58(3), 433–460. rary Social Theory. Rowman & Littlefield, Lanham, Jenkins, J.C. (1983) Resource mobilization theory MD. and the study of social movements. Annual Review of Sociology 9, 248–267.