Social Networks and Social Movements: A Microstructural Approach to Differential Recruitment

TLDR

Past examinations of differential recruitment in social movements have focused on social‑psychological motives, a focus now questioned by scholars concerned with how movement organizations expand and mobilize support, yet systematic research on the influence process remains scarce. The paper seeks to shed greater empirical and theoretical light on the movement recruitment process. It achieves this by synthesizing existing research and two primary sources. Differential recruitment depends not only on dispositional susceptibility but also on structural proximity, availability, and affective interaction with movement members, and a movement organization’s network attributes crucially shape its recruitment strategies and growth.

Abstract

Past examinations of differential recruitment to and the differential growth of social movements have typically sought explanation at a social psychological/motivational level of analysis. That focus has recently been called into question by scholars concerned with the process through which movement organizations expand their ranks and mobilize support for their causes. Yet, as Useem (1975) and Zald and McCarthy (1979) have noted, there has been little systematic research conducted on the details of the influence process. Drawing on data derived from a synthesis of existing research and two primary sources, this paper attempts to shed greater empirical and theoretical light on the movement recruitment process. The findings indicate that differential recruitment is not merely a function of dispositional susceptibility, but is strongly influenced by structural proximity, availability, and affective interaction with movement members. The findings also indicate that a movement organization's network attributes function as an important determinant of its recruitment strategies and growth.