A social movement organization (SMO) is an organized component of a

social movement A social movement is a loosely organized effort by a large group of people to achieve a particular goal, typically a social or political one. This may be to carry out a social change, or to resist or undo one. It is a type of group action and ma ...

. SMOs are generally seen as the components of a social movement. The movement's goal that can be much more narrow, or much broader, than the SMOs' goals.

Description

The term SMO entered literature through the work of Mayer N. Zald and

Roberta Ash ''Roberta'' is a musical from 1933 with music by Jerome Kern, and lyrics and book by Otto Harbach. The musical is based on the novel ''Gowns by Roberta'' by Alice Duer Miller. It features the songs " Yesterdays", " Smoke Gets in Your Eyes", " ...

(Zald, Mayer N. and Roberta Ash, ''Social Movement Organizations: Growth, Decay and Change.'' Social Forces 44:327-341, 1966). In social movement theory, a social movement organization is an organized component of a

(SM). An SMO is usually only a part of a particular social movement; in other words, a specific social movement is usually composed of many social movement organizations – formal organizations that share the movement's goals. Social movement organizations usually have coordinating roles in social movements, but do not actually employ or direct most of the participants, who are part of a wider social movement community. Social movement organizations carry out the tasks that are necessary for any social movement to survive and to be successful.

Examples

The

civil rights movement The civil rights movement was a nonviolent social and political movement and campaign from 1954 to 1968 in the United States to abolish legalized institutional racial segregation, discrimination, and disenfranchisement throughout the Unite ...

was a social movement composed of specific social movement organizations such as the

Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee The Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC, often pronounced ) was the principal channel of student commitment in the United States to the civil rights movement during the 1960s. Emerging in 1960 from the student-led sit-ins at segreg ...

(SNCC), the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) and the

National Association for the Advancement of Colored People The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) is a civil rights organization in the United States, formed in 1909 as an interracial endeavor to advance justice for African Americans by a group including W. E.& ...

(NAACP).Mayer N. Zald, John D. McCarthy, ''Social Movements in an Organizational Society: Collected Essays'', Transaction Publishers, 1997,
Google Print, p. 21
/ref> These are just three SMOs amongst the hundreds of organizations that helped shape the civil rights movement. Similarly we can consider Veganism, where organizations such as

People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA; , stylized as PeTA) is an American animal rights nonprofit organization based in Norfolk, Virginia, and led by Ingrid Newkirk, its international president. PETA reports that PETA entities hav ...

(PETA) advocate for

vegan Veganism is the practice of abstaining from the use of animal product—particularly in diet—and an associated philosophy that rejects the commodity status of animals. An individual who follows the diet or philosophy is known as a vegan. ...

lifestyles along with its other aims. But PETA is not the only group to advocate for vegan diets and lifestyles; there are numerous other groups actively engaged toward this end.Maurer, Donna. 2002. Vegetarianism: Movement or Moment? Philadelphia: Temple University Press. Thus, the social movement is the general push toward veganism (an effort with numerous motivations) and PETA is only a single SMO working within the broader social movement. The

peace movement A peace movement is a social movement which seeks to achieve ideals, such as the ending of a particular war (or wars) or minimizing inter-human violence in a particular place or situation. They are often linked to the goal of achieving world pe ...

is composed of many groups that want peace – groups that classify as SMOs such as Peace Action (SANE/FREEZE),

Fellowship of Reconciliation The Fellowship of Reconciliation (FoR or FOR) is the name used by a number of religious nonviolent organizations, particularly in English-speaking countries. They are linked by affiliation to the International Fellowship of Reconciliation (IFOR). ...

and others. The

Ku Klux Klan The Ku Klux Klan (), commonly shortened to the KKK or the Klan, is an American white supremacist, right-wing terrorist, and hate group whose primary targets are African Americans, Jews, Latinos, Asian Americans, Native Americans, and Cat ...

is yet another SMO – part of the

white supremacist White supremacy or white supremacism is the belief that white people are superior to those of other races and thus should dominate them. The belief favors the maintenance and defense of any power and privilege held by white people. White s ...

movement.

Al-Qaeda Al-Qaeda (; , ) is an Islamic extremist organization composed of Salafist jihadists. Its members are mostly composed of Arabs, but also include other peoples. Al-Qaeda has mounted attacks on civilian and military targets in various countr ...

, acting as a coordinating body for a large number of loosely connected

anti-American Anti-Americanism (also called anti-American sentiment) is prejudice, fear, or hatred of the United States, its government, its foreign policy, or Americans in general. Political scientist Brendon O'Connor at the United States Studies Centr ...

organizations and individuals, is another example of a social movement organization.

Social Movement Industry (SMI)

An organizational equivalent of a particular social movement – a collection of all SMOs focused on a given field – is known as a Social Movement Industry (SMI). Social Movement Industries are similar to social movements in scope but are seen as having more structure. Social movement industries can be combined into one Social Movement Sector in the society.Suzanne Staggenborg, ''The Pro-choice Movement: Organization and Activism in the Abortion Conflict'', Oxford University Press US, 1994
Google Print, p. 189
/ref>

References

Citations

Bibliography

* Crabtree, Charity. "Where Culture, Structure, and the Individual Meet: A Social Movement Organization in Action" Paper presented at the annual meeting of the American Sociological Association, Marriott Hotel, Loews Philadelphia Hotel, Philadelphia, PA, Aug 12, 200
Online
* Jo Freeman, ''A Model for Analyzing the Strategic Options of Social Movement Organizations'', n The Dynamics of Social Movements ed. by Mayer N. Zald and John D. McCarthy, Cambridge, Mass.: Winthrop Publishers, 1979, pp. 167–189

* Jo Freeman, ''CRISES AND CONFLICTS IN SOCIAL MOVEMENT ORGANIZATIONS'', Chrysalis: A Magazine of Women's Culture, No. 5, 1978, pp. 43–51. * Manuel Hensmans, ''Social Movement Organizations: A Metaphor for Strategic Actors in Institutional Fields'', Organization Studies, Vol. 24, No. 3, 355-381 (2003
SAGE
* Jeff Goodwin, James M. Jasper, ''The Social Movements Reader: Cases and Concepts'', Blackwell Publishing, 2003, {{ISBN, 0-631-22196-4 * Mayer N. Zald and Roberta Ash, ''Social Movement Organizations: Growth, Decay and Change'', Social Forces, Vol. 44, No. 3 (Mar., 1996), pp. 327–341
JSTOR
* Zald, Mayer N. and McCarthy, John D., ''Social Movement Industries: Competition and Cooperation Among Movement Organizations'', 1979, working paper

External links

Policy Guide: Studying a Social Movement Organization
Social movements Types of organization