Resource mobilization

Sociological theory in social movements

Resource mobilization is the process of getting resources from the resource provider, using different mechanisms, to implement an organization's predetermined goals. It is a theory that is used in the study of social movements and argues that the success of social movements depends on resources (time, money, skills, etc.) and the ability to use them. It deals in acquiring the needed resources in a timely, cost effective manner. Resource mobilization advocates having the right type of resource at the right time at the right price by making the right use of acquired resources thus ensuring optimum usage of the same. It is a major sociological theory in the study of social movements that emerged in the 1970s. It emphasizes the ability of a movement's members to acquire resources and to mobilize people towards accomplishing the movement's goals. In contrast to the traditional collective behaviour theory, which views social movements as deviant and irrational, resource mobilization sees them as rational social institutions that are created and populated by social actors with a goal of taking political action.

According to resource mobilization theory, a core, professional group in a social movement organization works towards bringing money, supporters, attention of the media, alliances with those in power, and refining the organizational structure. The theory revolves around the central notion of how messages of social change are spread from person to person and from group to group. The conditions needed for a social movement are the notion that grievances shared by multiple individuals and organizations, ideologies about social causes and how to go about reducing those grievances. The theory assumes that individuals are rational: individuals weigh the costs and the benefits of movement participation and act only if the benefits outweigh the costs. When movement goals take the form of public goods, the free rider dilemma must be taken into consideration. Moral: resources available, such as solidarity support, legitimacy and sympathetic support, which can be easily retracted, making them less accessible than other resources. Cultural: knowledge that likely has become widely but not necessarily universally known. Examples include how to accomplish specific tasks like enacting a protest event, holding a news conference, running a meeting, forming an organization, initiating a festival, or surfing the web. Social organizational: resources that deal with spreading the message. They include intentional social organization, which is created to spread the movement's message, and appropriable social organization, which is created for reasons other than moving for social change. Examples include spreading flyers, holding community meetings, and recruiting volunteers. Material: includes financial and physical capital, like office space, money, equipment, and supplies. Human: resources such as labor, experience, skills and expertise in a certain field. More tangible than some of the others (moral, cultural and social organizational) and easier to quantify.

Critics point out that resource mobilization theory fails to explain social movement communities, which are large networks of individuals and other groups surrounding social movement organizations and providing them with various services. Critics also argue that it fails to explain how groups with limited resources can succeed in bringing social change and that the theory does not assign sufficient weight to grievances, identity and culture as well as many macrosociological issues. Some of the leaders that Aldon Morris reframed are Rosa Parks and Martin Luther King Jr., who, combined with the efforts of the NAACP, the SCLC, the SNCC, CORE and small business, labor unions, students' organizations and faith communities, led to the civil rights movement. The organizations together mobilized vast resources together, rather than individually, leading to the massive mobilization of people fighting for the same objective. Coupled with the political process theory, a social movement theory that posits that social movements either succeed or fail because of political opportunities, MoveOn. org has been a successful tool because of its accessibility, which would make people more likely to start a petition and move toward a common goal. In other words, resource mobilization applies to MoveOn. org because the website itself is an existing resource that is accessible to consumers of the Internet, which helps mobilize the goals of the organization, and that mobilization is essential to MoveOn. org's success. Also, resource mobilization applies because the people who founded the organization knew how to use the resources available, which implies that anyone who uses the website to sign or start a petition is a rational social actor, who acts as a utility maximizer, who compares the costs and the benefits before deciding to be a part of a social movement.

The Arab Spring is another example. Born in Tunisia in December 2010, growing unrest spread through Egypt, Syria, and Yemen. Researchers studying resource mobilization through the Egyptian revolution of 2011 found a reliance on social media to spread social action messages while the governments worked to censor the media and cut off those countries from the rest of the world by severing the internet. The activists in those countries were communicating with one another through social media platforms like Twitter to co ordinate protests, keep tabs on each other and spread the social change messages. The researchers noted the Egyptian Revolution demonstrated the use of social media to spread messages of social change rapidly and to mobilized large groups of people.

Resource mobilization theory has been studied in conjunction with other fields, such as framing theory. Evidence has been found of an evolving relationship between framing processes and social movements. The relationship has led to the identification of two frames used in social movement stories: diagnostic, which involves identifying the sources of causality or blame for the situation, and prognostic, which lays out a plan of attack on how to create social change.