Social Movements and Collective Action (9B) - MCAT Psychological and Social Foundations

A formal organization that coordinates and supports a movement’s goals. Provides infrastructure and continuity beyond spontaneous action.

A movement organized in opposition to another movement’s goals. Emerges when original movement threatens established interests.

Framing. Strategic communication shapes how issues are understood and acted upon.

A benefit or cost applied only to contributors to encourage participation. Rewards or penalties target contributors to overcome free-riding.

A person who benefits from a public good without contributing to it. Creates the collective action problem by undermining group contributions.

Individuals may free-ride, reducing participation in public-good efforts. Rational actors avoid costs when they can gain benefits without participating.

Movements grow when political opportunities and mobilizing structures align. Combines structural factors with agency in explaining movement emergence.

A benefit or cost given only to contributors, not to nonparticipants. Overcomes free-riding by making benefits conditional on participation.

Emergence (incipient stage). The emergence stage involves initial awareness and discontent, setting the foundation for organized collective response to grievances.

Success depends on access to money, people, and organization. Emphasizes material resources as key to movement success.

Reform movement. Targets specific aspects within existing system.

Revolutionary movement. Aims for complete overthrow of existing order.

Reactionary (conservative) movement. Opposes progressive changes to maintain tradition.

Alternative movement. Focuses on personal lifestyle changes, not systemic reform.

Emergence → coalescence → bureaucratization → decline. Movements evolve from spontaneous to organized to institutionalized.

Civil disobedience. Peaceful law-breaking challenges unjust systems.

Reform movement. Works within system for incremental improvements.

A violent public disturbance by a crowd, often directed at people or property. Collective violence erupts from grievances or triggering events.

A mob is a crowd that becomes emotional and potentially violent or destructive. Crowds lack emotion; mobs are emotionally charged.

Desire for consensus suppresses dissent, producing poor or irrational decisions. Conformity pressure overrides critical thinking.

Group discussion shifts attitudes toward more extreme positions in the group’s direction. Risk-shift and repeated exposure amplify initial tendencies.

Reduced self-awareness in groups can increase impulsive or norm-violating behavior. Anonymity in crowds weakens personal restraints.

Helping decreases as group size increases due to diffusion of responsibility. Each person assumes others will help, reducing individual action.

A nonexcludable benefit available to all, regardless of individual contribution. Cannot exclude non-contributors from enjoying benefits.

Diffusion (of social movements). Ideas and strategies spread through activist networks.

A benefit or cost applied only to contributors (not to nonparticipants). Creates exclusive rewards to motivate participation.

Individuals benefit from a public good without contributing to its production. Rational actors avoid costs while enjoying collective benefits.

Perceived disadvantage compared with others motivates protest and mobilization. Feeling worse off than reference groups triggers collective action.

Shaping how issues are defined to mobilize supporters and legitimize action. Strategic messaging constructs meaning and motivates participation.