How Organizations Develop Activists

Zusatztext Effective citizens' movements need to do much more than raise money and recruit the right individual adherents. Helping members become fully engaged and developing good volunteer leaders are the keys to having a real impact Informationen zum Autor Hahrie Han is Associate Professor of Political Science at Wellesley College. Klappentext Why are some civic associations better than others at getting-and keeping-people involved in activism? Using in-person observations, surveys, and field experiments, this book compares and describes contemporary models for engaging activists to show the effectiveness of one that combine political activism with transformative personal and collective growth. Zusammenfassung Why are some civic associations better than others at getting-and keeping-people involved in activism? Using in-person observations, surveys, and field experiments, this book compares and describes contemporary models for engaging activists to show the effectiveness of one that combine political activism with transformative personal and collective growth.

Auteur

Hahrie Han is Associate Professor of Political Science at Wellesley College.

Texte du rabat

Why are some civic associations better than others at getting-and keeping-people involved in activism? Using in-person observations, surveys, and field experiments, this book compares and describes contemporary models for engaging activists to show the effectiveness of one that combine political activism with transformative personal and collective growth.

Résumé
Why are some civic associations better than others at getting--and keeping--people involved in activism? From MoveOn.org to the National Rifle Association, Health Care for America Now to the Sierra Club, membership-based civic associations constantly seek to engage people in civic and political action. What makes some more effective than others? Using in-person observations, surveys, and field experiments, this book compares organizations with strong records of engaging people in health and environmental politics to those with weaker records. To build power, civic associations need quality and quantity (or depth and breadth) of activism. They need lots of people to take action and also a cadre of leaders to develop and execute that activity. Yet, models for how to develop activists and leaders are not necessarily transparent. This book provides these models to help associations build the power they want and support a healthy democracy. In particular, the book examines organizing, mobilizing, and lone wolf models of engagement and shows how highly active associations blend mobilizing and organizing to transform their members' motivations and capacities for involvement. This is not a simple story about the power of offline versus online organizing. Instead, it is a story about how associations can blend both online and offline strategies to build their activist base. In this compelling book, Hahrie Han explains how civic associations can invest in their members and build the capacity they need to inspire action.

Contenu

• List of Tables and Figures

• Acknowledgements

• Chapter 1 Introduction

• Chapter 2 Setting Up the Comparative Case Studies

• Chapter 3 Choosing Strategies for Building Power

• Chapter 4 Prospecting for Activists

• Chapter 5 Developing Leaders

• Chapter 6 Conclusion

• Appendix A: Methods

• Works Cited

• Notes

• Index