Mass mobilization
Mass mobilization (also known as social mobilization or popular mobilization) refers to mobilization of civilian population as part of the contentious politics. Mass mobilization can be used by social movements, including revolutionary movements, but also by the state itself. Mass moblization commonly manifests itself in the form of large public gatherings such as mass meetings, parades or demonstrations which usually serve as a form of protest action.
Traditional mass mobilization occurs within local communities to which individuals have long-standing commitments, such as peasant villages or urban craft guilds. News of political change are common triggers for such mass moblization, which aim is to call attention to economic distressess of the community. Peasant rebellions are an example of such an occurence.
Informal mass mobilization occurs when individuals’ decisions to engage in protest actions are made through loosely connected networks based on personal friendship, shared workplace, or neighborhood. Increasingly modern technology such as mobile phones or the Internet is used to generate informal mass mobilization. Such informal organization generally occurs in response to a crisis; neighborhoods or friends then mobilize themselves to take unconventional actions. Demonstrations such as the Monday demonstrations in GDR or those during Iranian revolution are examples of such an occurence.
The extent to which mass mobilization is organized versus spontaneous, and the extent to which it relies on reason versus emotions is still debated by scholars.
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See also
Reference
- Jack Goldstone, "Towards a Fourth Generation of Revolutionary Theory", Annual Review of Political Science 4, 2001:139-87
External links
- Weapons of Mass Mobilization, Wired, Issue 12.09 - September 2004 - blogs as modern tools for mass mobilization
Further reading
- Peter Kenez, The Birth of the Propaganda State: Soviet Methods of Mass Mobilization, 1917-1929, Cambridge University Press, 1985, ISBN 0521313988