Informal Organizations As Agents of Change: Notes From
The Contemporary Women's Movement in India
Author: Manisha Desai
Abstract
Some social movement scholars suggest a division of outcomes between bureaucratic and collective organizations. Bureaucratic organizations are more likely to achieve political and mobilization outcomes because of their ability to mobilize resources, while the structural flexibility of smaller collective organizations is more suitable for cultural goals. Others argue that women's movement organizations incorporate elements of both bureaucratic and collective structures. This article brings new empirical evidence from the women's movement in India to the debate. Based on an analysis of two informally structured movement organizations, it demonstrates that informal organizations can achieve both political outcomes as well as cultural outcomes. In India, they did so by working at two levels: the national and regional level, mobilizing action with other social movement organizations to achieve political goals; and the local level, mobilizing consensus to initiate cultural innovation. Low cost, informal structures also facilitated a punctuated survival pattern marked by periods of activity alternating with inactivity.
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