Social Movement Leaders

Thesis: How do social movements find their first (and subsequent) follower(s) after a leader has risen?

For this paper, we define a social movement as a community of individuals that are passionate and interested in furthering a common interest or cause generally addressing an inequality or a social injustice. (Snow, Soule 2010) defines a social movement as “collective acting with some degree of organization and continuity, partly outside institutional or organizational channels, for the purpose of challenging extant systems of authority or resisting change in such systems in the organization, society, culture or world system in which they are embedded.” The civil rights movement clearly identified the need to challenge the segregation laws

When individuals are passionate about an issue or an injustice they see needs to be changed—they find something collectively that they want to join—something with a shared common interest. Joining a movement gives individuals an opportunity to share their passion with others. The sheer strength (Donovan, 1996) of [a movement’s leaders'] power often lies in their ability to influence, convince and perhaps even to manipulate others to support their agendas. President Harry S. Truman acknowledged both the motivational and influential elements of leadership. He defined a leader as “a man or woman who can persuade people to do what they ought to do … without being persuaded. They must also have the ability to persuade people to do what they do not want to do and like

Gladwell explains that Connectors are the rare people who have incredibly widespread networks of people and organizations. They often play an integral role within a movement—most recognized as the movement’s leader. With their wide reaching networks of people and organizations, connectors can use their influence to spread a message rapidly to its first followers. Gladwell defines Mavens as people who yearn to share their knowledge, but more importantly, feel a need to learn more about the movement’s issue or cause. A strong strategy for any movement leader to garner followers. Gladwell’s third Law of the Few, Salesmen are possibly the most easily identifiable group in a movement. These individuals uses the art of persuasion to gain further followers of the movement. Can Gladwell’s Law of the Few be a strategy to grow a movement? If so, are mavens considered the first followers in a movement? What characteristics does a leader have to have to be successful in securing followers such as