Resource mobilization theory
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Steve Buechler argues that resource mobilization theory is an inappropriate theoretical model for analyzing new social movements, particularly the women's movement, first, because RM theory fails to give "grievances" a significant enough role. RM holds that "control over actual and potential resources" is the primary element in a successful movement, with grievances barely relevant at most. RM assumes that grievances are always present and that a movement appears only with control of resources. Buechler points out, however, that the "women's liberation sector of the contemporary women's movement . . . developed its grievances through interactive dynamics in parent movements which subsequently prompted the independent mobilization of women" (221). In other words, RM theory is inadequate in explaining the women's liberation movement and the latter's reliance on grievances as a motivating and mobilizing factor. RM theory also minimizes the role of ideology. However, as Buechler points out, ideology plays a central role in the women's movement in combination with grievances: It is through the development and diffusion of feminist ideology that grievances become politicized ("the personal is political"), that women develop a collective identity rooted in gender, and that they re-interpret their social environment as consisting of potential movement resources (222). Every sector of the women's movement, says Buechler, is energized by "a distinct and well-developed ideological pos
. . .
ction, empathy, intuition, concrete experience, interdependence) that most sharply divide male and female experience and that are most at odds with the assumptions of exchange theory (227).
Other important shortcomings of RM theory include its failure to explain the dispersion of female activists throughout non-gender-based social groups (228), as well as their ideological and identity-based diversity (229).
One problem with Buechler's essay, as he himself notes, is that it offers few concrete solutions to these shortcomings of RM theory (although he suggests social movement theory as a "fruitful area" [225]). In addition, Buechler seems to accept that these shortcomings are not necessarily fatal for RM theory, but instead require adjustments and modifications. The women's movement, or at least that sector which seems to lie outside the explanations of RM theory, seems to be a special exception to the rules of RM theory, rather than an example which requires an entire overhaul of that theory and its basic principles.
Work Cited
Buechler, Steven. "Beyond Resource Mobilization." The Sociological Quarterly. Vol. 34, No. 2, 1993. 217-235.
A convergence of extraordinary events resulted in the rapid emergence and extensive mobiliz
. . .
Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 1489
Approximate Pages = 6 (250 words per page)
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