The current historical moment can be clearly understood as a poly-crisis, with multiple, intersecting crises related to the environment, health, attacks on democracy and persistent inequalities. In this current context, the engagement of social change organisations is of crucial importance.
Since we completed Organising For Change in the summer of 2023, multiple environmental, political and humanitarian crises have increased in their visibility and significance, including in the context of the far-reaching impact of the new Trump administration.
But what are social change organisations (SCOs)? We have introduced this term to overcome an outdated siloing of scholarship that has artificially distinguished between varieties of organisations such as social movement organisations, not-for-profit or third-sector organisations, and non-governmental organisations. Social change organisations prevent or resist social change and often combine different tactics (protest, service provision, advocacy). Some SCOs change their tactical repertoires over time in response to endogenous factors (e.g. pressure from beneficiaries or members) and exogenous factors (e.g. the broader historical context). Moreover, those engaged in these organisations tend to move between different tactics and SCOs over their life course. We call the people who are employed and volunteer in these organisations social change makers (SCMs).
SCOs mobilise online and offline. In addition to meeting face to face, they make increasing use of digital communication, which allows them to connect with others across distance and time zones. The COVID-19 pandemic and the lockdowns that followed accelerated a more general societal shift to digital communications. The consequences for SCOs were mixed. Online meetings widened access for those unable to travel. On the other hand, the lack of face-to-face contact posed several challenges, making it more difficult for social change makers to build strong bonds of trust with others.
Perhaps more fundamentally, the increased use of social media during COVID-19 has begun to trigger changes to the historically variable context, a term we use to explain and describe more or less discrete episodes of social change. Described in more detail in Chapter 3 of Organising For Change, this concept captures the social, cultural and political context with which social change organisations and social change makers interact. We conceive this context as an evolving set of actions, interactions and reactions between the broader context and efforts to organise for change. Importantly, this concept recognises that social change organisations are both affected by and affect the historically variable context. In the aftermath of COVID-19, the power of social media wielded by right-wing social movements has increased. In part, this is due to them having successfully emulated effective progressive online campaigns.
The widespread use of social media during and since the lockdown has benefited far-right groups through the spread of fake news. This has particularly become an issue since social media platforms stopped removing problematic content while platform owners began to boost or censor posts to fit their own world views. Moreover, the increasing prevalence of artificial intelligence undermines a thorough engagement with well-supported facts. The last five years have seen increasing wealth for the owners of social media platforms and a shift to the right in many countries. Their wealth raises questions of accountability (discussed in Chapter 4 in our book), but it can also have dramatic effects on election outcomes. Election interference as well as the influence of social media platforms on referenda outcomes in multiple countries, are important examples.
The second Trump administration has started out with a flurry of executive orders, attacking LGBTQ+ rights in the name of ‘women’ (very narrowly conceived), raiding immigrants’ homes, dismantling USAID – the agency providing humanitarian assistance – and providing an unelected support worker with access to databases and thus the personal information of millions of Americans. These activities threaten to dismantle American democracy with worldwide repercussions.
What is the role of social change organisations in this situation? We note that they are taking a multipronged approach, including court action, national demonstrations and local mobilisation. After the first election of Donald Trump in 2016, Indivisible was formed, comprising many groups that are active at the local level. The Indivisible website provides resources and support for local groups, but the emphasis of this network is to get involved locally, address local issues, come together with other social change makers, and communicate with local politicians and other stakeholders. This emphasis on local connections and local solidarity represents a very important reaction to the online spread of conspiracy theories and fake news. Indivisible is an excellent example of the hybridity of organising for change. It is also an important player in a historically variable context marked by the rise of the far-right and fake news. In this sense, it also matters as a countermovement. The case illustrates the importance of actions, interactions and reactions. Indivisible itself was inspired by the Tea Party, a conservative movement that formed after the election of Barack Obama and which strongly supported the mobilisation of conservatives and Republicans.
The grip of the White House on the national government and administration seems extreme, but groups such as Indivisible demonstrate that local mobilisation can provide hope and resistance. A new struggle both allows and requires that social change organisations reconfigure as they learn from their opponents’ success and mount new and effective struggles.
Silke Roth is Professor of Sociology at the University of Southampton.
Clare Saunders is Professor in the Department of Humanities and Social Sciences at the University of Exeter, Cornwall.
Organising for Change by Silke Roth and Clare Saunders is available on the Bristol University Press website. Order here for £27.99.
Bristol University Press/Policy Press newsletter subscribers receive a 25% discount – sign up here.
Follow Transforming Society so we can let you know when new articles publish.
The views and opinions expressed on this blog site are solely those of the original blog post authors and other contributors. These views and opinions do not necessarily represent those of the Policy Press and/or any/all contributors to this site.
Image credit: Silke Roth