Small Groups and Social Movements

SMALL GROUPS
While it may not make up for the loss in social capital in other areas, small groups like support groups and self help groups are going strong. These small groups take all kinds of forms and serve a plethora of needs including anything from a book club to a group for those with drug problems, struggles with eating, or gambling additions. Interestingly, the book notes that, unlike other realms of social capital, small group participation doesn't correlate to civic involvement like voting and volunteering.  What I think is food-for-thought though is that before these self-help and support groups came along, huge numbers of people dealing with serious challenges (like drug problems) had no healthy place to have interactions with others that would produce social capital. I don't think it's surprising that such groups are so popular. After all, it may be this population who are the hungriest for social capital opportunities.

SOCIAL MOVEMENTS
From this book, I noted a few opposing types of social movements:

Grassroots vs. Professional
Grassroots organizations both create and are created by social capital. The group meeting in a church basement may become inspired to change the world (using social capital to create a social movement) and, as their movement grows, more social capital is created (using the movement to create social capital). They feed off of each other. On the other hand, when there is great support for a change in society but a lack of social capital in that area, professional organizations are created. These social movements are run from an office with paid staff rather than many volunteers coordinating themselves.

Symbolic Membership vs. Personal Membership
Personal membership with a social movement involves being involved with a local action group, attending meetings in person, attending rallies and protests, and anything that makes supporters feel personally involved in the fight. These people are physically taking part in the movement and consider themselves important to the cause. Symbolic membership usually involves supporters writing a check to a professionally run organization. There are no local chapters or development of social capital. Such supporters may not consider themselves an integral part of this struggle for social change.

Ground War vs. Air War
A ground war is a grassroots, personal membership, social capital rich social movement. Examples of these are the civil rights movement and the pro-life/anti-abortion movement.  You can literally see the movement "on the ground" in the form of rallies, vigils, and protests.
An air war social movement utilizes symbolic members, professional organizing, and social capital poor environments. Examples of an air war campaign is the pro-choice abortion movement and numerous large environmental groups. You often times can't literally see action "on the ground" but it is there, waging war from "the air."

Old versus New
The "old-fashioned" way of developing organizations and social movements is through face-to-face communication. These members tend to stay devoted to the organization, probably because of this human element. The new way of organizing can be attributed to the beginning of direct mail. It became very cheap and easy to send huge mailings to households across the country asking for donations (often in exchange for some kind of token like a coin or calendar). These campaigns are lucrative and have been developed into a science. However, members drop out in very large numbers, in my view because of a lack of personal involvement.

***It's important to note that neither side of these "verses" is better or worse than the other side, just different. Indeed, I can see pros and cons to each. I'm involved grassroots, personal membership, ground war movements so those are especially close to my heart. No other type of movement generates such strong rallies, brings people out of their houses, and generates such energy. But, it can be frustrating trying to find and organize volunteers, raising funds without a professional fundraising and finance department, and feeling a lack of organization with so many local groups and individuals involved.

I'm curious what experiences any of you have had with each type of social movement.