When Organizational Forms Fail

In this dissertation project I use the case of a local Occupy Wall Street movement to examine tensions in the local adoption of a national movement's organizational forms and practices. Movements are often thought to be organic phenomena, yet some movements may incorporate much of their organizational framework from preexisting movements. How a local movement incorporates or adopts a preexisting organizational form has implications for movement activities and outcomes. In the case I study—Occupy Tallahassee—the local movement emerged from the national movement, which provided an organizational structure and loose platform for attracting participants. Having drawn from an existing organizational form, however, the local movement did not toil with their own meaning making in developing collective identity or solidarity around how to make collective decisions. Ultimately, the group struggled to unify around shared meanings of democracy, collective identity, and common grievances. I examine this struggle and some of the particular challenges that arise when political entrepreneurs attempt local implementation of a national movement brand without being cognizant of local conditions around which to mobilize or build a platform.