Anti-hierarchical movement structures fail to integrate and educate new members

Evidence

“Organize. Create an organized movement. And don’t be afraid of representation,” he said without hesitation, in his office in Giza, as his world fell apart around him. “We thought representation was elitism, but actually it is the essence of democracy.” I heard answers like this over and over, confirming research compiled by scholars. As early as 1975, William Gamson found that movements succeed more often when they deploy hierarchical forms of organization. In a wide-ranging 2022 study, Mark Beissinger found that loose uprisings of the Maidan type tend to increase inequality and ethnic tensions, while they do not consolidate democracy or end corruption. — Vincent Bevins, If We Burn, 847 (#corroborates, via linked claim)

In CLT communities, key decisions are normally taken by a board of residents and local (often educated, professional, older) stakeholders, while some residents (younger, working class) are not involved at all, compromising their chances of developing a commoners’ subjectivity. — Yael Arbell, The Circle of Commoning, 90 (#corroborates, via linked claim)

(5) Polycentricity: Collective action also includes nested layers of interconnected communities. This fosters the coexistence of a polycentric movement of communities that mutually adjust in a large commons movement but without any central authority; instead, there is an overarching set of principles and shared goals (Ostrom 2010). — Laura Albareda and Alejo Jose G. Sison, Commons Organizing, 96 (#qualifies, via linked claim)

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Leaderless movements still develop unaccountable informal leaders — Vincent Bevins, If We Burn: The Mass Protest Decade and…, 100; Hierarchical organization correlates with protest movement success — Vincent Bevins, If We Burn: The Mass Protest Decade and…, 847; Structural hierarchy suppresses the development of commoner subjectivity. — Yael Arbell, The Circle of Commoning:…, 90 (+5 more)

Related

• Hierarchical organization correlates with protest movement success (similarity 0.87)
• Leaders and hierarchies inevitably emerge in large groups regardless of horizontalist ideals (similarity 0.84)
• Horizontalist movements that fetishize form over results fail against hierarchy (similarity 0.83)
• Leaderless movements still develop unaccountable informal leaders (similarity 0.80)
• A leaderless mass movement can outflank its own nominal leaders’ proposals (similarity 0.80)

Broader Connections

• Hierarchical organization correlates with protest movement success #corroborates (0.85) — Vincent Bevins, If We Burn, 847
• Structural hierarchy suppresses the development of commoner subjectivity. #corroborates (0.80) — Yael Arbell, The Circle of Commoning, 90
• Polycentric commons movements coordinate without central authority through shared goals #qualifies (0.80) — Laura Albareda and Alejo Jose G. Sison, Commons Organizing, 96
• Identifying with a specific movement organization, not just its broad category, predicts participation #corroborates (0.75) — John T. Jost and Jim Sidanius, Political Psychology, 4450
• Forced integration backfires when higher-status groups make interlopers uncomfortable #complicates (0.70) — Lyn H. Lofland, World of Strangers_ Order and Action in…, 1131