A Mathematical Extension Of The Resource Mobilization Approach Of The Social Movement Theory: An Analysis Of The Emergence Of The Arab Spring

This paper proposes a mathematical extension of the Resource Mobilization approach of social movement theory to answer the questions: Why does a particular social movement occur at a certain time of history? Does the social movement inevitably occur at that time? Or is it simply a historical coincidence? Current social movement theories are adept at providing us with the analyses of social structure of social movements; however, many of them, with several exceptions, do not seem to be ready to answer these questions. In this paper, I incorporate the Resource Mobilization approach of the social movement theory into a mathematical model of the propagation of information and attempt to ascertain that the shock wave of information and the subsequent information vacuum are the fundamental driving forces of the emergence of a social movement. This paper suggests how the shock wave and the information vacuum have played a crucial role in the emergence of the protests in Tunisia that ultimately triggered the subsequent Arab Spring. Prior to the emergence of the protests, social networks and social movement organizations have to be prepared so that the shock wave and the information vacuum can propagate in society. Thus, the Resource Mobilization approach paves a road to the emergence of a social movement. But for a movement to emerge, a shock wave and the subsequent information vacuum need to propagate in society because, during the information vacuum, people are attracted into the “field” of the protest, and the subsequent activities are coordinated there. Thus, this paper argues that the combination of the Resource Mobilization approach and the analysis of the propagation of information clarifies the detailed steps of the emergence of a social movement.

I would like to submit my paper for the Best Graduate Student Paper competition.