Abstract

Scholars often point to the importance of network ties and biographical characteristics for political participation. These approaches emphasize the features that increase individuals’ likelihood to participate rather than organizational efforts to foster engagement. This article advances a strategic, relational, and dynamic view of mobilization approaching this process from the perspective of empowerment. While organizations need to operate within the structural conditions they face, their members also strategize to make the most of their capacity to mobilize new recruits and empower their bases. One year of engaged participant observation and 71 semi-structured interviews with members of the Platform of Those Affected by Mortgages, the biggest housing organization in Spain, serve to illustrate these dynamics. An empowerment approach to mobilization encourages scholars to focus both on the characteristics of individuals that explain their mobilization, as well as the organizational strategies to achieve this objective.

Publication Type:	Article
Additional Information:	This is an Accepted Manuscript of an article to be published by Taylor & Francis in European Societies, to be available at: https://www.tandfonline.com/journals/REUS
Publisher Keywords:	empowerment, mobilization, social movements, housing
Subjects:	H Social Sciences > HD Industries. Land use. Labor H Social Sciences > HG Finance H Social Sciences > HJ Public Finance H Social Sciences > HN Social history and conditions. Social problems. Social reform
Departments:	School of Policy & Global Affairs > Sociology & Criminology

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