Unobtrusive Mobilization by an Institutionalized Rape Crisis Center: "All We Do Comes From Victims"

• NCJ Number: 177014
• Journal: Gender and Society Volume: 13 Issue: 3 Dated: June 1999 Pages: 364-384
• Author(s): F E Schmitt; P Y Martin
• Date Published: 1999
• Length: 21 pages
• Publication Format: Article
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

This case study of "unobtrusive mobilizing" by the Southern California Rape Crisis Center (SCRCC) uses archival, observational, and interview data to explore how a feminist organization worked to change police, schools, prosecutors, and some State and national organizations from 1974 to 1994.

Abstract

Using Katzenstein's (1990, 1998) concept of "unobtrusive mobilization inside institutions" and Mansbridge's (1995) concept of "street theory," this study explores how SCRCC, which was found in 1974, framed and conducted its mobilizing work for more rather two decades. Katzenstein (1990) argues that women's movement activities in the 1980s and 1990s "mobilized unobtrusively inside institutions." Mobilization refers to the marshaling for action of people, funds, and/or other material and symbolic resources. "Unobtrusive mobilization" refers to less public or confrontational political activism in contrast to the more public protests of the 1960s and 1970s. The phrase "inside institutions" means that activists mobilize within rather than outside the core institutions of society. SCRCC mobilized in a variety of institutional arenas, including a local city and county, a home State, and all hospitals and institutions of higher education in the United States. Mansbridge says the contemporary women's movement is "discursively created." One product of discourse among feminists is "street theory." Feminists who engage in action "on the street," in contrast to the ivory tower, discursively create street theory as they talk and act together (Mansbridge 1995). SCRCC's theme of "All We Do Comes from Victims" reflects the source of its initiatives, that is, victims who came to them for help. Using strategies of discursive politics and "occupy and indoctrinate," members used a narrative method of "storytelling" to mobilize support and produce change. The results increase understanding of how institutionalized women's movement organizations mobilize over time as they create meaning and commitment for members and outsiders. The authors call for more research on narrative as a women's movement strategy and on feminist (and allied) organizations that are situated inside institutional contexts. 2 tables and 58 references