Making A Movement

They say that many social movements have three distinct parts:

1. Start: Social habits of friendship and strong ties between close acquaintances

2. Growth: Habits of a community, and weak ties that hold neighborhoods and clans together

3. Endure: Leaders give participants new habits that create a fresh sense of identity and a feeling of ownership

The arrest of bus passenger Rosa Parks was a turning point in the civil rights movement in part because she had developed a broad and deep swath of friends of various income levels and interests. Although it was some lawyers' idea and not hers to challenge the law, she had perhaps unintentionally developed considerable influence through her extraordinary social network.

"Weak ties" are friends-of-friends, people who travel in circles just outside of your usual ones. They're tremendously helpful in opening you up to new opportunities (your closest friends probably know mostly the same people you do), such as to find employment. And if part of a larger community such as a church, they can become a force of positive peer pressure as you strive to make a good impression. This was a key factor in the Summer of Freedom project in 1964, when a thousand white volunteers participated in a mass voter registration of African Americans in the deep South despite the threat (and the actuality) of violence. It was also at the heart of many churches uniting to form a boycott of the bus line that had refused Parks her seat.

Regarding habits, one needs look no further than the example of Rick Warren, founder of Saddleback Church and man of such spiritual influence that he was chosen to give the invocation at a presidential inauguration:

"We've thought long and hard about habitualizing faith, breaking it down into pieces. If you try to scare people into following Christ's example, it's not going to work for too long. The only way you get people to take responsibility for their spiritual maturity is to teach them habits of faith. Once that happens, they become self-feeders. People follow Christ not because you've led them there, but because it's who they are."

His sermons addressed practical issues like "How to Handle Discouragement," "How to Feel Good About Yourself," and so on. It built productive habits that could be practiced immediately. It led to great momentum.