Do Activists Invoke a Broad Social Movement Discourse?
The sections below show how the imagery of social movements appeared in the words of organizational activists. Activists frequently referred to the grassroots nature of their initiatives. Indeed, they emphasized that the grassroots was the necessary and legitimate source of change efforts. The power of a social movements approach to change in organizational settings is illustrated in the discourse and imagery of the activists. They referred to vivid images of activism from the societal culture. At the same time, we found that activists used this very imagery to portray the limits of their activism, indicating how they cannot afford to seem too extreme or radical. We introduce the metaphor of “passion with an umbrella,” which portrays their activism within constraints. Language and Imagery of Social Movements Many activists used vivid imagery that was specifically evocative of revolutions to describe their activism in the organization: Usually there s some grassroots things going on. Th
