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Toward An Interpretive Approach To Social Movement Leadership, Michael Decesare

Sociology Faculty Publications

The concept of a leader is one ofthe most fundamental to the study of collective behavior. It is also one of the most poorly theorized, primarily because social movement theorists continue to (1) assume that leaders must be affiliated with an organization and (2) argue over who "counts" as a leader. This paper offers two alternative approaches. I argue, first, that our current conceptualization must be broadened to include individuals who are unaffiliated with an organization. Second, I suggest that rather than debating who qualifies and does not qualify as a movement leader, we would do better to take an …