From Social Movement to Moral Market : How the Circuit Riders Sparked an IT Revolution and Created a Technology Market

In From Social Movement to Moral Market , Paul-Brian McInerney explores what happens when a movement of activists gives way to a market for entrepreneurs. This book explains the transition by tracing the brief and colorful history of the Circuit Riders, a group of activists who sought to lead nonprofits across the digital divide. In a single decade, this movement spawned a market for technology assistance providers, dedicated to serving nonprofit organizations. In contrast to the Circuit Riders' grassroots approach, which was rooted in their commitment to a cause, these consultancies sprung up as social enterprises, blending the values of the nonprofit sector with the economic principles of for-profit businesses. Through a historical-institutional analysis, this narrative shows how the values of a movement remain intact even as entrepreneurs displace activists. While the Circuit Riders serve as a rich core example in the book, McInerney's findings speak to similar processes in other "moral markets," such as organic food, exploring how the evolution from movement to market impacts activists and enterprises alike. What Happens When Social Movement Ideals Meet Market Principles? Based On A Three-year Ethnography Of A Technology Movement, This Book Shows How Social Movements Make And Shape Markets. To Illustrate How Movements Shape Markets This Book Tells The Story Of The 'circuit Riders', A Group Of Social Justice Activists Dedicated To Sparking A Technology Revolution Among Grassroots And Non-profit Organisations. The Movement Enrolled And Mobilised Many Activists, Growing 10,000 Strong In Just A Few Years. But Market Forces Soon Derailed The Revolution. The Circuit Rider Mounts : Establishing Worth And The Birth Of A Social Movement -- Organizing For Change : Conferences, Meetings, And The Configuration Of Fields -- Institutional Entrepreneurs Build A Bridge : Connecting Movements And Markets Through Social Enterprise -- Walking The Values Tightrope : The Moral Ambivalence Of Social Enterprise -- The Circuit Riders Respond : Conventions Of Coordination As Movements React To Markets -- Patterns Worth Noting : Markets Out Of Movements. Paul-brian Mcinerney. Includes Bibliographical References And Index. From Social Movement to Moral Market tells the story of the Circuit Riders, a group of activists who helped nonprofit organizations to cross the digital divide, as a way of examining how grassroots movements lay the groundwork for the formation of new markets.