Best practices for successful political and social movements

I thought it might useful to look at how, in a general sense, to make political change. By that I mean changing minds on issues followed by changing laws. Culture is a part of this, too.

There’s a rough playbook, or more like a roadmap.

Mass political and social movements have a long, rich history in the United States, the most famous and successful being the 1960s civil rights movement. Some of that progress is being undone today, no question. But over four decades, giant leaps forward for racial equality of Black Americans were made. It remains a template.

The clarion call for the marriage of gay couples in the 2010s was another wildly successful change effort that took decades before hitting its 110 mph stride in the 2010s in state legislatures, on the ballot, and in the courts.

The movements for gun violence prevention–and for increased gun rights and access– have both been successful, but the latter continues to prevail, at least in terms of public policy.

The MAGA movement, and its antecedent, the 2010 Tea Party, has grown relatively fast over a decade-plus, not just electorally and legislatively but culturally. That movement hit its zenith in the 2024 presidential election.

All of these movements, and others, have had enormous advocacy campaigns behind them. None of these issues or trends came out of the blue. A campaign mindset, strategy, and structure has led to tangible outcomes.

Georgetown Business School professor Leslie Crutchfield studied a range of social/political movements in the U.S. In her 2018 book, she found that “winning movements made their destinies come true, rather than being destined to succeed.”

Crutchfield found patterns in successful movements, including:

1. Change came from the bottom-up–at the grassroots level. Winning movements took their campaigns to all fifty states with their change campaigns, rather than going for national change at the start. Small wins create momentum, which is the holy grail of any growing movement.
2. Persuasion. Great social change leaders marry policy reform and changing people’s minds.
3. Leaders check their egos and organizational identities at the door, even if for a minute. This allows (if only temporarily) the messiness of factions within a movement to come together around a common agenda.
4. The management structure is a hybrid. Crutchfield writes, “Instead of small handfuls of elites dictating to troops from the top down or an amorphous mob of activists genuflecting for change from the bottom up, the most effective movements find balance between the ‘leaderless’ and ‘leader-led’ extremes.”

I would add elections to this list. Putting the right people in office who agree with your issues is vital.

Of course, individual dynamics, politics, media landscape, and tech tools have changed over time. But how to go about strategically building an effective movement hasn’t.

I’ve been wondering how the federal government‘s autocratic tendencies, as well as the heavy hand of some state governments, alters the general roadmap for movements within our democracy, if at all. It’s an area for further research.