The Transformation of Community Consciousness: The Effects of Citizens’ Organizations on Host Communities

We compare two citizens’ organizations and find that mobilization enhanced community solidarity to the point that a collective change of consciousness occurred. We suggest that the effects of a citizens’ organization on the host community are significantly determined by three factors: the degree of premobilization integration of the community; the presence of economic constraints made salient by the mobilization issue; and the extent to which the issue cuts across existing political cleavages. We conclude that the study of emergent citizens’ groups in disasters is enhanced by using a social movements perspective.