ABSTRACT

When Anna Kroyman, who runs a telephone sales business out of her home in Monticello, Indiana heard about the government bailout of big business, she was fed up. She was inspired by Rick Santelli’s rant from the Àoor of the Chicago Board of Trade opposing federal assistance to homeowners facing foreclosure. She went online to learn about the Tea Party and found TeaPartyPatriots.org, a professionally developed and maintained website of the social movement organization of the same name. The site was a source of information about local and national Tea Party organizations, and it also contained a feature that allowed Anna to enter her zip code to ¿nd a local Tea Party group. When she found that the closest group was two hours away, Tea Party Patriots taught her how to start her own group and register it with them, in case other Monticello residents wanted to join. She also made connections with other Tea Party leaders around the country and found support in their communications:

Anna did exactly that and became the founder of the White County Tea Party Patriots group. Anna’s transition from bystander to activist was surprisingly rapid. Feeling that something needed to change, she was able to easily get information, make connections with others, start an organization, and connect with a national network of similar groups. Studies of social movement emergence to date have not revealed such a smooth incorporation of individuals into activism, such a seamless transition from the emotional state of dissatisfaction to a fully mobilized state of participation in a functioning and active social movement.