ABSTRACT
Chapter 6 considers the strategic capacities of groups. This chapter builds on the previous two and applies the concept of group styles to two informal groups (AANP and EXIT) to demonstrate that “strategic adaptation” (McCammon 2012) works in one group but not in the other. For AANP, the style of being critical is the interactional foundation of strategic adaptation. That is, AANP’s activists create a critique-friendly environment in their meeting and agree collectively on the need to improve their tactics. This procedure enables them to search for solutions to the problems they identify and revise their tactics accordingly. In the case of EXIT however, the assessment of past tactics and the planning of future tactics are only loosely linked through a style of thinking small. EXIT’s activists assess past tactics by considering the group’s organizational capabilities and their expectations concerning outcomes. Since their expectations are low and their organizational capabilities assumed to be limited, all can agree that past tactics were a success, even if the outcomes were marginal. In this way, activists fortify themselves against negative assessments but also attempt no tactical revisions. Furthermore, thinking small also affects future planning. Activists who plan protests have to decide what resources to invest in planning and activists who think small tend to plan small events and invest little resources.
