social movement organization

In social movement theory, a social movement organization (often capitalized in academic literature as Social Movement Organization or abbreviated as SMO) is an organized component of a social movement (SM). SMO usually is only part of a particular social movement; in other words, a specific social movement is usually composed of many social movement organizations - formal organizations that share movement's goals. Social movement organizations usually have coordinating roles in social movements, but do not actually employ or direct most of the participants, who are part of a wider social movement community. Social movement organizations carry out the tasks that are necessary for any social movement to survive and to be successful.