The Power of Incremental Outcomes: How Small Victories and Defeats Affect Social Movement Organizations

Abstract

This article examines how incremental outcomes—gains and losses that stop short of decisive victory or defeat—influence movement organizations, particularly in terms of the public financial support they enjoy and the amount of money they subsequently allocate to programmatic expenses. Drawing on data from the US anti-death penalty movement, I find that small gains and losses significantly influence support and spending patterns. Movement success initially increases both financial contributions and programmatic spending, but over time, decreases both. Moreover, the particular effect is mediated by the type of venue in which the outcome takes place: formal institutions produce different rates of increase and decline than informal ones. These differences have important implications for movement organizations' choice of venue in which they make their claims while emphasizing the importance of considering incremental outcomes not only as end products of contention, but as inputs that are consequential for future movement development.