Rethinking Institutional Infrastructures: Institution Building as Social Movement Activity

Abstract

*Social movements rely on institutional infrastructures—organizations andnetworks external to movements that provide supports to socialmovements—but comparative work is required to understand divergences in thestrength of institutional infrastructures in similar movements acrossnational borders. I conduct a historical, comparative analysis of thereligious right in Canada and the United States using secondary sources. Iexamine the historical process of institution building in conservative,evangelical Christian communities from 1920-1950. I show that the large,dense network of para-church organizations established by conservative,evangelical Christians in the United States was not similarly establishedin Canada. I identify two historical factors in this critical juncture: therole of denominations and bureaucratic regulation of broadcast radio. Iargue that this critical juncture produced divergences in institutionbuilding that, decades later, affected the supports available to thereligious right movements in these countries. *