The impact of environmental factors on factionalism and schism in social movement organizations

Researchers attribute factionalism and schism in social movement organizations (SMOs) to organizational factors and overlook the influence of the environment on internal conflict This article explores the ways in which an SMO's external environment facilitates internal conflict leading to schism. I present a framework outlining influential environmental elements and examine their impacts on the conflict and schism in four SMOs: Students for a Democratic Society (SDS), Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), the American Federation of Labor (AFL), and Earth First! (EF!). Applying the framework to the four cases provides a systematic analysis of the impact of the environment and suggests the elements that are necessary for building a process theory explaining how conflict between factions develops and leads to schism.