The questions of why and how some individuals engage in collective action to challenge the status quo and existing social norms has been explored by Emile Durkheim (1933, 1951, 1954), Charles Tilly (1978), Max Weber (1972), and others who have applied their respective frameworks to a variety of case studies in different social and historical contexts. In the collective action, social change and social movement literature, as well as writings on both violent and nonviolent revolutions, theorists have answered their queries by considering multiple variables that motivate and persuade individuals to join a collective and enable such collectives to be successful in pursuit of stated goals. Inspired by Marcel Proust (1871 - 1922) insightful words, “The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes, but in having new eyes,” in this dissertation I offer the reader “new eyes” — a conflict transformation perspective— for reviewing these familiar questions in a much-studied conflict setting, Northern Ireland.
In some instances, collective action can create conditions in which social change takes place. Indeed, in situations where direct, structural and cultural violence has beset divided societies— such as in the history of Northern Ireland— social change is a necessary part of conflict transformation (Jeong, 2000). However, the empirical link between collective action and conflict transformation, while crucial to understanding the relationship between peace and social change, is yet thin. The purpose of this study was to flesh out the connection between collective action and conflict transformation using the Northern Irish school integration as an example. I have found that critical mass is the empirical key to understanding the link between collective action and conflict transformation. Understanding the composition and nature of critical mass— how and why it forms, stages of its development, its functions and how it succeeds— falls within the purview of this study.
Published as Jennifer M. Dougherty