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Hiding in Plain Sight: The Mattachine Society’s Use of Loose Coupling as a Strategy for Covert Political Action

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  07 September 2020

Molly S. Jacobs Open the ORCID record for Molly S. Jacobs [Opens in a new window]
Molly S. Jacobs*
Affiliation:
University of California Los Angeles, Center for the Advancement of Teaching, Powell 190, Los Angeles, CA90095
*
Email: mjacobs@teaching.ucla.edu
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Abstract

Covert political organizing is a vital means by which subordinate groups express grievances against authorities or elites. This article develops an understanding of the process of covert organizing to show how the selection of an organizational structure is a strategic decision. Using original, archival data from the Mattachine Society, a homosexual organization founded in 1950, and the affiliated Mattachine Foundation, I show how the structure of the organizations enabled leaders to segment their audiences and adapt to challenges from outside and inside the group. In particular, I use the concept of a loosely coupled system, emphasizing relations between organizations, to show how organizations can work with varying degrees of discretion. Moreover, building off analytically similar cases in the literature, I demonstrate that a loosely coupled system enables both organizational flexibility and covert political action.

Type
Research Article
Information
Social Science History , Volume 44 , Issue 4 , Winter 2020 , pp. 725 - 746
Copyright
© The Author(s), 2020. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of the Social Science History Association

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References

Archival Sources

Citizens’ Committee to Outlaw Entrapment (1952) Box 1, Folder 14, Mattachine Society Project Collection, Coll2008-016, ONE National Gay & Lesbian Archives, Los Angeles, California.Google Scholar
Coates, Paul (1953) “Editorial in the Los Angeles MIRROR.” Box 1, Folder 8, Mattachine Society Project Collection, Coll2008-016, ONE National Gay & Lesbian Archives, Los Angeles, California.Google Scholar
Fifth Order of the Mattachine Society (1953) “A call to all members of the Mattachine Society,” Box 1, Folder 19, Mattachine Society Project Collection, Coll2008-016, ONE National Gay & Lesbian Archives, Los Angeles, California.Google Scholar
Hay, Harry (1950) “Remarks for first discussion group,” Box 1, Folder 21, Mattachine Society Project Collection, Coll2008-016, ONE National Gay & Lesbian Archives, Los Angeles, California.Google Scholar
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Mattachine Foundation Inc. (1952b) “Minutes of the meeting of the Administrative Council of the Mattachine Foundation, 16 September 1952,” Box 1, Folder 15, Mattachine Society Project Collection, Coll2008-016, ONE National Gay & Lesbian Archives, Los Angeles, California.Google Scholar
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