From Social Movement to Moral Market: How the Circuit Riders Sparked an IT Revolution and Created a Technology Market

In From Social Movement to Moral Market, Paul-Brian Mc Inerney explores what happens when a movement of activists gives way to a market for entrepreneurs.This book explains the transition by tracing the brief and colorful history of the Circuit Riders, a group of activists who sought to lead nonprofits across the digital divide. In a single decade, this movement spawned a market for technology assistance providers, dedicated to serving nonprofit organizations. In contrast to the Circuit Riders’ grassroots approach, which was rooted in their commitment to a cause, these consultancies sprung up as social enterprises, blending the values of the nonprofit sector with the economic principles of for-profit businesses. Through a historical-institutional analysis, this narrative shows how the values of a movement remain intact even as entrepreneurs displace activists. While the Circuit Riders serve as a rich core example in the book, Mc Inerney’s findings speak to similar processes in other “moral markets,” such as organic food, exploring how the evolution from movement to market impacts activists and enterprises alike.From Social Movement to Moral Market: How the Circuit Riders Sparked an IT Revolution and Created a Technology Market 1st Edition is written by Paul-Brian Mc Inerney and published by Stanford University Press. ISBNs for From Social Movement to Moral Market are 9780804789066, 0804789061 and the print ISBNs are 9780804785129, 0804785120.