New grassroots organizations that target ethical consumer choices and behavior represent a departure from institutionalized social movement organizations. These new organizations are not primarily concerned with persuading the state to change policies but with engaging individuals to adopt new lifestyles. Such lifestyle changes create new identities that diffuse from the market to the broader society. The internet is used for coordinating individual changes into collective action and for recruitment. We used an online survey (N=243) to collect data on the users of the Transition U.S. social website on Ning.com. Over 50% of respondents have experiences with political activism. However, their responses indicate that they are dissatisfied with traditional means of political participation (e.g. rallies) and prefer non-contentious collective actions (e.g. local gardening). Respondents perceive community organizing to be the most effective way to bring about social change, deprioritizing connections to local government. They generally distrust business corporations and political parties, and explain their withdrawal from political/civic organizations as the result of the failure of institutional organizations and means to effect change. Respondents are generally web-savvy, and those who join the movement are more likely to have first heard about the movement from the internet and other weak ties than those who initiate local chapters. Indeed, joiners tend to stay informed about Transition via the web while initiators tend to stay informed via local meetings. These findings have implications for tactical shifts in the use of the web for organization and mobilization efforts by similar lifestyle movement organizations.
