HISTORICAL-SOCIOLOGICAL ANALYSIS OF GOAL TRANSFORMATION IN A SOCIAL MOVEMENT TRAINING ORGANIZATION: THE YOUNG PEOPLE'S SOCIALIST LEAGUE OF AMERICA, 1920-1929

Social movement organizations seeking to transform society gradually by instilling alternative value systems and patterns of belief provide a fertile field of inquiry for educators interested in nontraditional forms of education and the roles these have in effecting social change. Because gradualist movements must sustain their missions over long periods of time, they are susceptible to external and internal pressures which Zald and Ash (1966, 1973) maintain affect the viability, internal structure and processes, and, ultimately, success of movements. Through a case study of the Young People's Socialist League (U.S.), 1920-1929, using YPSL and Socialist Party documents, socialist publications, and information obtained from interviews with former YPSL leaders, this dissertation analyzes a major impact of external and internal pressures on the career of a movement organization--transformation of goals (Chasteen, 1969, 1973; Coles, 1969; Messinger, 1955; Mottl, 1980; Skura, 1976; Wilson, 1973; Zald and Ash, 1966, 1973; Zurcher and Kirkpatrick, 1975). The study focuses on shifts in the primary orientations of the membership away from the organization's original mission of propagandizing America's youth and training future functionaries for the Socialist Party toward organizational maintenance and attainment of solidary and expressive benefits accruing from participation in the group.;The study presents seven factors which blunted YPSL's mission, providing preconditions for goal transformation. Three developments facilitating goal transformation are revealed--reliance on highly embracing group life for solidary incentives, emphasis on extended education of members without substantive tasks to perform for the movement, and uncompromising commitment to bureaucratized polity.;The YPSL's career illustrates a paradox which confronts movement organizations. In the face of extreme obstacles, means developed to address functional problems can become vehicles for goal transformation. It also illustrates that goal transformation may serve a conserving role in the unfolding of an organization's career if the vision and ethos embodied in an elite are preserved.;The analytical model employed, adapted from Wilson's social system model, outlines subsystems for dealing with four functional problems--goal attainment, integration, adaptation, and pattern maintenance. The study examines facets of YPSL's career which evidence ways the League addressed these functional problems.