SADDLEBACK CHURCH AND THE MONTGOMERY BUS BOYCOTT
Chapter summary from The Power of Habit by Charles Duhigg.
Movements look spontaneous from far away. Up close, they spread through social habits. This chapter explains how change travels from one person to a crowd through a layered network of relationships.
First, strong ties create the spark: close friends who trust each other enough to take risk. Then weak ties scale it: acquaintances who connect separate circles and make participation feel widespread. Finally, a community’s shared habits—meetings, rituals, expectations—turn a moment into a sustained campaign.
The chapter uses faith communities and civil rights organizing to show how leaders convert emotion into routine. People keep showing up because showing up becomes normal.
The point isn’t that crowds are irrational. It’s that belonging is a habit. When you change what a group does together, you change what it believes it can do.
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