Hur går det till att mobilisera människor och resurser i ett svenskt lokalsamhälle? Avhandlingen analyserar hur en idé genom olika slags kontakter, nätverk och människors tillhörigheter i olika organisatioenr frigjorde och skapade tillräckligt med resurser för att bygga en allaktivtetshall. Den visar hur ett organisatoriskt nätverk som går på tvärs mot etablerade intressegrupperingar växer fram och bildar mobiliseringens bas.

In 2004 the non-profit association Allhall i Hovet was founded in a middle-sized town situated in southeastern Sweden with just over 3000 inhabitants. The goal of the organization was to build a multi-functional facility that could be used for sporting, cultural and commercial activities.

This dissertation in sociology describes and explains the strategies, activities and unexpected events that transformed the idea in a newly founded organization into a concrete building. How could an entirely new organization in the town of Hovmantorp in relatively short period of time mobilize sufficient economic (more than SEK 18 million including EU-funding) and human resources? How has this accumulation of resources come about and how can it be explained? The study explains how this mobilization of resources and new organization came about in a geographically well-defined area with many preexisting organizations and local interests to take into consideration. The aim has been divided into four questions. Each one of the dissertations four empirical chapters answers one of them:

-          What has the organizational process around the facility project looked like and how can it be explained?

-          How has the organization Allhall i Hovet mobilized local opinion and political support for its project?

-          How has the organization Allhall i Hovet dealt with conflicts of interests in its project?

-          How has the organization Allhall i Hovet mobilized material resources and voluntary work for its project?

 In the concluding chapter it is argued that resource mobilization in part comprises sequences, in part resource conversions during which immaterial and material resources of various types become interwoven and combined in different ways to release economic resources. Furthermore it is argued that resource mobilization is largely accomplished by inter-organizational processes. These conditions in combination with resource mobilization in this case, which is  geographically limited, make it necessary, from a bisecting organizing principle, to unify an organizational field behind a common interest. The project succeeded in attaining its goal via inter-organizational resource mobilization built upon a consolidated organizational field. At the same time it also produced organizational densification and strengthening of the town’s existing network in such a way that the potential for future successful mobilizations is enhanced.