Density dependence and environmental justice organizations, 1970–2008

Density dependence theory is commonly used to examine trends in the establishment of for-profit organizations. This research extends density dependence theory to the study of political organizations. Specifically, we examine the variation in the number of environmental justice organizations established each year for the years 1970–2008. As density dependence theory predicts, the bivariate association between the number of existing organizations and the number of established organizations takes the polynomial form of an inverted U, indicating that the relationship between existing organizations and emerging organizations is at first cooperative, and then competitive. However, when we control for existing numbers of civil rights and environmental organizations, the results do not conform to density dependence expectations. Multivariate analyses reveal that environmental justice organization have yet to enter a competitive stage, and instead have cooperated over the past twenty-eight years. More generally this finding indicates that for-profit and nonprofit political organizations behave differently.

► We draw upon density dependence theory to predict the establishment of environmental justice organizations.
► Increasing environmental justice density does not suppress the establishment of formal organization in the environmental justice movement.
► Increasing environmental and civil rights density may provide competition for environmental justice organizations.