Nella Van Dyke

Social Movements in Advanced Capitalism: The Political Economy and Cultural Construction of Social Activism

Building on a critical overview of current social movement theory, this book presents a structural model for analysing social movements in advanced capitalism that locates them within global, national, regional and local structures. Buechler discusses a redirection of social movement theory that restores a critical, structural, macro-level, and historical emphasis to sociological theorizing about social movements. Clearly presented, this is a thoughtful introduction to the sociological study of social movements, linking the theoretical traditions that comprise the core of the discipline to the subfield of social movements. It is an excellent supplementary text for any advanced undergraduate or graduate class on collective action and social movements.

THE TARGETS OF SOCIAL MOVEMENTS: BEYOND A FOCUS ON THE STATE

Among students of social movements, the prevailing view is that, in Western democracies, most social movements target the state and its institutions. Recently scholars have questioned this definition of social movements, associated with the political process and contentious politics approaches, arguing that public protest is also used to shape public opinion, identities, and cultural practices and to pressure authorities in institutional arenas not directly linked to the state. In this paper, we take up this debate by examining the targets of recent social movements. Our analysis draws from data on 4,654 protest events that occurred in the United States between 1968 and 1975. The protest events in our dataset encompass a variety of tactics used by social movements organized around a number of different issues. We find that, although virtually all movements in the United States direct some public protest at the state, there is considerable variation in the targets of modern movements. During this period, environmental, peace, international human rights, single-policy, and ethnic movements were more likely to direct their appeals to the government, while the civil rights, gay and lesbian, and the women’s movement were more likely to target public opinion and other, non-state institutions. Our analysis calls into question excessively state-centered conceptions of social movements that view social movement activity as directed primarily at the formal political domain of social life.

Culture and Mobilization: Tactical Repertoires, Same-Sex Weddings, and the Impact on Gay Activism

Social movement scholars have long been skeptical of cultures impact on political change, perhaps for good reason, since little empirical research explicitly addresses this question. This article fills the void by examining the dynamics and the impact of the month-long 2004 same-sex wedding protest in San Francisco. We integrate insights of contentious politics approaches with social constructionist conceptions and identify three core features of cultural repertoires: contestation, intentionality, and collective identity. Our analyses, which draw on rich qualitative and quantitative data from interviews with participants and movement leaders and a random survey of participants, highlight these dimensions of cultural repertoires as well as the impact that the same-sex wedding protest had on subsequent activism. Same-sex weddings, as our multimethod analyses show, were an intentional episode of claim-making, with participants arriving with a history of activism in a variety of other social movements. Moreover, relative to the question of impact, the initial protest sparked other forms of political action that ignited a statewide campaign for marriage equality in California. Our results offer powerful evidence that culture can be consequential not only internally, with implications for participant solidarity and identity, but for political change and further action as well. We conclude by discussing the specifics of our case and the broader implications for social movement scholars.

Hotbeds of Activism: Locations of Student Protest

Some colleges and universities stand out in the popular imagination as hotbeds of political activism, while others do not. In this paper, I examine the factors that account for this variation in campus activism: why student activism occurred on some campuses during the 1960s and not others. With some notable exceptions (e.g., Soule 1997) theoretical developments and insights in the social movement literature have not been applied to student activism. In addition, most existing studies of student protest are ahistorical. They examine protest only within one time period, failing to recognize the influence of history and culture in fostering protest activity. I use social movement theory to explore the factors that influence the location of student protest, and develop the hypothesis that a history of activism is strongly associated with student protest. I also demonstrate that locations that have protest around one issue are likely to have protest around multiple issues. I suggest that this is due to the influence of activist subcultures, which underlie movement families within a protest cycle, influencing the ideology and tactics of activist organizations. A sample of 423 colleges forms the basis for these analyses, conducted using logistic and OLS regression models.

Black church arson in the United States, 1989-1996

A prevalent theme in the public forum on the recent wave of black church arson in the United States is that the events are part of an overarching conspiracy on the part of hate groups to start a race war. In attempting to discount this theme, critics have concluded that events of black church arson are not racially motivated, and instead are random acts of insurance fraud and delinquency. We argue that competition theory sheds light on these recent events by moving us away from both sides of this debate. We argue that, in the absence of good data on connections between various hate groups, it is useful to consider this wave of ethnic violence as a result of ethnic competition for economic and political resources. Using yearly event counts and time-series cross sectional data, we test hypotheses derived from competition theory. We conclude that competition for both economic and political resources increases the yearly counts of black church arson.

Manufacturing Dissent: Labor Revitalization, Union Summer and Student Protest

During the late 1990s, college students across the United States mobilized around labor issues. Our research explores whether this explosion of student protest activity was generated, in part, by concerted efforts of the AFL-CIO through its Union Summer college student internship program. A statistical analysis of factors influencing the location of Students Against Sweatshops chapters and student labor protest confirms that the Union Summer program has successfully mobilized a generation of college students for labor activism. This research extends the labor literature by providing evidence of the revitalized labor federations success in forming bridges to non-traditional constituencies. Our findings inform social movement scholarship and studies of inter-organizational influence by demonstrating that a professional social movement organization can strategically generate mobilization among a new constituency.

COALITION FORM AND MOBILIZATION EFFECTIVENESS IN LOCAL SOCIAL MOVEMENTS

Little has been written on the form that coalitions take in social movements. Three months of fieldwork by a five-person team documented the population of social movement events (SMEs) across seven movements in a Southwestern city. We investigated the process and form that led to these events at the interorganizational level. Three different coalition forms, as well as single social movement organizations (SMOs) acting alone, organized the SMEs. The network invocation form a single SMO making strategic and framing decisions while encouraging other SMOs in its network to mobilize participants was significantly more effective than other forms at mobilizing attendance at events.Little has been written on the form that coalitions take in social movements. Three months of fieldwork by a five-person team documented the population of social movement events (SMEs) across seven movements in a Southwestern city. We investigated the process and form that led to these events at the interorganizational level. Three different coalition forms, as well as single social movement organizations (SMOs) acting alone, organized the SMEs. The network invocation form a single SMO making strategic and framing decisions while encouraging other SMOs in its network to mobilize participants was significantly more effective than other forms at mobilizing attendance at events.

Political Opportunities and Collective Identity in Ohio's Gay and Lesbian Movement, 1970 to 2000

Gender dynamics have historically shaped the gay and lesbian rights movement, with gay men and lesbians working together more during some time periods than others. In this article, the authors explore how changes in the sociopolitical context influence the gendered collective identity and gender composition of the gay and lesbian rights movement over time. The authors use data on the gay and lesbian rights movement in Columbus, Ohio, from 1970 to 2000 and interviews with twenty-four movement participants. They find that shifts in the sociopolitical context, including the activity of movement opponents, change the salience of gender and other identities for movement participants, thereby leading to changes in the movements collective identity. They contribute to the literatures on gender, sexuality, and social movements by demonstrating that countermovements can mobilize stigma in a way that heightens identity salience and alters collective identities.

“The University Works Because We Do”: On the Determinants of Campus Labor Organizing in the 1990s

University campuses experienced a surge in protest activity around labor issues during the late 1990s, highlighted by several high-profile graduate employee unionization campaigns. Some scholars and activists attribute these developments to notable changes in the academy, while others note that this wave of activity coincided with revitalization efforts by the broader U.S. labor movement that included reaching out to new constituencies and college students in particular. The authors advance this discussion by analyzing the factors leading to graduate employee union organizing campaigns between 1996 and 2001. They draw from social movement and labor research to suggest how shifts in the nature of academic labor markets, local resources and opportunities for activism, and increased links between organized labor and college campuses influence the timing and location of organizing campaigns. Results from an event history analysis of campaign activity largely support these claims and highlight the importance of local resources and opportunities for campus organizing.

Dangerous Climates: Factors Associated With Variation in Racist Hate Crimes on College Campuses

Although hundreds of American college students are the victims of bias-motivated verbal and physical assaults every year, little research explores whether there is a systematic pattern to the hate crimes that occur on college campuses. In this article, we study why some campuses experience more racist hate crimes than do others. We explore how campus demographics, tuition increases, and the presence of fraternities influence reported hate crime incidence. Through a statistical analysis of the hate crimes reported to the FBI by 349 colleges, we find that ethnic-/racial-bias hate crimes are more likely to be reported on predominantly White college campuses and those that have a large Greek population. We contribute to theory on hate crime by illustrating some of the social characteristics that make hate crime more likely in certain geographic areas than others.