Ukraine’s “Nationalist” Movements: Unraveling Dissatisfaction and Social Movement Participation

• In Event: 594 - Section on Political Sociology Roundtable Session (one-hour).
  In Refereed Roundtable: Table 19. Political Participation

Abstract

Status inconsistency and strain theory have both waned in popularity within the social movements literature due to measurement problems, lack of consistent results, and superior models of collective action. I aim to reintegrate these theories into the literature by 1) applying definitions and processes within the social psychology literature to the original conceptualizations of status inconsistency and strain theory and by 2) suggesting that status inconsistency may frequently be a result, not a cause, of social movement participation. In this paper I use two waves of the Ukrainian Longitudinal Monitoring Survey to analyze dissatisfaction among the participants of Ukraine’s 2004 Orange Revolution. I show that while dissatisfaction in 2003 did not influence rates of participation in the Orange Revolution, participation in 2004 does correspond to higher rates of dissatisfaction in 2007. I construct several hypotheses to explain these findings and include a brief discussion of Ukraine’s political elites. I end by speculating why the November 2013 protests occurred and what effects they may have on Ukraine’s future.

Author

• Nadina Lauren Anderson, University of Arizona