Weather Effects on Social Movements: Evidence from Washington D.C. and New York City, 1960-1995

• In Event: 474 - Section on Collective Behavior and Social Movements Refereed Roundtable Session and Business Meeting
  In Refereed Roundtable 60min: Table 21. Movement Participation

Abstract

Scholars have been taking the impact of weather on social movement for granted for some time, despite a lack of supportive empirical evidence. This paper takes the topic more seriously, analyzing more than 7,000 social movement events and 36 years of temperature records in Washington D.C. and New York City (1960-1995). Defining “good weather” as high thermal comfort and no precipitation, I find social movements have a greater likelihood of happening on good days than bad with seasonal patterns controlled for. Moreover, the effect of weather is more salient when there are more political opportunities. I also find movement violence occurs more frequently when it is warmer. I discuss the implications of my findings and suggest future research.

Author

• Tony Huiquan Zhang, University of Toronto