The Outcomes of Radical Extra-institutional Protest and the Good Cop/Bad Cop Effect

• In Event: 474 - Section on Collective Behavior and Social Movements Refereed Roundtable Session and Business Meeting
  In Refereed Roundtable 60min: Table 08. Institutions, Opportunities, and Change

Abstract

Current literature on the effects of disruptive protest typically focuses on the immediate effects of extra-institutional tactics. It is important to understand the influence of disruptive protest and contentious direct action on scientists and the institution of science over time. Using the animal advocacy movement’s on-going campaign targeting animal research, this project explores the effect of militant extra-institutional protest on science as a unique institution. This project uses qualitative data, specifically interviews and ethnographic observation, to explore how scientists are affected by disruptive and militant direct action. I present a good cop/bad cop model of how social movements affect science as an institution over time. I argue that scientists have changed laboratory practices because of the threat of militancy, naming and shaming, and being “FOIA’d.” At the same time the moderate faction of the movement has been institutionalized through federal law and regulatory oversight and legitimized in science through the incorporation of “animal welfare” in regulatory mandates. Scientists are dealing with the “good cops” of moderates trying to cooperate with scientists to change animal practices, and they are dealing with the “bad cops” of radicals who constantly push with more combative and aggressive tactics.

Author

• Erin M. Evans, University of California, Irvine