Social Movements and Weather Sensitivity: Democratic vs. Non-democratic Settings

• In Event: 4322 - Section on Political Sociology Refereed Roundtable Session
  In Refereed Roundtable 60min: Table 02. Political Mobilization and Action

Abstract

Abstract
Scholars argue that weather conditions are associated with the mobilization and maintenance of social movements. This paper contributes to the literature by comparing social movements in democratic and non-democratic settings to see if social movements’ weather sensitivity varies across different political environments. It hypothesizes that protesters in democratic societies will be more sensitive to weather as they enjoy more political opportunities and have more freedom to protest. Binomial regression analyses of social movement data in the United States (1960-1995) and China (2003-2016) find significant differences in the two settings. In the former, social movements’ weather sensitivity is relatively higher than in the latter, supporting the hypothesis that a movement-friendly society allows participants to be “picky.” Comparisons within each context find similar patterns: movements with severe grievances such as those of racial or ethnic minorities are less weather-sensitive. The findings support political opportunity structure theories and generate interesting potential questions for future research.

Author

• Tony Huiquan Zhang, St. Thomas More College