Measuring Diffusion of Social Movements in the United States, 1960-1995

• In Event: 3451 - Section on Collective Behavior and Social Movements Refereed Roundtables (1 hour)
  In Refereed Roundtable 60min: 14. Violence and Non-Violence

Abstract

Social movement scholars have long sought to explain the diffusion of social movements. Existing explanations often focus on macro and meso-level mechanisms and pay less attention to how the characteristics of an individual protest may influence diffusion at the inter-movement level. Using Dynamics of Collective Action data (1960-95), I examine how different social movement qualities are linked with protest cycles in the United States. I find that violent protests and protests with multiple social movement organizations usually have more subsequent protests; interestingly, most social movements have fewer violent protests afterwards than before. Diffusion effects only sustain for a short period (30 days) and disappear over a longer term (60 days). I identify two types of protests: “generative protests” appear during the emergence of a protest cycle and encourage further protests; “consumptive protests” use up existing resources and demobilize further protests and are often found in the closure of a protest cycle.

Author

• Tony Huiquan Zhang, St. Thomas More College