Search Results

Chapter 2 places the problem of movement non-participation within the existing sociological literature on the micro-level processes that contribute to an individual’s decision to participate–or not participate–in a social movement. The chapter provides an overview of the social movements literature on the four “central problematics” of micromobilization–solidarity, identity correspondence, consciousness transformation (also called “cognitive liberation”), and the creation of micromobilization contexts. In studies of social movements, these four processes continually arise as important micro-level issues shaping activist participation. This chapter synthesizes the theoretical and empirical work on these four factors and suggests that the low level of local participation in the coalfield justice movement is the result of problems with all four of these processes. The next four chapters present a series of studies that examine potential barriers to the four central problematics of micromobilization outlined in this chapter.

Chapter 8 provides a rational for using the feminist participatory action research method of Photovoice as a means of creating a more complete picture of “non-action in the face of injustice.” Through recruiting 54 women living in five coal-mining communities for an eight-month Photovoice project, a micromobilization context was created to study the factors that facilitate and hinder the process of “becoming an activist.” Forty-seven of the recruited participants had no prior involvement in environmental justice activism, while seven of the participants (one or two in each of the groups) were associated in some way with one of the local organizations fighting irresponsible coal industry practices in the region. The chapter presents how this project was organized, how the five communities were selected, how the 54 women were recruited, how the meetings were run, and what data were collected throughout the 8-month project and beyond. Descriptions of each of the five communities and the demographics of the participants are also included in this chapter.

This chapter addresses the question of why students join LGBT activist groups at Christian colleges and universities. Specifically, the chapter describes the pathways to participation for three groups of activists: politicized participants, religious participants, and LGBT participants. Politicized participants – those for whom politics and activism are central parts of their identity – all grew up in families that were highly supportive of LGBT rights and had all been involved in some type of activist organization as early as high school. Thus, they arrived at their Christian colleges and universities with a commitment to social justice and a proclivity toward activism. Conversely, religious participants – those whose religious convictions were most salient in their decisions to join LGBT groups – had all been raised in families that condemned homosexuality, and none had been involved in previous social movements. Only a few of these individuals even supported LGBT rights by the time they joined. Finally, LGBT participants – those who personally identify as LGBT but lack strong political or religious convictions – are the most diverse lot, but they all hold in common their basic support for LGBT rights and an interest in meeting other people like them. The chapter advances sociological theory on micromobilization.