A Hero for the Aged? The Townsend Movement, the Political Mediation Model, and U.S. Old-Age Policy, 1934-1950

Abstract

During the Depression, the Townsend movement enjoyed varied success in seeking pensions for the aged. Social-movement models predict that success depends on the mobilization of resources or on collective action. Other theories predict that economic or political conditions cause the emergence of movements and changes in public spending. The political mediation model used here holds that, to succeed, a movement must reinforce political action with strong organization of members under favorable political conditions. This article defines "success" and employs various analytical and empirical strategies, including qualitative comparative analysis on statelevel data, to appraise the models. Although each perspective has some support, the political mediation model offers the best explanation of the patterns of successes. The state and the political party system determine whether mobilization and action benefit a constituency and win acceptance for a movement organization.Perhaps more than any other social protest movement of the Great Depression, the insurgency of the aged led by Francis E. Townsend has been credited with transforming public social provision in the United ' For comments, criticisms, aid, and advice, we thank

Social Movements and Institutional Analysis

“…It lets scholars go beyond simple power elite or interest group arguments about agency and change to consider how extant institutions block access, provide challengers with lever and openings, and otherwise condition actors' ability to translate numbers, resources or organization into change. Moreover, in exploring relations between movements, contexts and outcomes, institutionalists have made good use of research on political opportunity structure (McAdam 1999;Tarrow 1998;McAdam, Tarrow, & Tilly 2002) and related arguments about institutional mediation (Amenta, Carruthers, & Zylan 1992;Amenta & Zylan 1991) and institutional contingency (Thornton & Occasio 1999;Bartley & Schneiberg 2002;Schneiberg Clemens 2006;Lounsbury 2007), supporting a deepening integration of movements research and neo-institutional analysts.…”

“…They are arguments that political or institutional configurations amplify or blunt the effects of movement numbers, resources or activities on policies, paths and change. And they can be implemented empirically in relatively straightforward ways (Amenta & Zylan 1991;Amenta et al 1992;Schneiberg 2002;Soule & Olzak 2004;Soule 2004). …”

“…Arguments about political opportunity structure trace how existing institutional structures condition the effects of movements and mobilization on policies and change. Here, politics and power are institutionally contingent (Amenta et al 1992;Thornton & Occasio 1999;Thornton 2002;Bartley & Schneiberg 2002). As institutional systems become more open to challengers or provide them with elite allies, movements' abilities to translate conventional resources into desired outcomes will increase.…”

Store Wars: The Enactment and Repeal of Anti‐Chain‐Store Legislation in America

“…. Amenta and company have shown how institutional structures mediate interest group pressures (Amenta, Carruthers, and Zylan 1992). However, the question remains if institutional dynamics like the diffusion of models among states could reduce the costs of political organization or provide some actors new political advantages."…”

The Media as a Dual Mediator of the Political Agenda–Setting Effect of Protest. A Longitudinal Study in Six Western European Countries

“…For example, students of social movements have examined the effect of protest on public opinion and so, indirectly, on political elites' actions (see, for example, Terkildsen and Schnell 1997;McAdam and Su 2002;Costain and Majstorovic 1994). And there is a large body of literature on how the political effects of protest are mediated by political allies in the political system-only when institutional actors see benefit in aiding the protesters is there a political outcome (see the work by, for example, Amenta, Carruthers, and Zylan 1992). However, work that systematically scrutinizes the mediating role of mass media is exceedingly rare.…”