Collective Identity and Informal Groups in Revolutionary Mobilization: East Germany in 1989

Social Esteem and Participation in Contentious Politics: A Field Experiment at an LGBT Pride Rally

“…Selective incentives might also be social. Indeed, one common argument in the literature on participation in contentious politics is that social ties are necessary to bring individuals into the fray (Goodwin 1997;Kuran 1991;Lohmann 1993;Opp and Kittell 2010;Pfaff 1996;Schussman and Soule 2005). People have been observed to join the action if they have some prior social connection to other joiners (McAdam 1986;Opp and Kittell 2010), and they seem more likely to participate if they have been asked to do so (Klandermans and Oegema 1987).…”

Pulled, Pushed, and Persuaded: Explaining Women’s Mobilization into the Salvadoran Guerrilla Army

“…Peter Bearman (1993), for example, demonstrates how religious rhetoric in England created new social networks among elites, and that these new networks corresponded with revolutionary activity. Steven Pfaff (1996) analyzes the role of small-scale social networks in generating the peaceful revolution against the communist regime in East Germany in 1989. Timothy Wickham-Crowley (1992) argues that political, religious, and family networks were critical for mobilizing Latin Americans into leftist guerrilla movements.…”

“…For others, popular participants are rational actors who see opportunities for personal gain through revolutionary activism (Migdal 1974;Popkin 1979). Some scholars portray grassroots participants as identifying deeply with the ideals and goals of the movement because of their preexisting network memberships (Bearman 1993;Gould 1995;Pfaff 1996;Wickham-Crowley 1992). Still others depict participants as unwilling supporters of the cause, coerced to participate by threats of harm, denial of needed goods, or a lack of options to avoid activism (Goodwin 2001;Kriger 1992;Loveman 1998).…”

Responses to Repression

“…However, evidence showed that those explanations were not fully convincing. In severely repressive contexts with no major structural changes in political opportunities (at the macro-level) and with no strong oppositional organizations and identifiable leaderships, movements emerged (Loveman, 1998), revolutions occurred (Kurzman, 2004;Opp and Gern, 1993;Osa, 2003;Pfaff, 1996) and even the backlash against harsh massacres unfolded (Francisco, 2004(Francisco, , 2005. Hence, political changes did not necessarily go hand in hand with structural changes.…”

“…Nor do all individuals who experience similar structural changes display similar political participation (see also van Stekelenburg and Klandermans, 2010;Viterna, 2006). To make sense of variation in the effects of repression, as some (McAdam and Paulsen, 1993;Pfaff, 1996) have suggested, in addition to factors relating to political and social structure, it is important to pay attention to the social psychological processes. Equally important, it has been observed (Koopmans, 1993) that the effect of repression on political participation depends on activists' choices among the different options.…”