Social Movements and Interrelated Effects: The Process of Social Change in the Post-Movement Lives of Provisional IRA Volunteers

Abstract

This article systematizes a research perspective that assesses how different types of social movement outcomes mutually influence one another over time. This should offer a different perspective on the consequences of social movements by shifting the focus from single outcomes to processes of social change that are generated by the interaction between different types of effects. The variety of ways in which movement outcomes potentially influence each other in the short-term, or over an extended period of time, will be broken down into six hypothetical processes. Empirically, through a process-tracing approach, in this article I investigate how the British state's responses at policy level toward the disruptive mobilization of the Catholic community in Northern Ireland and to the armed campaign of the PIRA have shaped the postmovement lives of PIRA volunteers.

El alcance de los cambios: Una propuesta analítica sobre las consecuencias de los movimientos sociales

“…Los resultados políticos de los movimientos sociales son fuente de cambios culturales a más largo plazo (Bosi, 2016). Los cambios en las políticas públicas aceleran la difusión de nuevos valores en la sociedad, por ejemplo, articulando normas y sancionando comportamientos.…”

“…Los cambios políticos sustanciales también afectan a la vida de las personas, dentro y fuera de los movimientos. Históricamente, como bien señala Bosi (2016), determinadas reformas relacionadas con el estado del bienestar, promovidas por el movimiento obrero, cambiaron la concepción de muchas personas, que pasaron a percibirse como ciudadanos con el deber de participar en la vida pública y el derecho a ser protegidos por el estado. Otro ejemplo son las reformas alcanzadas por el movimiento de discapacitados en diversos países, que no solo han provocado resultados materiales, en cuanto a inversiones públicas que garantizan la accesibilidad en determinados espacios, sino también simbólicos: los agraviados ya no se consideran "menos capacitados" sino que se ven como detentadores de derechos con un sentido de dignidad e identidad colectiva distintivos.…”

New Technologies as a Neglected Social Movement Outcome: The Case of Activism against Animal Experimentation

“…Therefore, developing new technologies should be regarded as one step in a larger attempt to bring about broader social change. Recent scholarship calls for attention to such interrelated and long-term effects of activism (Bosi 2016; Jasper et al forthcoming). Technological change stimulated by activism can be one episode in a long sequence of outcomes.…”

The European Citizens’ Initiative: Mobilization Strategies and Consequences

“…Scholars have also recently emphasized that activists hardly ever experience decisive ‘wins’ or ‘loses’ in public policy struggles, but most often only make small gains or losses – and often multiple gains and losses at the same time. The achievement of ultimate goals is usually the result of long-term processes (Bosi, 2016; Jasper et al, submitted).…”

“…Gran and Hein, 2005; Suh, 2014) and on ‘venue shopping’ (e.g. Baumgartner and Jones, 1993; Bouza García, 2014) allows for the understanding of individual ECIs as part of long-term social movement campaigns (Bosi, 2016; Jasper et al, submitted).…”