ATTITUDINAL SOURCES OF PROTEST BEHAVIOR IN FRANCE: DIFFERENCES BETWEEN BEFORE AND AFTER MEASUREMENT

Analyses of the attitudinal origins of political protest that rely on surveys conducted after the behavior has occurred assume that the attitudes expressed were also present before the behavior occurred, and ignore the possibility that postprotest attitudes are the result, rather than the cause, of...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Public opinion quarterly 1990-10, Vol.54 (3), p.295-316
Main Authors: PIERCE, ROY, CONVERSE, PHILIP E.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Activists
Attitude Change
Attitudes
Average linear density
Behavior
Behavior modeling
Demonstrations & protests
Educational opportunities
France
Labor protests
Left wing politics
Measurement
Modeling
Political Attitudes
Political Movements
Political protest
Political protests
Polls & surveys
Protest
Protest Movements
Social demonstrations
Social protests
Social research
Statistical analysis
Studies
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Summary:Analyses of the attitudinal origins of political protest that rely on surveys conducted after the behavior has occurred assume that the attitudes expressed were also present before the behavior occurred, and ignore the possibility that postprotest attitudes are the result, rather than the cause, of protest behavior. This article addresses two central questions: (1) How differently may the same protest movement be interpreted, depending on whether the presumed causal attitudes are obtained before or after the protest took place? (2) What kinds of attitudinal transformations are the participants and nonparticipants in protest behavior likely to experience? The data derive from a panel study conducted in France, the first wave of which took place in the spring of 1967, more than a year before the famous May 1968 mass protest occurred, and the second wave of which took place in the summer of 1968, soon after the upheaval, at which time reports of protest behavior were obtained. Identical measures of protest-related attitudes were obtained at each wave. Both the methodological and substantive implications of the differences between “before” and “after” measures of protest-related attitudes are discussed.
ISSN:0033-362X
1537-5331
DOI:10.1086/269208