The Biographical Consequences of Activism

Using survey data collected in 1983-84 on 212 participants in the 1964 Mississippi Freedom Summer project and 118 individuals who applied, were accepted, but did not take part in the project, the author seeks to assess the short- and long-term political and personal consequences of high-risk activis...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:American sociological review 1989-10, Vol.54 (5), p.744-760
Main Author: McAdam, Doug
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Activism
Biography
Civil rights movements
Civil Rights Organizations
Follow up studies
Left wing politics
Mississippi
New Left
Political activism
Political attitudes
Political movements
Politics
Polls & surveys
Protest Movements
Questionnaires
Social movements
VOLUNTEER, VOLUNTARISM
Volunteerism
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Summary:Using survey data collected in 1983-84 on 212 participants in the 1964 Mississippi Freedom Summer project and 118 individuals who applied, were accepted, but did not take part in the project, the author seeks to assess the short- and long-term political and personal consequences of high-risk activism. Using both descriptive and inferential statistics, the author demonstrates a strong effect of participation on the subsequent lives of the volunteers and "no-shows." The volunteers were more politically active throughout the sixties than the no-shows and remain so today. In addition, the volunteers are much less likely to be married and to have significantly lower incomes at present than are the no-shows. Besides reporting these basic findings, the author seeks through path analysis to explore the specific factors and processes that mediate the impact of participation in Freedom Summer on the later lives of the volunteers.
ISSN:0003-1224
1939-8271
DOI:10.2307/2117751