Caught in a Winding, Snarling Vine: The Structural Bias of Political Process Theory

The study of social movements has recently been energized by an explosion of work that emphasizes "political opportunities"--a concept meant to come to grips with the complex environments that movements face. In the excitement over this new metaphor, there has been a tendency to stretch it...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Sociological forum (Randolph, N.J.) N.J.), 1999-03, Vol.14 (1), p.27-54
Main Authors: Goodwin, Jeff, Jasper, James M., Khattra, Jaswinder
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Citizen grievances
Collective action
Culture
Emotions
Group identity
Methodology (Philosophical)
Mini-Symposium: Social Movements
Opportunity Structures
Political Factors
Political movements
Political processes
Political protests
Political theory
Repression
Social biases
Social environment
Social Movements
Social networks
Social structures
Structural analysis
Theoretical Problems
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Summary:The study of social movements has recently been energized by an explosion of work that emphasizes "political opportunities"--a concept meant to come to grips with the complex environments that movements face. In the excitement over this new metaphor, there has been a tendency to stretch it to cover a wide variety of empirical phenomena and causal mechanisms. A strong structural bias is also apparent in the way that political opportunities are understood and in the selection of cases for study. Even those factors adduced to correct some of the problems of the political opportunity approach--such as "mobilizing structures" and "cultural framing"--are subject to the same structural distortions. We recommend social movement analysis that rejects invariant modeling, is wary of conceptual stretching, and recognizes the diverse ways that culture and agency, including emotions and strategizing, shape collective action.
ISSN:0884-8971
1573-7861
DOI:10.1023/A:1021684610881