Collaborative Research: Social Movements and Policy Impact

社会运动如何建立广泛的民众支持并确保彻底的政策变革？本研究侧重于人口、经济和制度因素，以及特定于运动的组织动态，以检查在何种条件下运动支持蓬勃发展并导致政策变化。此外，本研究还考察了运动支持和政策是否在邻近的州和县之间扩散，以及这些趋势如何相互影响。作为一个恰当的例子，这个项目关注的是美国禁酒令运动，这是美国历史上规模最大、持续时间最长、最成功的运动之一。该分析涉及一个原始数据集，其中包含1890年至1919年（美国宪法第18修正案颁布的那一年）期间县和州一级禁酒令的法律地位信息。该数据集包括有关人口变化、城市化、经济趋势和利益群体的指标。此外，该数据集整合了有关相关社会运动组织和活动、选举背景和媒体传播的档案材料信息，这些信息可能影响了运动的发展和成功。这些数据使我们能够检查跨空间、州和地方一级运动的组织和结果。该项目为两所院校的研究生和本科生提供培训和研究机会。克里斯托弗·纽波特大学（Christopher Newport University）主要是一所教学学院，其本科生研究助理将接受数据收集和编码方面的培训。在北卡罗来纳大学，研究生的训练将围绕着系统的数据收集、编码和空间建模。此外，该项目将为社会科学家和历史学家提供一个大型的、公开可用的数据集。本研究的结果可能会引起多个利益相关者的兴趣，如法律专家、非营利组织、政策制定者和公众，以及跨学科研究小组。

How do social movements build broad popular support and secure sweeping policy changes? This study focuses on demographic, economic, and institutional factors, as well as movement-specific organizational dynamics, to examine under which conditions movement support thrives and results in policy changes. Moreover, this study examines whether movement support and policies diffuse across neighboring states and counties, and how these trends shape one another. As a case in point, this project focuses on the U.S. Prohibition movement, which was one of the largest, longest-lasting, and most successful movements in U.S. history.The analysis involves an original dataset that contains information about the legal status of prohibition at the county and state level between 1890 and 1919, the year the 18th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution was enacted. The dataset includes measures regarding population change, urbanization, economic trends, and interest groups. In addition, the dataset incorporates information from archival materials regarding relevant social movement organizations and activity, electoral context, and media communication that may have shaped movement growth and success. These data allow us to examine the organization and outcomes of the movement both across space and at the state and local level.This project provides training and research opportunities for graduate and undergraduate students at two institutions. Undergraduate research assitants at Christopher Newport University, primarily a teaching college, will be trained in data collection and coding. At UNC, graduate student training will revolve around systematic data collection, coding, and spatial modeling. In addition, the project will result in a large, publically available dataset of use to social scientists and historians. Findings from this study may be of interest to multiple stakeholders, such as legal experts, non-profit organizations, policy makers, and the general public, in addition to an interdisciplinary group of researchers.