Collaborative Research: Social Movements and Policy Impact

社会运动如何建立广泛的民众支持和确保全面的政策变革？本研究的重点是人口，经济和体制因素，以及特定的运动组织动态，研究在何种条件下运动支持蓬勃发展，并在政策变化的结果。此外，本研究还探讨了运动的支持和政策是否在邻近的州和县扩散，以及这些趋势如何相互影响。作为一个恰当的例子，这个项目的重点是美国禁酒运动，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。分析涉及一个原始数据集，其中包含有关1890年至1919年美国宪法第18修正案颁布期间县和州一级禁酒的法律的地位的信息。该数据集包括有关人口变化，城市化，经济趋势和利益集团的措施。此外，该数据集还包含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中的信息，这些信息可能影响了运动的增长和成功。这些数据使我们能够检查跨空间和在州和地方一级的运动的组织和结果。该项目为两个机构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（主要是一所教学学院）的本科生研究助理将接受数据收集和编码方面的培训。研究生培训将围绕系统的数据收集，编码和空间建模。此外，该项目将产生一个大型的、可供社会科学家和历史学家使用的数据集。这项研究的结果可能会引起多个利益相关者的兴趣，例如法律的专家，非营利组织，政策制定者和公众，以及跨学科的研究人员。

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.