Doctoral Dissertation Research: Commitment and Disengagement in Social Movements

关于一个人参与社会运动的因素有很多研究，但大多数研究都集中在招募阶段，而忽略了一旦一个人已经参与进来会发生什么。本项目研究社会行动主义运动参与者的经历，旨在解决当前对行动主义理解中的这一核心局限。具体来说，这项研究将集中在20世纪90年代末阿根廷出现的一场社会运动上，当时活动家团体开始组织失业工人，要求获得工作和救济计划。在过去的15年里，这些组织在无数贫困社区发挥了至关重要的作用，管理福利计划，提供社会服务，并创造了向政府请愿的机会。我们的项目集中在一个有趣的谜题上。大多数新成员的形象和他们加入运动的方式似乎很难有利于持续的行动主义。然而，在招聘之后，他们中的一些人变得越来越忠诚，做出了巨大的牺牲来继续参与，而另一些人则在参与的相对成本和收益发生变化时离开。研究人员将利用对现任和前任活动家的生活史访谈，以及对其组织开展的事件的参与者观察来解释这种差异，以解决一个更普遍的问题：为什么人们在加入社会运动后会遵循不同的轨迹？pi假设特定的轨迹是基于参与的内在回报。通过人与人之间的相互作用？在美国的背景和他或她在运动中的经历中，一些活动家逐渐开始将参与本身视为目的，因此努力保持参与。相比之下，其他人没有形成这种观点，因此，当参与变得过于苛刻或成本过高时，他们更有可能离开。更广泛的影响该项目将加深人们对发达国家和发展中国家基层组织的了解。研究结果可能有助于政府机构更好地解决贫困人口的需求。活动人士运动为向当局请愿提供了空间，并成为弱势群体与国家官员之间的有效沟通渠道。研究结果还可以为加强贫困社区社区机构的战略提供信息，为公共生活恶化提供解决办法，降低边缘化程度和人际暴力。

SES-1406244Javier AuyeroMarcos PerezUniversity of Texas at AustinThere is much research on the factors that contribute to a person's involvement in social movements, but most studies focus on the recruitment phase and ignore what happens once a person is already participating. This project studies the experiences of participants in a social activist movement, with the purpose of addressing this central limitation in the current understanding of activism. Specifically, the research will focus on a social movement that emerged in the late 1990s in Argentina, when groups of activists began to organize unemployed workers in order to demand access to jobs and relief programs. For the last fifteen years, these groups have played a crucial role in countless poor neighborhoods, managing workfare plans, providing social services, and creating opportunities for petitioning the government. Our project focuses on an intriguing puzzle. The profile of most new members and the way in which they join the movement hardly seems conducive to sustained activism. However, after recruitment some of them become increasingly committed, making substantial sacrifices to stay involved, while others leave as soon as the relative costs and benefits of participation change. The investigators will use life-history interviews with current and former activists, as well as participant observation of events carried out by their organizations to explain this divergence to address a more general question: why do people follow different trajectories after joining a social movement? The PIs hypothesize that particular trajectories are followed based on the intrinsic rewards of participation. Through the interplay between a person?s background and his or her experiences in a movement, some activists gradually begin to see participation as an end in itself and consequently make efforts to stay involved. In contrast, other people fail to develop this perspective, and hence when participation becomes too demanding or costly they are more likely to leave. Broader ImpactsThe project will generate a greater understanding of grassroots organizations in both developed and developing nations. Findings could potentially help government agencies better address the demands of underprivileged populations. Activist movements provide a space for petitioning the authorities and serve as effective communication channels between disadvantaged groups and state officials. Study results could also inform strategies to reinforce community institutions in poor neighborhoods, offering solutions to the deterioration of public life and reducing the levels of marginality and interpersonal violence.