Social Constructions of Activists and Constituents in Collective Action

试图说服政府官员实施特定政策的活动人士往往试图动员公众舆论，并广泛公开表示支持。他们这样做的能力不仅受到他们自身技能的影响，而且受到他们与更多选民的联系的程度和性质以及他们与其他政治行为者的关系的影响。在欧洲民主国家，这尤其包括政党。公众对一个最初很受欢迎的问题的支持率实际上可能会随着该问题政治化而下降。积极分子无法控制公众舆论，相反，他们必须改变自己的想法，以应对对一个问题不断变化的定义。在这个项目中，对荷兰“和平运动”运动的纵向调查数据进行了统计分析，以提供理论依据。这些数据是在荷兰一场大规模运动之前和之后收集的，在这场运动中，数百万公民向政府发送了反对部署巡航导弹的明信片。当政府批准部署时，这场运动最终失败了。已经完成了对四个社区的普通公众样本的调查，以及对这四个社区和另外六个社区的所有活动家的调查。根据这些数据开发的理论将表明，集体行动背后的成本和利益本身是如何根据政治忠诚和身份认同构建的。

Activists seeking to persuade government officials to implement particular policies often try to mobilize public opinion and widespread public displays of support. Their ability to do so is affected not only by their own skills, but by the extent and nature of their linkages with a larger constituency, and by their relations to other political actors. In European democracies, this especially includes political parties. Public support for an issue which is initially popular may actually decline as the issue becomes politicized. Activists cannot control public opinion, and must instead change their own ideas in response to these shifting definitions of an issue. For this project, longitudinal survey data on a Dutch "peace movement" campaign are analyzed statistically to provide input for theorizing. The data were collected in the Netherlands before and after a massive campaign in which millions of citizens sent the government postcards opposing deployment of Cruise missiles. The campaign ultimately failed when the government approved deployment. Surveys have been completed for samples of the general public in four communities, as well as for all activists in those same four and six additional communities. Theory developed in light of the data will show how the costs and benefits that underlie collective action are themselves constructed in light of political allegiances and identities.