Doctoral Dissertation Research: Determinants of Social Movement Participation

博士论文研究：社会运动参与的决定因素【摘要】人们为什么以及在什么条件下参与社会运动？这是一个经典的问题，大量的研究已经确定了影响运动参与的传记和背景因素。然而，我们对社会运动所引起问题的实质在多大程度上影响其招募参与者和资源的能力知之甚少。本论文研究试图通过评估某些问题在吸引公众支持方面是否比其他问题本身更强大或更有吸引力来解决这一差距——如果是的话，为什么。为了解决这个问题，该项目以社会心理学理论（特别是情感控制理论）为基础，该理论有助于衡量与身份和行为相关的文化含义，从而有助于确定人们评估和感知超越个人历史的事件的持久、系统的趋势。从这一理论中得出的中心假设是通过基于图像的实验来检验的。更广泛的影响这项研究的结果对社会有更广泛的影响，例如为非营利部门或政策制定者提供信息。他的研究结果可以帮助解释一些问题的普遍吸引力，并指出为什么其他可能对社会福祉很重要的问题可能没有得到相当大的公众支持。

Doctoral Dissertation Research: Determinants of Social Movement ParticipationDr. Linda Molm (PI)Kelly Jean Bergstrand (co-PI)University of ArizonaAbstractWhy and under which conditions do people participate in social movements? This is a classic question, and a significant amount of research has identified biographic and contextual factors that shape movement participation. However, we know little about the degree to which the substance of issues problematized by social movements affects their ability to recruit participants and resources. This dissertation research seeks to address this gap by assessing whether some issues are inherently more powerful or appealing than others in attracting public support -- and if so, why. To address this question, the project is grounded in social psychological theory (specifically, Affect Control Theory), which helps gauge cultural meanings associated with identities and behaviors and thus helps identify enduring, systematic trends in the way people evaluate and perceive events that go beyond personal histories. Central hypotheses derived from this theory are tested by means of a vignette-based experiment. Broader ImpactsThe findings from this research have broader implications for society, such as providing information to the non-profit sector or to policy makers. Findings from his study could help to explain the popular appeal of some issues, and indicate why other issues that may be important to address for the well-being of society may not have found sizeable public support.