Doctoral Dissertation Research: Commitment and Disengagement in Social Movements

圣母大学的丹尼尔·埃舍尔这个项目研究了为什么一些创造社会变革的努力失败了，而另一些努力却成功了。这项研究建立在集体行动的经典理论基础上，通过关注活动人士、组织和阿巴拉契亚中部社区成员之间的互动，阿巴拉契亚中部是一种有争议的采矿实践的发源地，称为山顶采矿。一些组织成功地获得了社区成员的支持和参与，而另一些组织则往往失败。调查人员推测，这是因为他们有能力在某些关键方面进行文化匹配。换句话说，成功的文化匹配是一个重要的过程，使积极分子能够将结构性变革的潜力转化为居民的实际动员。联合PI将通过对随机和有目的地选择的居民和活动家进行65次访谈来审查这一过程，审查各种道德承诺、象征性边界以及个人和集体记忆。研究人员还将在为期三个月的实地考察过程中观察这两个小组之间的互动。这项研究将通过展示集体行动中一个关键但被忽视的组成部分来帮助学术理解为什么社会运动有时会失败(甚至从未开始)。广泛的影响这个项目有两个更广泛的影响。首先，该项目对在边缘人群中致力于社会变革的实践者和研究他们的学者是有用的。它表明，不满、组织资源和适当的框架等因素不足以推动一场运动；与当地居民建立信任是组织社区变革的关键初始组成部分。该项目突出了有效的组织所取得的成就，并揭示了全球各地居民的一些突出价值观和优先事项，特别是在经济多样化程度有限的农村地区。我将把我的发现分发给我审查和提交的环境组织，并广泛发表。其次，这个项目使一个代表性不足的群体脱颖而出，暴露了他们在严重的结构性劣势中履行承诺的努力。这项研究的结果将使社区团体能够更好地了解他们所服务的人。

SES- 1409581Rory McVeighDaniel EscherUniversity of Notre DameThis project examines why some efforts to create social change fail while others succeed. The study builds on classical theories of collective action by focusing on the interactions between activists, organizations, and community members in central Appalachia, home to a contentious mining practice called mountaintop mining. Some organizations succeed in gaining the support and participation of community members while others tend to fail. The investigators hypothesize that the reason for this is their ability to match culturally in certain key ways. In other words, successful cultural matching is an important process enabling activists to convert the structural potential for change into residents' actual mobilization. The co-PI will examine this process through 65 interviews with randomly and purposively selected residents and activists, examining various moral commitments, symbolic boundaries, and personal and collective memories. The investigator will also observe interactions between these two groups over the course of three months of fieldwork. This study will contribute to scholarly understanding of why social movements sometimes fail (or never even begin) by showing a key yet overlooked component of collective action.Broader ImpactsThis project has two broader impacts. First, this project is useful for practitioners who work for social change among marginalized populations and the scholars who study them. It demonstrates that factors like grievances, organizational resources, and appropriate framing are not enough to fuel a movement; building trust with local residents is a key initial component of organizing for community change. This project highlights what effective organizations accomplish and also reveals some of the salient values and priorities of residents that are likely to be similar across the globe, particularly in rural areas with limited economic diversification. I will distribute my findings to the environmental organizations I examine and present and publish them widely. Second, this project brings to the fore an underrepresented group, bringing to light their attempts to live out their commitments amid severe structural disadvantages. Results from this study will enable community groups to better understand the people they serve.