"If I Had A Hammer": The Changing Methodological Repertoire of Collective Behavior and Social Movements Research
Authors: John T. Crist and John D. McCarthy
Abstract
During the 1970's a theoretical shift occurred in social movement and collective behavior scholarship. Movement was away from grievances, relative deprivation, and interactional processes and towards organizational, structural and political factors. Dramatic changes in the research methodologies were also associated with the shift. We explore those changes with a systematic comparison of research articles in major U.S. journals of sociology before and after the theoretical reallignment. Between the early 1960's and the recent period, research designs became far more diverse, supplanting the earlier methodological hegemony of survey designs. Researchers increasingly utilized units of analysis other than individuals and employed mobilizing and political opportunity structures as key independent variables.
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