Collective Action and the Civil Rights Movement.
Citations Over TimeTop 1% of 1993 papers
Abstract
Collective Action and the Civil Rights Movement is a theoretical study of the dynamics of public-spirited collective action as well as a substantial study of the American civil rights movement and the local and national politics that surrounded it. In this major historical application of rational choice theory to a social movement, Dennis Chong reexamines the problem of organizing collective action by focusing on the social, psychological, and moral incentives of political activism that are often neglected by rational choice theorists. Using game theoretic concepts as well as dynamic models, he explores how rational individuals decide to participate in social movements and how these individual decisions translate into collective outcomes. In addition to applying formal modeling to the puzzling and important social phenomenon of collective action, he offers persuasive insights into the political and psychological dynamics that provoke and sustain public activism. This remarkably accessible study demonstrates how the civil rights movement succeeded against difficult odds by mobilizing community resources, resisting powerful opposition, and winning concessions from the government.
Related Papers
- → Group Inequalities and the Nature and Power of Collective Action: Case Studies from Peru(2007)71 cited
- → Collective identity in collective action: evidence from the 2020 summer BLM protests(2023)11 cited
- → From conflict to co‐operation: some design issues for local collective action institutions in cities(2003)13 cited
- The Student Movement and the Rise in the Values of the Thought and Culture of the May 4th Movement(2009)