Journal Article

Social Movement Communities and Cycles of Protest: The Emergence and Maintenance of a Local Women's Movement

Staggenborg, Suzanne

1998

Overview

Social movement theorists have argued that multiple movements emerge during cycles of protest in response to political opportunities. This article develops the concept of a \"social movement community\" and contends that the culture and community of a protest cycle, rather than political opportunities, attract many participants and provide organizational and tactical opportunities for new movements. I examine historical changes in the local women's movement community in Bloomington, Indiana, to explain how some movements are able to endure, and even thrive, after the decline of a protest cycle; their individual movement communities sustain activists and sometimes partially recreate the atmosphere of a protest cycle.

• Publisher: University of California Press,Society for the Study of Social Problems,Oxford University Press
• Subject: Bloomington, Indiana / Collective action / Communitarianism / Communities / Community / Community structure / Culture / Cyclical analysis / Demonstrations & protests / Equal rights / Female homosexuality / Feminism / Indiana / Maintenance / National organization for women (NOW) / Political Action / Political conditions / Political movements / Political protests / Politics / Protest Movements / Social activism / Social aspects / Social conditions / Social mobilization / Social Movements / Social Movements: Identity, Culture, and Communities / Social protest / Sociology / Theorists / United States / Women / Women in politics / Women's movement / Women's movements / Womens Groups / Womens rights / Womens rights movements