A new branch of the social movements literature calls attention to the lack of research on the unintended consequences rather than intended outcomes of social movements. This paper examines one of these potential unintended consequences: negative attitudes toward the intended beneficiaries of the movement. The paper departs from past analysis of public opinion, however, by focusing on the views of local polity members. Specifically, the paper analyzes French mayors' attitudes toward immigrant assimilation to evaluate the impact of the immigrants' rights movement in France during the 1980s. Contrary to the expectations of the literature on the unintended consequences of social movements, immigrant protests have little influence on local polity members' attitudes toward immigrant assimilation. Instead, the macro-level preconditions for immigrant mobilization, particularly the size of the immigrant population, are far more important in shaping mayors' attitudes. These findings suggest that research on social movements must carefully control for mobilization preconditions when analyzing the unintended consequences of collective action.
A new branch of the social movements literature calls attention to the lack of researchon the unintended consequences of social movements (Guigni 1998;Tilly 1999). Tarrow (1994 anticipated this development when he argued that "the most far-reaching impacts of cycles of protest are found in slow and incremental changes in political culture." Conversely, much of the existing research on social movements is concerned with determining whether or not a social movement succeeded in producing a desired outcome, such as the distinction between acceptance and advantages (Gamson 1990) or a broader gauge of movement success ranging from concessions to full polity membership (Amenta, Carruthers, and Zylan 1992). Yet, according to Guigni (1998) andTilly (1999), the collective action sponsored by a social movement can have repercussions unrelated to movement goals. Thus, social movement effects range not only from failure to partial or full success (intended outcomes) but also to unintended consequences.