The Individual–Institutional Nexus of Protest Behaviour

Abstract

Political protest is seemingly a ubiquitous aspect of politics in advanced industrial societies, and its use may be spreading to less developed nations as well. Our research tests several rival theories of protest activity for citizens across an exceptionally wide range of polities. With data from the 1999–2002 wave of the World Values Survey, we demonstrate that the macro-level context – levels of economic and political development – significantly influences the amount of popular protest. Furthermore, a multi-level model examines how national context interacts with the micro-level predictors of protest activity. The findings indicate that contemporary protest is expanding not because of increasing dissatisfaction with government, but because economic and political development provide the resources for those who have political demands.

Citizens and the Crisis: The Great Recession as Constraint and Opportunity

“…Studying the micro-macro link is a long-standing concern in sociology and the social sciences more generally (Alexander et al 1987;Turner and Markovsky 2007). Research on political participation has paid increasing attention to the interplay between micro-level and macro-level factors in accounts of protest behavior as well as political participation more generally (Dalton et al 2010;Grasso and Giugni 2016a;Kern et al 2015;Quaranta 2015Quaranta , 2016. Further work should follow this path and continue to examine how micro-macro dynamics help explain the impact of economic crises on citizens' attitudes and behaviors.…”

Social media and Umbrella Movement: insurgent public sphere in formation

“…Since SNSs facilitate and encourage interpersonal discussion on various topics, including controversial public issues, the IPS becomes a powerful platform for political mobilization. By allowing multiple channels for interpersonal feedback, peer acceptance, and reinforcement of group norms, SNSs promote the construction of personal and group identities that are key antecedents of protest behavior (Dalton, Sickle, & Weldon, 2009;Valenzuela et al, 2012). Seeking and being exposed to information in SNSs also enhance individuals' social capital (Ellison, Gray, Lampe, & Fiore, 2014;Putnam, 2000) and mutual support (Gil de Zuniga et al, 2012;Tang & Lee, 2013;Valenzuela et al, 2012), thus preparing the counterpublic to get together for collective actions.…”

Blame and contention: how perceptions of the government’s role in the economic crisis shape patterns of political action

“…Socio-demographic characteristics, political attitudes, and organisational involvement have long been shown to play an important role for political participation (Brady et al 1995;Brady 1999), including party attachment for voting (Campbell et al 1960). Moreover, research has often argued that more progressive values underpin extra-institutional political participation (Dalton et al 2010;Welzel and Deutsch 2012).…”