Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Abstract: Conversational Constraint Theory (CCT; Kellermann, 1988), which predicts that influence agents consider both tactic efficiency and social appropriateness, was applied to manager’s influence tactic choice. In Study 1, a similarity matrix, created using card-sorting data, was analyzed using multidimensional scaling (MDS); the results supported the hypothesized two-dimensional solution. In Study 2, the mean social appropriateness and efficiency ratings for each tactic were separately regressed onto the MDS dimensional coordinates. The results were mixed.

Publication Type: Proceeding
Abstract: The purpose of this study is to examine the impact of senatorial seniority on aggregate third party vote totals. The main focus of this paper is to illustrate that voters will vote for a third party candidate as a senator gains seniority by winning reelections due to the theory called Inverse Tactical Voting or ITV. ITV occurs when a voter perceives that their first voting choice, often
one of the two major political parties in the United States, is nonviable due to the opposition party holding the senate seat. To explore this theory, a game theoretic model is constructed that considers the game that voters play when entering the voting booth. This game theoretic model is tested using voting statistics from the Office of the Clerk of the United States House of Representatives. The results of this test are promising because the basic statistical testing, correlations and scatterplots demonstrate that the model is correct in that third party voting increases as senators are reelected.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Review Method: Peer Reviewed
Abstract: This paper makes an important contribution to the social movement literature on differential participation by modeling participation in various forms of activism as a two-stage process: willingness to engage in specific tactics and conversion of this willingness to actual participation. Using a nationally representative sample of Americans, we show that the effect of biographical availability, organizational involvement, and political networks varies not only depending on the stage of the participation process but also depending on the type of the tactic.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Abstract: A large debate has erupted in recent work on social movements about the role of the state in protest, with some advocating alternative approaches to the study of social movements, such as a focus on institutional authorities. Using data on four types of online protest (petitions, boycotts, and letter-writing and e-mail campaigns), acquired using an innovative new methodology that produces a generalizable sample of online protest actions, this paper addresses this debate. We find that, while the state is a frequent target of online protest, a significant portion of protest activity targets other institutional authorities. Our analyses disaggregate the state and distinguish between types of institutional authorities, further deepening the understanding of both state and non-state actors. In addition to informing the existing debate over the definition of social movement activity, our data suggest an association between tactical forms and their targets. Finally, by using Internet data, this paper contributes to an under-studied area of social movement research: online protest.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Abstract: Most social movement scholars attribute activists’ choices of strategies and tactics to rational decisions based on personal preferences, past experiences, or opponents’ abilities to sanction. But these explanations cannot account for instances when activists knowingly choose strategies and tactics that do not seem to offer the likeliest chance of success. What can account for these seemingly irrational choices—why would activists purposefully avoid likely successful strategies and tactics? I address this question through a comparative study of the animal rights movements in France and the United States, based on interviews and participant observation with activists in both countries. Activists in the U.S. exhibit more tactical pragmatism than French activists, who engage in “tactical stubbornness”—sometimes refusing tactics and strategies that have proven successful for others. I argue that these choices are not irrational, and surprisingly are not based on cultural or structural constraints external to the movement. Instead, they are indicative of the constraints placed on activists by the cultural structures within the animal rights movement itself. This meso-level analysis adds a new level to studies of tactical choices, and also provides a comparative perspective to an empirical case of cultural structures and agency.