Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Abstract: Social movement scholars recently identify several gaps in our understanding of the ideational elements of movements: (1) the public’s consciousness of movements; (2) the ideological basis of related movements; and (3) the demand-side of movement participation. To address these gaps in the literature, we examine a coherent ideology that guides the emergence, trajectory, and outcomes of movements within a movement family. We utilize the political science belief system concept and public opinion data from a nationally representative April 2000 Gallup poll to study the structure of public support for eight movements from a progressive movement family that emerged on the U.S. national scene since the 1960s. Respondents were first asked about the extent of their agreement with the goals of these eight movements and were then asked their perception of how much impact each of these movements has had on national policies. We find that the substantial coherence of the progressive social movement belief systems of individuals in the general public is evidence of a “progressive social movement ideology.” We then examine hypothesized predictors of adherence to this progressive social movement ideology. We specifically investigate the effect of political ideology (and political partisanship) on progressive social movement ideology, controlling for the effects of age, education, income, race, and sex. This analysis provides us with a better understanding of the structure of the public’s consciousness of movements and how it compares with the public’s orientation to institutionalized politics.