Taylor: Continuity

i	Sociology 432: Social Movements

Taylor, "Social Movement Continuity."

Verta Taylor, "Social Movement Continuity: The Women's Movement in Abeyance."
(chapter 31 in the McAdam and Snow reader, pages 408-420)

Concepts and Theory

Three points to notice on the first page:

Previous studies have made a mistake in studying the origins of social movements -- what mistake?
Taylor identifies clearly with one of our three "schools" of social movement theories -- which one and why? (i.e., why would the other two not be so useful for her>
She introduces a new concept: abeyance processes . What are they and why are they important?

Methods

What are the sources of Taylor's data? Compared to, for instance, McAdam's and Tarrow's coding of newspaper articles, what are some potential advantages and disadvantages to Taylor's data?

Results

First, what happened to the enormous mobilization of women that succeeded (finally!) in passing the suffrage amendment to the Constitutuion? What was the consequence for the women's movement of the middle of the century?

What evidence is there that the women's movement of the 1940s and 1950s was ineffectual? What causes does Taylor see behind this weakness?

How did the NWP maintain itself despite its weakness? What alternative strategies did they reject? Recall the Staggenborg reading about organizational structure and size: what type of leadership and organizational structure would Staggenborg predict would be best for an organization like the NWP? Is her prediction right?

Where do past studies of the women's movement of the 1970s see its origins? What is their evidence? How does Taylor's persepective differ? What is her evidence? How do past memberships, tactical choices, and cultural identities support Taylor's argument?

Conclusions

What's your one-line summary of Taylor's contribution?

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Last updated August 31, 2005

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