The Diffusion of Social Movements

Givan, Rebecca KolinsRebecca Kolins Givan is Assistant Professor at Cornell University's School of Industrial and Labor Relations. She received her Ph.D. from Northwestern University and has previously held positions at Cardiff Business School and the London School of Economics. She has published in the areas of healthcare work, trade unions, and comparative industrial relations.Roberts, Kenneth M.Sarah A. Soule is the Morgridge Professor of Organizational Behavior at the Stanford Graduate School of Business. She received her Ph.D. from Cornell University and has previously taught at the University of Arizona and Cornell University. She is the author of Contention and Corporate Social Responsibility and a co-author (with David Snow) of A Primer on Social Movements. She has published papers on social movements, organizations, and political change in the United States.Soule, Sarah A.Kenneth M. Roberts is Professor of Government and the Robert S. Harrison Director of the Institute for the Social Sciences at Cornell University. He received his Ph.D. from Stanford University and has previously taught at the University of New Mexico. He is the author of Deepening Democracy? The Modern Left and Social Movements in Chile and Peru, along with other writings on populism, party systems, and political change in Latin America.

It is widely recognized that social movements may spread - or 'diffuse' - from one site to another. Such diffusion, however, is a complex and multidimensional process that involves different actors, networks, and mechanisms. This complexity has spawned a large body of literature on different aspects of the diffusion process, yet a comprehensive framework remains an elusive target. This book is a response to that need, and its framework focuses on three basic analytical questions. First, what is being diffused? Second, how does diffusion occur? Finally, what is the impact of diffusion on organizational development and shifts in the scale of contentious politics? This volume suggests that diffusion is not a simple matter of political contagion or imitation; rather, it is a creative and strategic process marked by political learning, adaptation, and innovation. This book explores how social movements spread, or 'diffuse', from one site to another. It provides a comprehensive overview of different aspects of the diffusion process, explains how both protest tactics and mobilizing frames can be diffused, and analyzes the activist networks and communication channels that facilitate diffusion.

This book explores how social movements spread, or 'diffuse', from one site to another.

1. Introduction: dynamics of diffusion in social movements Rebecca Kolins Givan, Sarah A. Soule and Kenneth M. Roberts; Part I. Diffusion and the Framing of Contentious Politics: 2. Transnational networks and institutions: how diffusion shaped the politicization of sexual harassment in Europe Conny Roggeband; 3. Temporality and frame diffusion: the case of the creationist/intelligent design and evolutionist movements from 1925-2005 James E. Stobaugh and David A. Snow; 4. Framing labor's new human rights movement Lance Compa; 5. Framing the GMO: epistemic brokers, authoritative knowledge and diffusion of opposition to biotechnology Ronald J. Herring; Part II. Mechanisms of Diffusion: 6. Dialogue matters: beyond the transmission model of transnational diffusion between social movements Sean Chabot; 7. The diffusion of different types of internet activism: suggestive patterns in website adoption of innovations Jennifer Earl and Katrina Kimport; 8. Transnational networks, diffusion dynamics, and electoral change in the postcommunist world Valerie Bunce and Sharon Wolchik; 9. Diffusing the rumor bomb 'John Kerry is French' i.e., haughty, foppish, elitist, socialist, cowardly and gay Jayson Harsin; Part III. Diffusion, Scale Shift, and Organizational Change: 10. From protest to organization: the impact of the 1960 sit-ins on movement organizations in the American South Michael Biggs and Kenneth T. Andrews; 11. Dynamics of diffusion: mechanisms, institutions, and scale shift Sidney Tarrow.