The topics of differential recruitment to activism and its longer-term impacts have generated substantial empirical research. Yet, the lack of longitudinal studies of movement participation have limited our understanding of individual activism’s dynamics over time. Here, we use six years of longitudinal survey data and two waves of interview data from a class of college students before, throughout, and after college to examine predictors of variation in college activism, the ebb and flow of activism over the course of college, and the effect of college activism on activism two years post-graduation. Our findings dispute one consistent empirical claim in social movement studies and confirm another. Counter to the scholarly finding on the weak impact of predisposition on recruitment, we find that predisposition powerfully predicts variation in college activism. Consistent with the claim that significant early activism is linked with future activism, we find that students’ activism at the end of college significantly predicts their engagement in activism after graduation.
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June 2022
Research Article|
July 11 2022
PREDICTING THE ONSET, EVOLUTION, AND POSTGRADUATE IMPACT OF COLLEGE ACTIVISM*
Doug McAdam;
† Doug McAdam and Priya Fielding-Singh contributed equally to this article. Doug McAdam is a Professor Emeritus in the Department of Sociology at Stanford University. Priya Fielding-Singh is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Family and Consumer Studies at the University of Utah. Krystal Laryea is a doctoral candidate at Stanford University. Jennifer Hill is an independent scholar.
Send correspondence to Doug McAdam at mcadam@stanford.edu.
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Priya Fielding-Singh;
Priya Fielding-Singh
† Doug McAdam and Priya Fielding-Singh contributed equally to this article. Doug McAdam is a Professor Emeritus in the Department of Sociology at Stanford University. Priya Fielding-Singh is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Family and Consumer Studies at the University of Utah. Krystal Laryea is a doctoral candidate at Stanford University. Jennifer Hill is an independent scholar.
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Krystal Laryea;
Krystal Laryea
† Doug McAdam and Priya Fielding-Singh contributed equally to this article. Doug McAdam is a Professor Emeritus in the Department of Sociology at Stanford University. Priya Fielding-Singh is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Family and Consumer Studies at the University of Utah. Krystal Laryea is a doctoral candidate at Stanford University. Jennifer Hill is an independent scholar.
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Jennifer Hill
Jennifer Hill
† Doug McAdam and Priya Fielding-Singh contributed equally to this article. Doug McAdam is a Professor Emeritus in the Department of Sociology at Stanford University. Priya Fielding-Singh is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Family and Consumer Studies at the University of Utah. Krystal Laryea is a doctoral candidate at Stanford University. Jennifer Hill is an independent scholar.
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Mobilization: An International Quarterly (2022) 27 (2): 125–147.
Citation
Doug McAdam, Priya Fielding-Singh, Krystal Laryea, Jennifer Hill; PREDICTING THE ONSET, EVOLUTION, AND POSTGRADUATE IMPACT OF COLLEGE ACTIVISM. Mobilization: An International Quarterly 1 June 2022; 27 (2): 125–147. doi: https://doi.org/10.17813/1086-671X-27-2-125
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PREDICTING THE ONSET, EVOLUTION, AND POSTGRADUATE IMPACT OF COLLEGE ACTIVISM
Doug McAdam, Priya Fielding-Singh, Krystal Laryea, Jennifer Hill
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