Organization and Radical Protest

An Antithesis

Bibliographic Data

ID2276459
AuthorsDonna A Barnes (Southern Methodist University, corresponding author)
Year1987
Volume28
Issue4
Pages575-594
Publication date1987-12-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueSociological Quarterly (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0038-0253 • E-ISSN: 1533-8525
PublisherInforma UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1111/j.1533-8525.1987.tb00313.x
OpenAlexW2067074407
LanguageEN
Citations received6
References cited29

It is the contention of this article that Robert Michels' Iron Law of Oligarchy is overdeterministic. Rather than depicting a conservative and nonrepresentative oligarchy as inevitable, this article asks: What factors affect whether there are changes in the policy and strategy stances of protest leaders over time, and whether such changes are in the direction of increased conservatism? Borrowing from the theoretical premises of the resource mobilization perspective on protest movements, this article isolates three key factors: (1) the outcome of past protest strategies for various subgroups within the protest organization; (2) shifts in the attitudes of existing organizational members; and (3) the attempts to mobilize a significantly more heterogeneous constituency. It is argued that in response to these factors, protest leaders may move in the direction of increased radicalism, as well as increased conservatism. Further, it is argued that increased conservatism in and of itself does not signal any change in the degree to which leaders represent their constituents. In the second section of the article, this theoretical argument is explored by drawing upon evidence from the agrarian protest movement of the late nineteenth century

Affect (linguistics) · Agrarian society · Antithesis · Argument (complex analysis) · Conservatism · Democracy · Dilemma · Economics · Epistemology · Oligarchy · Political economy · Political radicalism · Political science · Politics · Populism · Positive economics · Scrutiny · Sociology · History · Labor Movements and Unions · Law · Political Conflict and Governance · Social Policy and Reform Studies

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