Size Matters: Quantifying Protest by Counting Participants

Autor/in	Biggs, Michael
Titel	Size Matters: Quantifying Protest by Counting Participants
Quelle	In: Sociological Methods & Research, 47 (2018) 3, S.351-383 (33 Seiten) PDF als Volltext Verfügbarkeit
Sprache	englisch
Dokumenttyp	gedruckt; online; Zeitschriftenaufsatz
ISSN	0049-1241
DOI	10.1177/0049124116629166
Schlagwörter	Activism; Strikes; Civil Disobedience; Violence; Computation; Social Change; Participation; Statistical Analysis + Suchen Sie Ihr Suchwort? Aktivismus; Politischer Protest; Strike; Streik; Ziviler Ungehorsam; Gewalt; Sozialer Wandel; Teilnahme; Statistische Analyse
Abstract	Since the 1970s, catalogs of protest events have been at the heart of research on social movements. To measure how protest changes over time or varies across space, sociologists usually count the frequency of events, as either the dependent variable or a key independent variable. An alternative is to count the number of participants in protest. This article investigates demonstrations, strikes, and riots. Their size distributions manifest enormous variation. Most events are small, but a few large events contribute the majority of protesters. When events are aggregated by year or by city, the correlation between total participation and event frequency is low or modest. The choice of how to quantify protest is therefore vital; findings from one measure are unlikely to apply to another. The fact that the bulk of participation comes from large events has positive implications for the compilation of event catalogs. Rather than worrying about the underreporting of small events, concentrate on recording large ones accurately. (As Provided).
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Erfasst von	ERIC (Education Resources Information Center), Washington, DC
Update	2020/1/01