Disability Protests: Contentious Politics, 1970-1999

6. Changes in Protests Over Time: Increased Heterogeneity, Decreased Societal Attention

Changes in Protests Over Time: Increased Heterogeneity, Decreased Societal Attention In this chapter we consider how the characteristics of the contentious actions changed over time and attempt to explain those changes in relationship to earlier protest characteristics as well as to external events. In particular, we try to relate changes in the protests to changes in the political opportunity structure, that is, those aspects of the political environment that either encourage or discourage people from using collective action (Tarrow, 1994: 18). CHANGES OVER TIME IN SOCIAL MOVEMENTS Although changes over time have not received as much attention from scholars as have other topics such as recruitment to, or initial causes of, social movements, some scholars have suggested changes that they would expect to see in a social movement over time. One of the changes that they expect to see over a social movement's life is in the organizational structure ofthe movement. At the beginning, preexisting organizations are extremely important in order for the social movement to have a base upon which to build (McAdam, 1982; Morris, 1984). Organizations provide resources such as a membership base, communication networks, group solidarity, and leaders. Organizations create ties that can promote the initial mobilization of current members and new participants (Gould, 1997: 135). The major growth in social movement organizations should occur after the height of the protest cycle (Meyer and Tarrow, 1998: 19). Ifsocial movement growth is to occur, the movement has to develop new resources, find new funding sources, and find or create new leaders. It may also need to change protest tactics, or tactical innovation may occur as the pace ofcontentious action increases (McAdam, 1982, 1997). Finally, social movements experience diffusion . Tactics, members, or organizations may diffuse geographically within one movement, from one movement to another, or from one group ofactivists to another (Strang and Soule, 1998). 139 140 Changes in Protests Over Time CHANGES OVER TIME IN PROTEST FREQUENCY Figure 6.1 shows the numbers of protests in each year since 1970. What we see is a picture of overall increases-albeit by fits and starts-in the amount of contentious political action in which people with impairments are involved. This action has not ended and may not even have peaked. Year 1971 72 73 74 75 76 77 17 78 79 80 81 18 82 83 16 84 85 22 86 15 87 11 88 41 89 42 90 34 91 56 92 56 93 48 94 18 95 29 96 46 97 80 98 66 99 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 Numbers of Protests Figure 6.1. Numbers of protests per year Changes in Protests Over Time 141 Protest activity started slowly. Although the time period covered by this research begins in 1970, we did not find any protests that met the criteria for inclusion in our database until 1971. From 1972 through 1976, there were ten or fewer protests per year; and in 1975 there were no protests. In 1977, there were seventeen protests. Ten of those were the protests in regard to the failure of the federal government to write and finalize the regulations for the Rehabilitation Act of 1973. The protests occurred around the country, including one in Washington, D.C., conducted by protesters who began in San Francisco and then came to the nation's capital to continue the action. In the months after the Rehabilitation Act protests ended, there were additional actions in San Francisco and other cities. In 1978, the numbers of protests decreased to four. There were small peaks in the numbers of protests in 1979, 1981, 1983, and 1985, but, in general, the level of contentious political activity remained somewhat low until 1988. After 1987 social movement activity began to explode. While in no year before 1988 had there had been more than twenty-two protests, in 1988 there were forty-one protests. The Deaf President Now protest occurred in that year, along with eight sympathetic protests, but there were thirty-two other actions as well. One set ofprotests was a campaign byADAPT against Greyhound that involved a number of protests in July as well as protests in thirteen cities in early September. In 1990 the level of protest activity decreased slightly to thirty-four protests. In 1991 and 1992 the levels of protest increased again, to fifty-six protests in each year. Protest activity decreased again after 1992 until it bottomed...