Issue change in social movement organizations : antecedents and consequences

Kappes, Marcel

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URN:	urn:nbn:de:bsz:180-madoc-709378
Dokumenttyp:	Dissertation
Erscheinungsjahr:	2025
Ort der Veröffentlichung:	Mannheim
Hochschule:	Universität Mannheim
Gutachter:	Hillmann, Henning
Datum der mündl. Prüfung:	2025
Sprache der Veröffentlichung:	Englisch
Einrichtung:	Fakultät für Sozialwissenschaften > Economic and Organizational Sociology (Hillmann 2009-)
Fachgebiet:	300 Sozialwissenschaften, Soziologie, Anthropologie
Freie Schlagwörter (Englisch):	social movement organizations , issue change , network analysis , dynamics of collective action , field theory , social mechanisms
Abstract:	This dissertation studies the antecedents and consequences of issue change in social movement organizations, i.e., when they decide to protest for a different topic. Even though social movement research emphasizes the importance of organizational change for adaptation, issue change has been ignored so far. Using data from the Dynamics of Collective Action and US Policy Agenda Project, I examine why and to what effects 4,442 social movement organizations changed their issues in the United States between 1960 and 1995. Therefore, I invent a temporal typology of issue change, distinguishing between four types of issue change: substitutions, diversifications, excursions, and explorations. To analyze the antecedents and consequences for each issue change type, I develop a novel field theory of issue change and a variety of theoretical mechanisms. Applying a wide range of statistical techniques, from longitudinal network analysis to mediation analysis, regression analysis, and counterfactual network simulations, provides support for the dissertation's theoretical arguments. The three manuscripts that form this dissertation show how often and why SMOs conduct specific types of issue change (Manuscript I), how these issue change types affect SMOs' mobilization, coalition-building, and longevity (Manuscript II), and how they affect the cohesion and continuity of social movements (Manuscript III). Based on these findings, this dissertation argues that issue change matters and needs to be part of social movement research's sociological imagination and toolkit.