An investigation of contentious action by associations representing six occupational groups at different socio-economic levels reveals that middle-class groups tend to favor contentious means of making demands such as demonstrations and strikes, while lower-class groups tend to avoid contentious action, preferring more institutionalized or contained means. While such findings might appear to be puzzling given middle-class groups’ superior access to state institutions and the Habermasian concept of a rational, orderly, bourgeois public sphere, they are consistent with the literature on resource mobilization and social movements in the West: Access to financial resources and strong mobilizing structures enables the middle-class groups to take advantage of a political opportunity structure that rewards contentious action. / text
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:UTEXAS/oai:repositories.lib.utexas.edu:2152/ETD-UT-2010-08-1591 |
| Date | 26 October 2010 |
| Creators | Wood, Jolie Marie Frenzel |
| Source Sets | University of Texas |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | thesis |
| Format | application/pdf |
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