David S. Meyer
I'm a professor of sociology and political science at the University of California, Irvine. I've been thinking, and writing about, protest politics for almost ever. This site offers comments on contemporary events, informed (I hope) by knowing something about history and about the academic study of social movements.
Monthly Archives: June 2011
The Tea Party and the Bachmann challenge
Representative Michele Bachmann (Minnesota) embraced the Tea Party enthusiastically as it first arrived, seeing it as the expression of the conservative populist sentiments she means to embody. After the Republican victories of 2010, she started the Tea Party Caucus in … Continue reading
The Tea Party’s electoral dilemma
Our Constitution presents a recurring dilemma for social movements: routine elections. Right after the Republicans won massive gains in the 2010 elections–and the Tea Party claimed a great deal of credit for those victories–conservative activists shifted their attention to the … Continue reading
Coming out and burrowing in: Gay marriage in New York
When New York’s legislature approved same sex marriage last week, we saw the acceleration of a well-established trend: growing acceptance for recognizing the participation of gay and lesbian people in every aspect of American life. It’s not that everything is … Continue reading
A movement is a market
Every year when I do my taxes I go through my credit card receipts looking for deductions for work and charitable contributions. In the past few years, I’ve found a disturbing number of payments for “Justice.” The payments are disturbing … Continue reading
Posted in Uncategorized
Tagged business, CND, culture, money, nuclear disarmament, tea party
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Dieter Rucht and Social Movement Outcomes
I’m off to Berlin today. I’m honored to participate in a conference on the outcomes of social movements, celebrating the work of Dieter Rucht. Dieter is officially retiring, which will mean devoting a larger portion of his time to … Continue reading
Money, mergers, and mobilization
Jarrett Barrios resigned as president of the Gay and Lesbian Alliance against Defamation this past weekend. GLAAD had received $50,000 from AT&T, and then filed a letter supporting the phone giant’s merger with T-Mobile. The appearance of impropriety (read: corruption) … Continue reading
Politics as product placement
We now learn, thanks to a great piece by Kenneth P. Vogel and Lucy McCalmont (Politico), that political groups are not only buying ads, but product placement as well–at least on the right end of the political spectrum. The largest … Continue reading
Posted in Uncategorized
Tagged advertising, Americans for Prosperity, FreedomWorks, Glenn Beck, Heritage Foundation, media, radio, Rush Limbaugh
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How the courts disappoint
American politics has provided some updates on our concerns about the courts and social movements (see: “You can’t count on the courts”). Be sure that activists will be disappointed–and that they are extremely unlikely to give up. In Wisconsin, the … Continue reading
A second cut on circumcision, politics, and rhetoric
Crusaders against circumcision (intactivists) face the same sorts of challenges as activists on a wide range of other causes. They want parents to choose not to circumcise their sons AND they want the government to prohibit circumcision–and punish adults involved … Continue reading
Anti-circumcision campaign cut short
Male circumcision dates back to a deal that Abraham made with God, as far as I know; most Jewish and Muslim parents still circumcise their sons to show that they’re keeping their end of the bargain. Of course, in many … Continue reading
