McAdam, Doug. (1989) The Biographical Consequences of Activism

McAdam, Doug, The Biographical Consequences of Activism (1989)

Research Question: What happens to individuals who experience dangerous forms of activism?
Popular conception is that activists of the 1960’s “sold-out” and became yuppies.

Implication is that the activism of the 60’s was a developmental phase that the participants grew out of- they sewed their wild oats.

However, there are not too many public examples of the hard-core activist turn mainstream citizen.

Only 2-4% of baby-boomers actually took an active role in activism in the 1960’s

Inconsistent with accounts from former activists and studies

Conversion vs. Alternation

Conversion is the process of radical transformation in the lifestyle/ worldview of a person

Alternation is the developmental changes in personality/ lifestyle.

Degree of importance of activism the degree of conversion or alternation
Methodological problems with former studies of activism

Longitudinal studies insufficiently help understand the impact of activism vs period effects

Has sufficient time lapsed between iterations to identify enduring changes to attitude

Studies draw from narrow geographical region

Lack of before and after data on activists

Design:

330 participants- all applicants to the 1964 Freedom Summer Project

Two groups- Participants (212) and No-shows (118)

Attitude of individuals prior to Freedom Summer assessed using applications- participants and no-shows similar for many different variables.

Questioners sent out to determine change in attitudes with the treatment being the Freedom Summer experience.
Results:

Both groups showed high levels of political involvement prior to freedom summer

Results broken into short and long term categories

Short Term (political):

Freedom summer volunteers far more politically active than no-shows

Gap in activity between participants and no-shows increases after freedom summer

Individuals who maintain contact with other Freedom Summer volunteers have the highest levels of political activism

Long Term (political):

Participants remain more politically active than no-shows

Freedom Summer experience created conversion effect in individuals politically

Participation a predictor of long term political organizational affiliation, which is also related to current activism

Short term (personal):

Later full-time employment for participants

Choice of career and marital partners affected by activism more by participants

Married at the same rate between groups

Participants enrolled less in school during the 1960’s

Long term (personal):

Higher incomes by the no-shows- influenced by earlier entry into workforce

Lower income of participants influenced by seeking work in activism

Higher rates of divorce among participants

Conclusion

Freedom Summer had a long term impact on participants

Experienced conversion effect as opposed to alternation by no-shows

Lifelong effect as opposed to merely a short-term effect