The Making of Pro-life Activists: How Social Movement Mobilization Works

by Ziad W. Munson

How do people become activists for causes they care deeply about? Many people with similar backgrounds, for instance, fervently believe that abortion should be illegal, but only some of them join the pro-life movement. By delving into the lives and beliefs of activists and nonactivists alike, Ziad W. Munson is able to lucidly examine the differences between them.

Through extensive interviews and detailed studies of pro-life organizations across the nation, Munson makes the startling discovery that many activists join up before they develop strong beliefs about abortion—in fact, some are even pro-choice prior to their mobilization. Therefore, Munson concludes, commitment to an issue is often a consequence rather than a cause of activism.

The Making of Pro-life Activists provides a compelling new model of how people become activists while also offering a penetrating analysis of the complex relationship between religion, politics, and the pro-life movement. Policy makers, activists on both sides of the issue, and anyone seeking to understand how social movements take shape will find this book essential.

Genres: Read For College

233 pages, Paperback

First published February 1, 2009

Reviews

[Rachel Ramirez]

Really excellent processual account of mobilization in social movements, emphasizing the finding that activists' beliefs develop through their participation in the movement, not usually beforehand. My critique of the book is the same as of many other social movements research - it misses the importance of relationships. Organizers are invisible in this book as usual.

[Diane · Rating 3 out of 5]

Based primarily on interviews that the author conducted with activists in the pro-life movement, this book seeks to explain mobilization in the movement. On the positive side, the author demolishes many of the stereotypes associated with pro-lifers, and brings to the reader's attention the great diversity in the movement. Unfortunately, the book reads like a dissertation, with far too much time devoted to a literature review, rather than focusing on the author's own conclusions. Furthermore, the author makes similar assertions over and over again, giving the book a slow pace.

[Christa · Rating 4 out of 5]

assigned reading for a class...

[Micah · Rating 5 out of 5]

Many people may care about an issue, but only a few get involved. Why is that? Ziad Munson, in his excellent book The Making of Pro-Life Activists: How Social Movement Mobilization Works, makes the following argument. People get involved in a movement when three things happen. First, they have to experience a direct, personal contact, through their social networks, to a movement organization. Second, they need to be at a moment in their lives where they are open to a personal change. This is what sociologist Douglas McAdam called “biographical availability.” And third, they have to actually participate in some form of initial activism—a rally, protest, meeting, counseling session or the like—which they enjoy and decide to continue doing.

Two things thus constrain who will get involved. First, the availability of sites of mobilization. These are often social settings like churches or other regular gathering places where a friend or acquaintance may invite you to participate in something political. If you live in an activist desert, those contacts won’t happen. This is one reason I constantly harp on our need for more places where progressives may serendipitously collide and rub shoulders with non-activists, and why the presence of thousands of local gun clubs, Bible study groups and home-schooling circles are such a boon to right-wing movements. The second factor affecting who may get involved is whether they are at a stage in life where they may be open to or need to find new connections. Being at a transition moment in life, like starting college, losing one’s job, having a first child, or retiring, is often when people are most open to getting involved in a movement. Munson interviewed dozens of pro-life activists alongside people with similar philosophical leanings who were not activists, and his key finding is that non-activists were neither invited into movement gatherings nor at a stage in life where they might have been responsive.

There are a lot of useful lessons here, which I got into in some detail in my newsletter: https://theconnector.substack.com/p/w...

[Helena]

spennande lesing, men noko tørt av og til

[Jack Stephens · Rating 4 out of 5]

Munson uses micro-sociological analysis to see why certain people get into the Pro-Life movement and why they continue to stay and do activist work within the movement and why they do work, and stay in, current pro-life streams (such as doing activist legal work, direct action work, one-on-one clinical outreach, etc.). Munson argues that for anti-abortion activists (and activists in general) do not have fully fleshed out ideas on anti-abortion stances but develop them overtime and that their activist work within the movement further solidifies their world view.

[Maggie Mayhem · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great ethnography of pro-life activists.

[Doug Della pietra · Rating 5 out of 5]

I think the book is absolutely remarkable! Munson’s surprise findings about how activists become activists is fascinating!

Munson’s discovery that people’s initial beliefs about abortion have less to do about whether they become a pro-life activist than have personalized contact with someone within the pro-life movement at a turning point in their life is eye-opening and important for all who wish to understand how movement mobilization can and does occur.

The book was a very easy read; a mix of story-telling based on his interviews and his findings supported but or diverging from previous research made the book difficult to put down.

Well done Professor Munson! Thank you for your contribution! I am appreciative and inspired!