A THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK FOR COMPARISONS OF SOCIAL-MOVEMENT PARTICIPATION

This article attempts to draft a framework for the comparison of movem ent participation. The standards of comparison I developed at the move ment level were the magnitude of mobilization potentials, the composit ion of multi-organizational fields, organizational characteristics, an d action orientation. Utilizing this framework; I compared mobilizatio n campaigns for three different types of activities conducted by three different movements: a campaign conducted by a labor union for, possi bly, a strike, a campaign of the Dutch peace movement in a local commu nity for a national demonstration, and campaigns by women's groups in a community for a variety of activities. I explain differences in moti vational dynamics and levels of participation in terms of differing mo vement characteristics. Finally, I discuss the advantages of comparati ve work on social movements.