Environmental Activism in the Protest Generation

Recent examinations of social movements have cited the environmental movement as an important outgrowth of the activism that characterized the 1960s. This article examines the similarities and differences in the socialization of activists who participated in two sets of 1960s-era movements: the antiwar, student, and civil rights protesters; and community environmental movements. Using multinomial logistic regression on data from the Youth-Parent Socialization Panel Study (1965-1973), the study found that social class, social-psychological orientation, and religious socialization are important predictors of participation in both movements. It was also found that efficacy, religious affiliation, race, and region significantly distinguish environmental activists from other protesters.