Grievances and Participation in Social Movements

This paper addresses three questions regarding the dynamics of grievances: (1) What is the causal order of grievances and social movement participation (SMP)? (2) To what extent does the intensity of grievances before a critical incident, such as the reactor accident at Chernobyl, affect the extent of SMP after the incident? (3) Is the intensity of grievances related to the kind of SMP adopted? To answer these questions, 121 opponents of nuclear energy were interviewed in 1982 and 1987. The data indicate that grievances have a causal effect on SMP, but not a direct cross-lagged effect on protest. There was also a shock effect: the grievances of respondents with low dissatisfaction before Chernobyl increased more than those of respondents with high dissatisfaction. An aggression effect, i.e., high discontent leading primarily to violent or illegal SMP, was not ascertained. Protesters generally chose those actions they considered most efficacious for reaching the goals of the movement.