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This book examines anti-corporate activism in the United States, including analysis of anti-corporate challenges associated with social movements as diverse as the Civil Rights Movement and the Dolphin-Safe Tuna Movement. Using a unique dataset of protest events in the United States, the book shows that anti-corporate activism is primarily about corporate policies, products, and negligence. Although activists have always been distrustful of corporations and sought to change them, until the 1970s and 1980s, this was primarily accomplished via seeking government regulation of corporations or via organized labor. Sarah A. Soule traces the shift brought about by deregulation and the decline in organized labor, which prompted activists to target corporations directly, often in combination with targeting the state. Using the literatures on contentious and private politics, which are both essential for understanding anti-corporate activism, the book provides a nuanced understanding of the changing focal points of activism directed at corporations.
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Contention and Corporate Social Responsibility This book examines anticorporate activism in the United States and includes analysis of anticorporate challenges associated with social movements as diverse as the Civil Rights Movement and the Dolphin-Safe Tuna Movement. Using a unique dataset of protest events in the United States, the book shows that anticorporate activism is primarily about corporate policies, products, and negligence. Although activists have always been distrustful of corporations and have sought to change them, until the 1970s and 1980s, this was primarily accomplished by seeking government regulation of corporations or through organized labor. Sarah A. Soule traces the shift brought about by deregulation and the decline in organized labor, which prompted activists to target corporations directly, often in combination with targeting the state. Using the literatures on contentious and private politics, which are both essential for understanding anticorporate activism, the book provides a nuanced understanding of the changing focal points of activism directed at corporations. Sarah A. Soule is the Morgridge Professor of Organizational Behavior at the Stanford Graduate School of Business. She received her BA from the University of Vermont in 1989, her MA from Cornell University in 1991, and her PhD from Cornell University in 1995. Before joining the faculty at Stanford, she was a faculty member at the University of Arizona and Cornell University. Her most recent articles have appeared in the American Journal of Sociology, Administrative Science Quarterly, American Sociological Review, Annual Review of Sociology, Social Forces, and Mobilization. She has recently completed another book (with David Snow) entitled A Primer on Social Movements and was a coeditor of The Blackwell Companion to Social Movements.
Cambridge Studies in Contentious Politics Editors Mark Beissinger, Princeton University Jack A. Goldstone, George Mason University Michael Hanagan, Vassar College Doug McAdam, Stanford University and Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences Suzanne Staggenborg, University of Pittsburgh Sidney Tarrow, Cornell University Elisabeth J. Wood, Yale University Deborah Yashar, Princeton University Ronald Aminzade et al., Silence and Voice in the Study of Contentious Politics Javier Auyero, Routine Politics and Violence in Argentina: The Gray Zone of State Power Clifford Bob, The Marketing of Rebellion: Insurgents, Media, and International Activism Charles Brockett, Political Movements and Violence in Central America Gerald F. Davis, Doug McAdam, W. Richard Scott, and Mayer N. Zald, Social Movements and Organization Theory Jack A. Goldstone, editor, States, Parties, and Social Movements Doug McAdam, Sidney Ta