Pamela E. Oliver
Professor of Sociology

Publications

(8/22 I’m in the process of updating these pages)

Link to papers I have posted on SocArXiv

Link to page with abstracts of all articles (has not been updated recently)

Link to page with unpublished working papers (older, newer working papers are posted on SocArXiv)

Black Movements in the United States

Oliver, Pamela. 2020. “Resisting repression: The Black Lives movement in context.” In Racialized Protest and the State: Resistance and Repression in a Divided America, edited by Hank Johnston and Pamela Oliver, 63-88. Oxford UK and New York NY: Routledge. Preprint available on SocArXiv

“Black Protests in the United States 1994-2010.” Sociological Science 9:10-47 (Pamela Oliver, Chaeyoon Lim, Morgan C. Matthews, Alex Hanna) 2022

“Introduction: Black Lives Matter in Context.” (Hank Johnston and Pamela Oliver) Mobilization: An International Quarterly 26(4):391-99. 2021. doi: 10.17813/1086-671x-26-4-391.

Protest Event Methods

Oliver, Pamela, Alex Hanna and Chaeyoon Lim. 2023. “Constructing Relational and Verifiable Protest Event Data: Four Challenges and Some Solutions.” Mobilization: An International Quarterly 28(1):1-22. doi: 10.17813/1086-671x-28-1-1.   Preprint available at https://osf.io/preprints/socarxiv/d89g7/

News Coverage of Protests & Demonstrations

  1. “How Events Enter the Public Sphere: Conflict, Location and Sponsorship in Local Newspaper Coverage of Public Events” (Pamela Oliver and Daniel J. Myers). American Journal of Sociology 105 (1 July) 1999. Pp 38-87. Abstract Article including better copies of figures
  2. “Political Processes and Local Newspaper Coverage of Protest Events: From Selection Bias to Triadic Interactions” (Pamela E. Oliver and Gregory M. Maney) American Journal of Sociology 106 (2 September) 2000: 463-505. Abstract Article
  3. “Finding Event Records: Timing, Searching, Sources.” (Gregory M. Maney and Pamela E. Oliver). Sociological Methods and Research 29 (November): 131-169. 2001. Abstract Article
  4. “Political Processes, Social Networks, and Local Newspaper Coverage of Public Events” Gregory M. Maney and Pamela E. Oliver. Paper presented
    at 2003 meeting of American Sociological Association, Atlanta, August
    17, 2003 Abstract Full Text

Critical Mass Theory and its precursors

  1. “Selective Incentives in an Apex Game: An Experiment in Coalition Formation.” (Pamela Oliver) Journal of Conflict Resolution, Volume 24, Number 1, pages 113-141. (1980) Abstract. Article.
  2. “Rewards and Punishments as Selective Incentives for Collective Action: Theoretical Investigations.” (Pamela Oliver) American Journal of Sociology, Volume 85, Number 6, pages 1356-1375. (1980) Abstract Article correction to proof in appendix
  3. “Rewards and Punishments as Selective Incentives: An Apex Game.” (Pamela Oliver) Journal of Conflict Resolution, Volume 28, Number 1, pages 123-148. (1984) Abstract Article
  4. “A Theory of the Critical Mass, I. Interdependence, Group Heterogeneity, and the Production of Collective Goods. ” (Pamela Oliver, Gerald Marwell, and Ruy Teixeira). American Journal of Sociology, Volume 91, Number 3, pages 522-556. (1985) Abstract Article
  5. “The Paradox of Group Size in Collective Action. A Theory of the Critical Mass. II.” (Pamela E. Oliver and Gerald Marwell). American Sociological Review, Volume 53, Number 1, pages 1-8. (1988) Abstract Article
  6. “Social Networks and Collective Action: A Theory of the Critical Mass. III.” (Gerald Marwell, Pamela E. Oliver, and Ralph Prahl). American Journal of Sociology Volume 94, Number 3, pages 502-534. (1988) (NOTE: This contains significant typographical errors which are corrected in an erratum published in Volume 94, Number 4, January 1989, pp. 519-522.) Abstract Copy of article with erratum incorporated.
  7. “A Theory of the Critical Mass, VI. Cliques and Collective Action.” (Gerald Marwell and Pamela Oliver). In Henrik Kreutz and Johann Bacher, eds. Disziplin und Kreativität. Sozialwissenschaftliche Computersimulation: theoretische Experimente und praktische Anwendung. Opladen: Leske + Budrich. 1991.
  8. Reach and Selectivity as Strategies of Recruitment for Collective Action: A Theory of the Critical Mass, V. Ralph Prahl, Gerald Marwell, and Pamela E. Oliver. Journal of Mathematical Sociology; 1991, 16, 2, 137-164. Abstract Article
  9. “Modelling the Second Order Problem is Not Easy: Comment on Heckathorn.” Rationality and Society 2: 188-122 (1990).
  10. The Critical Mass in Collective Action : A Micro-social Theory. Gerald Marwell and Pamela Oliver (1993). Cambridge; New York, Cambridge University Press. Google Books Cambridge University Press Summary and Table of Contents
  11. “Theory is Not a Social Dilemma.” (Gerald Marwell and Pamela Oliver). Social Psychology Quarterly 57 (December): 373. 1994. Abstract Article
  12. “Whatever Happened to Critical Mass Theory? A Retrospective and Assessment) (Pamela E. Oliver and Gerald Marwell) Sociological Theory 19:292-311. 2001. Abstract Article
  13. “Recent Developments in Critical Mass Theory.” (Pamela E. Oliver and Gerald Marwell). Pp. 172-193 in New Directions in Sociological Theory: Growth of Contemporary Theories, Morris Zelditch and Joseph Berger, editors. Lanham, Maryland: Rowman & Littlefield. 2002 Abstract

 Coevolution and other formal theories of collective action

  1. “Formal Models of Collective Action.” (Pamela E. Oliver) Annual Review of Sociology 19: 271-300. 1993. Abstract Article
  2. “Formal Models in the Study of Social Movements.” (Pamela E. Oliver and Daniel J. Myers) Methods of Research in Social Movements, Bert Klandermans and Suzanne Staggenborg, editors. University of Minnesota Press. 2002 Abstract Article
  3. “Networks, Diffusion, and Cycles of Collective Action.” (Pamela E. Oliver and Daniel J. Myers). Social Movement Analysis: The Network Perspective edited by Mario Diani and Doug McAdam. Oxford University Press. 2003 Abstract Article
  4. “The Coevolution of Social Movements.” (Pamela E. Oliver and Daniel J. Myers.) Mobilization 8: 1-25. 2003 Abstract Article
  5. Myers, Daniel J. and Pamela E. Oliver. 2008. “The Opposing Forces Diffusion Model: The Initiation and Repression of Collective Violence.” Dynamics of Asymmetric Conflict 1: 164-189. Preprint

Repression & Criminal Justice

  1. “Repression and Crime Control: Why Social Movements Scholars Should Pay Attention to Mass Incarceration as a Form of Repression” 2008. Mobilization: An International Quarterly 13: 1-2 Abstract Article
  2. “What the Numbers Say about How to Reduce Imprisonment: Offenses, Returns, Turnover.” Marquette Law Review 103(3): 1073-1127. 2020
  3. “Pacification and resistance in racialized states: A comparative view: (Hank Johnston and Pamela Oliver). Pages 1-25 in Hank Johnston and Pamela Oliver, eds., Racialized Resistance and the State: Protest and Repression in Trumpian America, 2020. Routledge. Preprint

Doing Public Sociology

  1. “Talking About Racial Disparities in Imprisonment: A Reflection on Experiences in Wisconsin” 2009. Pages 281-298 in Handbook of Public Sociology, edited by Vincent Jeffries. Rowman and Littlefield Have preprint: should update its label or copy. Abstract Article preprint
  2. “Data to Bring Justice: Addressing Disparities in the Criminal Justice System.” 2011. In Philip Nyden. Leslie Hossfelt, and Gwen Nyden (eds.) Public Sociology: Research Action and Change. Pine Forge Press. Abstract & Article preprint.
  3. “Engaged Academics as Activist Professionals: Privilege and Humility in Addressing Knowledge Divides”. 2019 Research in Social Movements, Conflict and Change. Vol 43, pages 213-232. Preprint

 Other Social Movements Theory & Research

  1. “The Mobilization of Paid and Volunteer Activists in the Neighborhood Movement.” (Pamela Oliver) Research in Social Movements, Conflict and Change, Volume 5, pages 133-170. (1983) Abstract Article
  2. “If You Don’t Do It, Nobody Else Will: Active and Token Contributors to Local Collective Action.” (Pamela Oliver) American Sociological Review, Volume 49, Number 5, pages 601-610. (1984) Reprinted in: Doug McAdam and David Snow. Social Movements: Readings on Their Emergence, Mobilization, and Dynamics. Roxbury Press. 1997. Abstract Article
  3. “Collective Action Theory and Social Movements Research.” (Gerald Marwell and Pamela Oliver). Research In Social Movements, Conflicts, and Change, Volume 7, pages 1 – 28. (1984) Abstract Article
  4. “Bringing the Crowd Back In: The Nonorganizational Elements of Social Movements.” (Pamela Oliver) Research in Social Movements, Conflicts, and Change Volume 14, pages 1-30. (1989) Abstract Article
  5. “Contradictions Between National and Local Organizational Strength: The Case of the John Birch Society.” (Pamela Oliver and Mark Furman). International Social Movements Research 2: 155-177. (1990) Abstract Article
  6. “Mobilizing Technologies For Collective Action.” (Pamela Oliver and Gerald Marwell) In Aldon Morris and Carol Mueller, editors, Frontiers of Social Movement Theory. New Haven: Yale University Press. 1992. Abstract Article
  7. “Social Movements and Collective Behavior: Social Psychological Dimensions and Considerations.” (David A. Snow and Pamela E. Oliver). In Karen Cook, Gary Fine, and James House, eds., Sociological Perspectives on Social Psychology. Allyn and Bacon. 1994. Abstract & Copy of book chapter.
  8. “From Local to Global: The Anti-Dam Movement in Southern Brazil, 1979-1992.” (Franklin D. Rothman and Pamela Oliver). Mobilization: An International Journal 4 (1 April) 1999. Pp. 41-57. Reprinted in Jackie Smith and Hank Johnston, Editors. Globalization and Resistance: Transnational Dimensions of Social Movements: Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield. Abstract Article
  9. “What a Good Idea: Frames and Ideologies in Social Movements Research.” (Pamela E. Oliver and Hank Johnston) Mobilization: An International Journal 5 (1 April) 2000: 37-54. Abstract Article (also see Snow & Benford’s reply and our rejoinder)
  10. “Emerging Trends in the Study of Social Movements and Collective Behavior.” 2003. Pamela E. Oliver, Jorge Cadena-Roa, Kelley D. Strawn. Political Sociology for the 21st Century. Research in Political Sociology, Vol. 12, pp. 213-244. Betty A. Dobratz, Lisa K. Waldner, Timothy Buzzell, eds. Stanford, CT: JAI Press, Inc. Abstract Article
  11. “Ethnicity, Repression, and Fields of Action in Movement Mobilization,” 2013 in Jacquelien van Stekelenburg, Conny Roggeband, and Bert Klandermans, eds., The Changing Dynamics of Contention. University of Minnesota Press. 2013 Preprint of book chapter
  12. Pamela Oliver. “Rational Action.”  2016. In Donatella Della Porta and Mario Diani, eds., The Oxford Handbook of Social Movements. It argues that the impact of rational action theory was to emphasize the role of organization and networks in collective action, contra critics who associate rational action theory with isolated individualism.  Oliver_Rational Action_OxfordHandbook_1sp_preprint
  13. “Social Movements: White Responses to Racist and Anti-Racist Movements.” Pp. 189-212 in Impacts of Racism on White Americans in the Age of Trump, edited by D. W. Austin and B. P. Bowser. Cham: Springer International Publishing. 2021

Other

  1. “Sex, Race, and Class Bias in Census Bureau Reporting of Occupations: A Preliminary Assessment.” (Pamela Oliver) Review of Public Data Use, Volume 2, Number 3, pages 10-13. (1974) Abstract Article
  2. “Comparisons Between White and Minority Neighborhood Activists.” Social Policy, Volume 11, Number 4, pages 35-6. (1981) Abstract
  3. “Gender and the Construction of Consent in Child Sexual Abuse: Beyond The Male Monopoly and Gender Neutrality.” (Andrea Nelson and Pamela Oliver). Gender and Society 12 (October): 554-577. 1998. Abstract