Pamela Oliver
Sociology Dept.
1180 Observatory Dr. Madison, Wisconsin
53706-1393
608-262-6829

Professor Pamela Oliver

Department of Sociology

My recent work has focused on racial disparities in imprisonment, which you can see in the "racial disparities" section of this web site.

The PowerPoint slides for my talk "The Ethnic Dimensions: Bringing ethnic divisions & conflict to the center of social movement theory" given at Notre Dame on May 5, 2012 on the occasion of my receiving the John D. McCarthy Award for lifetime achivement in social movements. Here is a PDF of the slides. This is a text write up of the talk.

My paper, "Repression and Crime Control: Why Social Movements Scholars Should Pay Attention to Mass Incarceration as a Form of Repression," a revision of the paper I presented at the Social Movements Workshop August 9, 2007, explains the link between these two lines of work. Reprint.

My paper "Talking About Racial Disparities in Imprisonment," presented at the meeting of the International Sociological Association in Durban, South Africa on July 24, 2006, is in revision for publication in Handbook of Public Sociology, edited by Vincent Jeffries. It discusses my experiences in doing public sociology.

My recent work on research on protests and social movements falls into two somewhat-overlapping projects : (1) empirical studies of the interrelations of protests, news coverage, and political processes and (2) development of formal models of the coevolution of social movements and cycles of protest. Note: work on these projects summarized on this page was supported in part by NSFgrants #SBR9819884, SBR 96-01409 and SBR 95-11748. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation.

Diffusion and Coevolution Models of Protest 

This project involves reframing social movements as coevolving systems of protest, politics, and news coverage.  Papers and models are in process.

Papers on Coevolution Models

• Pamela E. Oliver & Daniel J. Myers. "The Coevolution of Social Movements" Mobilization 8: 1-25. 2003. Abstract and PDF copy full text
• Pamela E. Oliver & Daniel J. Myers "Networks, Diffusion, and Cycles of Collective Action" and its Figures forthcoming in Social Movement Analysis: The Network Perspective edited by Mario Diani and Doug McAdam. Oxford University Press. This paper distinguishes among communication, influence, and joint action and uses formal models to demonstrate how these different types of network effects can influence the outcomes of collective action. This work is referred to in the other two papers
  • copy of article
  • Stella (simulation program) models used in developing the network paper
• Daniel J. Myers and Pamela E. Oliver. "The Opposing Forces Diffusion Model: The Initiation and Repression of Collective Violence." Dynamics of Asymmetric Conflict 1 (2, July): 164-189. 2008. Abstract Full Text Preprint
• Pamela E. Oliver and Daniel J. Myers. "Formal Models in Studying Collective Action and Social Movements" Methods of Research in Social Movements, Bert Klandermans and Suzanne Staggenborg, editors. University of Minnesota Press. 2002. This pedagogically-oriented chapter gives examples of formal modeling in the study of collective action and discusses principals for designing and evaluating modeling projects.
• An older literature review which sets up this project: Pamela Oliver. "Formal Models of Collective Action." Annual Review of Sociology Vol. 19. (1993), pp. 271-300. Abstract
• An older theoretical paper on these issues: Pamela Oliver. "Bringing the Crowd Back In: The NonOrganizational Elements of Social Movements." Research in Social Movements, Confict and Change 11: 1-30. 1989. Abstract
• Simulations: Links and Software

Critical Mass Theory

My older work on selective incentives and my work with Gerald Marwell on the Critical Mass shows how the problem of collective action cannot be reduced to a problem of individual decision-making but requires a theory of group structure and group coordination and must take account of group heterogeneity. This work is summarized in the collection of abstracts. Critical Mass Theory Abstracts

The Content and Timing of Media Coverage of Message Events: Cycles and Comparisons

For this project, we have collected data on public events (including protests) from multiple police agencies in Madison, Wisconsin, and searched local newspaper archives to determine which received news coverage.   Current work focuses on determining whether protest affects media coverage of issues.

Publications and Papers:

• "How Events Enter the Public Sphere: Conflict, Location, and Sponsorship in Local Newspaper Coverage of Public Events" (Pamela E. Oliver and Daniel J. Myers).  American Journal of Sociology, July 1999.  Abstract.  copy of published paper with more legible versions of the graphics) 
• "Political Cycles and Local Newspaper Coverage of Protest Events: From Selection Bias to Triadic Interactions" (Pamela E. Oliver and Gregory M. Maney).  American Journal of Sociology, September 2000. Abstract   PDF copy of published paper
• "Finding Event Records: Timing, Searching, Sources." (Gregory M. Maney and Pamela E. Oliver). Sociological Methods and Research, 2001. vol. 30, no. 2, pp. 131-169(39) Abstract Full Text
• "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
• Code Book for Content Analysis of News Stories about Protests

Other Research and Writing About Protest & Social Movements

• "Emerging Trends in the Study of Protest and Social Movements." Pamela E. Oliver, Jorge Cadena-Roa, Kelley D. Strawn. Research in Political Sociology, Vol. 11. Betty A. Dobratz, Timothy Buzzell, Lisa K. Waldner, eds. Stanford, CT: JAI Press, Inc. Abstract and
• Article Copy
• Oliver and Johnston.  "What a Good Idea: Frames and Ideology in Social Movement Research," Mobilization, Vol. 5, pp. 37-54, April 2000; Snow & Benford's Response;pp. 55-60.   Our Rejoinder. pp. 61-64. Citation: "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, pp. 37-54.
• Rothman and Oliver.  "From Local to Global"  Anti-Dam Movement in Brazil.    Mobilization,  Vol. 4, pp. 41-57, April 1999.
• "Bringing the Crowd Back In: The Nonorganizational Elements of Social Movements. Pamela E. Oliver. Research in Social Movements, Conflicts and Change; 1989, 11, 1-30. AbstractArticle copy
• "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 Copy
• "Social Movements and Collective Behavior: Social Psychological Dimensions and Considerations." David A. Snow and Pamela E. Oliver. Pp. 571-599 (Chapter 22) in Karen S. Cook, Gary A. Fine and James S. House, editors, Sociological Perspectives on Social Psychology. 1995. Allyn and Bacon.

Protest Research Links

This is a collection of links to organizations that study protest and to collections of information about protest.

• Collective Behavior and Social Movements Section of the American Sociological Association 
• Political Sociology section web site
• Mobilization  An international journal in social movements research. Sponsored by the American Sociological Association's section on Collective Behavior and Social Movements and the International Sociological Association's section on Social Movements.
• Workshop on Transnational Contention, headed by Sid Tarrow at Cornell. Web page includes links to bibliographies and other resources.
• Center for International Development and Conflict Management  at U. Maryland College Park  This center has a variety of research projects on protest and conflict in the US and around the world, including some downloadable data sets.
• Christian Davenport's Radical Information Project
• Minorities at Risk Project Follows minorities around the world.
• Center for Systemic Peace collects information on ethnic and other conflicts around the world.
• Fiscal Austerity and Urban Innovation Project is a consortium of researchers who have collected data on a large number of municipalities in 38 countries, including 1400 in the US. A large amount of data is available for secondary analysis. Many FAUI surveys include data on social movements, which have been pooled into a common file. The project sponsors conferences and newsletters. Web site lists publications from the project. To access data, you need to contact Terry N. Clark directly to sign human subjects protection forms.
• COMM-ORG an on-line community organizing and development site with a lot of resources.
• CBSM 2002 Workshop at Notre Dame August 14-15, 2002
• About.com sociology, CBSM
• Social Change site hosted by Gene Shackman
• Discussions by sociologists of the WTC attacks
• Web page of Sam Bowles, economist working on coevolution of preferences and institutions, part of Santa Fe Institute.
• Suggested films for teaching social movements
• List of recommended books on community organizing and related topics from Justpeace.org, a Catholic social justice site. (links to Amazon.com)

PROTEST ORGANIZING LINKS An incomplete and ad hoc list of protest mobilizing sites.