The Impact of Rights-Related Protest on the Legislative Agenda
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University of Tennessee, Knoxville TRACE: Tennessee Research and Creative Exchange Doctoral Dissertations Graduate School 12-2018 Does Protest Matter? The Impact of Rights-Related Protest on the Legislative Agenda Alexandra Tieke Brewer University of Tennessee, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://trace.tennessee.edu/utk_graddiss Recommended Citation Brewer, Alexandra Tieke, "Does Protest Matter? The Impact of Rights-Related Protest on the Legislative Agenda. " PhD diss., University of Tennessee, 2018. https://trace.tennessee.edu/utk_graddiss/5296 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Graduate School at TRACE: Tennessee Research and Creative Exchange. It has been accepted for inclusion in Doctoral Dissertations by an authorized administrator of TRACE: Tennessee Research and Creative Exchange. For more information, please contact [email protected]. To the Graduate Council: I am submitting herewith a dissertation written by Alexandra Tieke Brewer entitled "Does Protest Matter? The Impact of Rights-Related Protest on the Legislative Agenda." I have examined the final electronic copy of this dissertation for form and content and recommend that it be accepted in partial fulfillment of the equirr ements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy, with a major in Political Science. John M. Scheb, Major Professor We have read this dissertation and recommend its acceptance: Michael R. Fitzgerald, John W. Haas, David J. Houston, Anthony J. Nownes Accepted for the Council: Dixie L. Thompson Vice Provost and Dean of the Graduate School (Original signatures are on file with official studentecor r ds.) Does Protest Matter? The Impact of Rights-Related Protest on the Legislative Agenda A Dissertation Presented for the Doctor of Philosophy Degree The University of Tennessee, Knoxville Alexandra Tieke Brewer December 2018 ABSTRACT I will address two research questions: (1) Do rights-related protest events affect the congressional agenda? (2) Does political party condition the relationship between rights-related protest events and the congressional agenda? To examine these questions, I will use a cross- cutting approach by distinguishing between two forms of protest – institutional and extra- institutional forms – to see if disruptive tactics had a greater impact on agenda-setting in the context of rights-related issues from 1960 until 1995. I found that extra-institutional protests related to LGBT rights as well as rights to free speech and religion had a significant impact on related congressional hearings. In addition, institutional protest was highly significant in the case of free speech and religion. However, the empirical findings provide little support for the hypothesis that hearings on rights-related issues will increase when Democrats are in control of Congress and the Presidency. ii TABLE OF CONTENTS INTRODUCTION ......................................................................................................................... 1 CHAPTER ONE RIGHTS-RELATED MOVEMENTS IN THE UNITED STATES .......... 5 The Emergence of Civil Rights for African-Americans ...................................................................... 5 Civil Rights for African-Americans 1996 – Present .......................................................................... 20 The Emergence of Rights for Women ................................................................................................. 25 Women’s Rights 1960 – 1995 ............................................................................................................... 30 Women’s Rights 1996 – Present .......................................................................................................... 36 The Emergence of Rights for the Aged ............................................................................................... 54 Rights for the Aged 1960 – 1995 .......................................................................................................... 58 Rights for the Aged 1996 – Present ..................................................................................................... 62 The Emergence of LGBT Rights ......................................................................................................... 64 LGBT Rights 1960 – 1995 .................................................................................................................... 66 LGBT Rights 1996 – Present ............................................................................................................... 70 The Emergence of Rights to Free Speech and Religion .................................................................... 72 Rights to Freedom of Speech and Religion 1960 – 1995 ................................................................... 78 Rights to Freedom of Speech and Religion 1996 – Present ............................................................... 82 CHAPTER TWO LITERATURE REVIEW .......................................................................... 86 Social Movement Theory: Political Outcomes ............................................................................................... 87 Social Movement Theory: Political Opportunity Structures ........................................................................ 90 Agenda-setting Theory ......................................................................................................................... 98 Agenda-setting Theory: Problem Definition ................................................................................................ 101 Links to Social Movement Theory .................................................................................................... 104 Social Identity Theory ........................................................................................................................ 106 Framing Theory .................................................................................................................................. 109 The Importance of Political Environment ........................................................................................ 111 Implications for Theories of Democratic Responsiveness ............................................................... 113 CHAPTER THREE HYPOTHESES AND METHODOLOGY ......................................... 116 The Dependent Variable .................................................................................................................... 118 The Independent Variables ................................................................................................................ 120 Congressional and Presidential Political Characteristics ............................................................... 122 Policy Mood ......................................................................................................................................... 123 Describing the Data ............................................................................................................................ 125 Estimation Technique ......................................................................................................................... 134 CHAPTER FOUR RESULTS AND DISCUSSION ............................................................. 136 iii African-American Rights ................................................................................................................... 136 Women’s Rights .................................................................................................................................. 138 Rights of the Aged ............................................................................................................................... 141 LGBT Rights ....................................................................................................................................... 143 Rights to Freedom Speech and Religion ........................................................................................... 145 Discussion ............................................................................................................................................ 147 CONCLUSION AND FUTURE DIRECTIONS .................................................................... 150 REFERENCES .......................................................................................................................... 156 VITA ........................................................................................................................................... 176 iv LIST OF TABLES Table 3.1: Hearing Issues and Subtopic Codes ........................................................................... 119 Table 4.1: Negative Binomial Model of Number of Congressional Hearings Related to Rights of African-Americans ...................................................................................................................... 138 Table 4.2: Negative Binomial Model of Number of Congressional Hearings Related to Women's Rights .......................................................................................................................................... 140 Table 4.3: Negative Binomial Model of Number of Congressional Hearings Related to Disability Rights .......................................................................................................................................... 141 Table 4.4: Negative Binomial Model of Number of Congressional