University of New Mexico UNM Digital Repository Sociology ETDs Electronic Theses and Dissertations Spring 5-10-2017 Mobilization and Repression in the Occupy Movement Eric Turner Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalrepository.unm.edu/soc_etds Part of the Sociology Commons Recommended Citation Turner, Eric. "Mobilization and Repression in the Occupy Movement." (2017). https://digitalrepository.unm.edu/soc_etds/70 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Electronic Theses and Dissertations at UNM Digital Repository. It has been accepted for inclusion in Sociology ETDs by an authorized administrator of UNM Digital Repository. For more information, please contact [email protected]. i Eric Turner Candidate Sociology Department This dissertation is approved, and it is acceptable in quality and form for publication: Approved by the Dissertation Committee: Sharon Nepstad , Chairperson Wayne Santoro Christopher Lyons Michael Rocca ii MOBILIZATION AND REPRESSION IN THE OCCUPY MOVEMENT by Name: ERIC TURNER BA MA GDL DISSERTATION Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of PhD in Sociology The University of New Mexico Albuquerque, New Mexico July 2017 iii DEDICATION PAGE This research project is dedicated to my loving wife, Tara Carey. Without her, I would have not have had the dedication and consistency to carry out this project to its completion. Thanks for all the help, Tara, your work inspires me to do my part to make this world a better place and your input and encouragement in the last few years have been priceless. iv ACKNOWLEDGMENT PAGE This project would have also not been possible without the support from my fami- ly. I would especially like to thank my mother, Franca; my stepmother, Maria and my stepfather, Brunello, for all of these years of encouragement, feedback and financial sup- port. I also want to spend a thought for my late father, Martin, who up until his last days supported my pursuit of my PhD. Thanks also to my siblings, Katherine and Giulio. Next, I would like to thank my dissertation committee members Sharon Nepstad, Wayne Santoro and Christopher Lyons for the years of encouragement, feedback and support which you have dedicated to me and to my dissertation. Thanks also to Michael Rocca who very gracefully agreed at the last minute to join the committee. I am also grateful to Maria Velez and Jack Thomas for providing additional departmental expertise for this project. I would also like to thank my colleagues in the sociology department for providing much support and encouragement throughout this process, in particular Max Fitzpatrick, Marian Azab, Jon Williams, Jimmy Valdez and Estela Vasquez. I especially want to acknowledge the late Mate Pleic, who was an inspiring presence during my first years of graduate school and whose presence is still greatly missed by many students in the Sociology department. Lastly, I would like to thank my many friends in the Bay Area, New Mexico, Boston, the United Kingdom, Denmark and Italy for all of the support and stress relief that you provided throughout these long years. v Title: Mobilization and Repression in the Occupy Movement Name: Eric Turner Previously Earned Degrees: Bachelor of Arts (University of Essex, 2006), Master of Arts (University of York, 2007), Graduate Diploma in Law (University of East London, 2009) Degree to be Awarded: Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) ABSTRACT This dissertation project focuses on dynamics of mobilization and repression in the Oc- cupy movement. This movement emerged in late 2011 in the United States and sought to protest the growing economic inequality and the growing influence of corporations in politics. This project focuses on Occupy chapters which emerged in 74 out of the 100 largest cities in the United States. The first empirical chapter of this project focuses on dynamics which affect differences in protest size, measured in terms of protest turnouts relative to population. This chapter first demonstrates the importance of large student populations and greater numbers of universities in making large turnouts more likely, then focuses on accounting for the aspects of student populations and colleges which play a role in affecting protest size. The findings show that larger protests are more likely in cities with smaller, more liberal colleges, but also with low academic rankings, with insti- tutional support from Chicano Studies and with proportions of economically disadvan- taged students. The second part of the dissertation focuses on duration. In particular, this chapter seeks to explain the causes behind relative levels of duration of Occupy protest encampments. The findings show that protest size has an inverse relationship with protest duration: therefore, smaller movements are more likely to last. The findings also show that Occupy chapters can last longer by retaining key logistic resources as well as avoid- ing elected leader criticism in the media. The third and final empirical chapter of this dis- vi sertation focuses on the role of the media in making violent repression more likely. This chapter first analyzes the role of different types of threat (including protest turnouts and protester violence and property damage) in making overall, positive and negative media coverage more or less likely. The findings show that all types of threat have a positive effect on positive and negative coverage but only turnout has a significant (and positive) effect on media praise. The second part of the analysis shows that only media criticism makes repression more likely, whereas overall media coverage and media praise have no effect. vii TABLE OF CONTENTS List of Figures ............................................................................................................ix List of Tables .............................................................................................................x Chapter 1: Introduction ..........................................................................................1 1.1: Overview of the Occupy Movement ...................................................................2 1.2: Overview of the Three Key Research Questions ................................................11 1.3: Data Sources .......................................................................................................20 1.4: Road Map to the Dissertation Project .................................................................28 Chapter 2: The Enduring Role of Students in Explaining Protest Size ..............30 2.1: Theorizing Movement Size .................................................................................31 2.2: Data and Methods ...............................................................................................46 2.3: Analysis ..............................................................................................................69 2.4: Discussion ...........................................................................................................90 Chapter 3; The Role of Size in Movement Campaign Duration .........................96 3.1: Theorizing Movement Campaign Duration ........................................................97 3.2: Data and Methods ...............................................................................................106 3.3: Analysis ..............................................................................................................115 3.4 Discussion ............................................................................................................133 Chapter 4: Repression and the Role of Media Criticism .....................................137 4.1: Theory and Hypotheses ......................................................................................138 4.2: Data and Methods ...............................................................................................152 4.3: Analysis ..............................................................................................................161 4.4: Discussion ...........................................................................................................172 viii TABLE OF CONTENTS (continued) Chapter 5: Conclusion .............................................................................................177 5.1: Summary of Findings..........................................................................................178 5.2: Limitations and Implications for Future Research .............................................187 5.3: Lessons for and from the Occupy Movement .....................................................191 Chapter 6: Appendix ...............................................................................................197 6.1: Bibliography .......................................................................................................198 ix LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1 ......................................................................................................................161 Figure 2 ......................................................................................................................162 x LIST OF TABLES Table 1 .......................................................................................................................6 Table 2 .......................................................................................................................8 Table 3 .......................................................................................................................23