Culturally constrained contention: Mapping the meaning structure of the repertoire of contention

Abstract

While social network analysis (SNA) has traditionally been used to study actor networks, it can also reveal "meaning structures" (Mohr 1998), the relationships connecting cultural elements such as ideas and practices. We argue that the repertoire of contention represents a meaning structure, analyzable using SNA of tactical co-deployments at protests. We use data from over 7,000 protest events in New York State from 1960 to 1995. Our analyses suggest that co-deployed tactics are not chosen independently or combined randomly but rather cluster into sets with distinct roles. These roles reveal cultural affinities among the tactics and are largely stable over time, although some variation related to the protest cycle and tactical form can be detected. We also examine the position of a specific theoretical category of tactics, radical tactics, within the larger tactical repertoire.