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Defining A Social Problem: A Sociohistorical Analysis Of The Antinuclear Weapons Movement, Frances B. Mccrea

Dissertations

This dissertation is a sociohistorical analysis of the anti-nuclear weapons movement in the United States. This work conceptualizes social movements in advanced industrial societies by synthesizing certain aspects of social constructionism, resource mobilization and new class theory. The synthesis argues that progressive social movements are a form of class conflict in which members of the new class challenge the old elite for the control of cultural capital. Such movements are created, in part, by issue entrepreneurs, many of whom are intellectuals. The success or failure of any social movement organization is dependent on its own tactics and strategies, as well …