Abstract
Using an innovative protest survey of protest participants and nonparticipants from two major student demonstrations in Mexico City, I test the assumption that protest participation triggers vary across protest events even for similar demonstrating groups. Building on previous research, I compare the motivations, dynamics of mobilization, and political attitudes of students taking part in a ritual demonstration (the annual commemoration of the 1968 students’ movement) and one reactive protest (a march organized by the #YoSoy132 movement in response to Enrique Peña Nieto’s presidential campaign). The results suggest that the level of students’ political interest is more influential in their decision to take part in a reactive demonstration, while for a ritual demonstration, the decision to participate tends to be driven more by their collective identity as students. These findings add to the growing literature on contextualized contestation and debunking the myth of the protestor, in this particular case of the protesting student.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
Blocq, D., Klandermans, B., & van Stekelenburg, J. (2012). Political embeddedness and the management of emotions. Mobilization, 17(3), 319–334.
Collins, R. (2001). Social movements and the focus of emotional attention. In J. Goodwin, J. M. Jasper, & F. Polletta (Eds.), Passionate politics (pp. 27–44). Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Collins, R. (2004). Interaction ritual chains. Princeton University Press.
Della Porta, D., Reiter, H., Andretta, M., Milan, S., & Rossi, F. (2012). Desperately seeking politics: Political attitudes of participants in three demonstrations for workers’ rights in Italy. Mobilization, 17(3), 349–361.
Dixon, M., & Roscigno, J. V. (2003). Status, networks, and social movement participation: The case of striking workers. American Journal of Sociology, 108, 1292–1327.
Dodson, K. (2011). The movement society in comparative perspective. Mobilization, 16(4), 475–494.
Ebert, K., & Okamoto, D. G. (2013). Social citizenship, integration, and collective action: Immigrant civic engagement in the U.S. Social Forces, 91(4), 1267–1292.
Holzner, C. A. (2007). Poverty of democracy: Neoliberal reforms and political participation of the poor in Mexico. Latin American Politics and Society, 49(2), 87–122.
Inclán, M. (2019). Mexican movers and shakers: Protest mobilization and political attitudes in Mexico City. Latin American Politics and Society, 61(1), 78–100.
Inclán, M., & Almeida, P. D. (2017). Ritual demonstrations versus reactive protests: Participation across mobilizing contexts in Mexico City. Latin American Politics and Society, 59(4), 47–74.
Johnston, H. (2009). Cultural analysis and contentious politics. In H. Johnston (Ed.), Culture, social movements, and protest (pp. 3–29). Farnham: Ashgate.
Kitts, J. (2000). Mobilizing in black boxes: Social networks and participation in social movement organizations. Mobilization, 5(2), 241–257.
Klandermans, B. (2012). Between rituals and riots: The dynamics of street demonstrations. Mobilization, 17(3), 233–234.
Klandermans, B., van der Toorn, J., & van Stekelenburg, J. (2008). Embeddedness and identity: How immigrants turn grievances into action. American Sociological Review, 73(6), 992–1012.
Klandermans, B., van Stekelenburg, J., Damen, M. L., van Troost, D., & van Leeuwen, A. (2014). Mobilization without organization: The case of unaffiliated demonstrators. European Sociological Review, 30(6), 702–716.
Klesner, J. L. (2009). Who participates? Determinants of political action in Mexico. Latin American Politics and Society, 51(2), 59–90.
Krinsky, J., & Crossley, N. (2014). Social movements and social networks: Introduction. Social Movement Studies, 13(1), 1–21.
Lee, F. (2010). The perceptual bases of collective efficacy and protest participation: The case of pro-democracy protests in Hong Kong. International Journal of Public Opinion Research, 22(3), 392–411.
Lim, C. (2008). Social networks and political participation: How do networks matter? Social Forces, 87(2), 961–982.
Marien, S., Hooghe, M., & Quintelier, E. (2010). Inequalities in Non-institutionalised forms of political participation: A multi-level analysis of 25 countries. Political Studies, 58, 187–213.
McAdam, D., & Paulsen, R. (1993). Specifying the relationship between social ties and activism. American Journal of Sociology, 99(3), 640–667.
McPhail, C. (1991). The myth of the madding crowd. Aldine.
Meyer, D. S. (2014). The politics of protest: Social movements in America (2nd ed.). Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Moreno, A. (2003). El votante mexicano: democracia, actitudes políticas y conducta electoral. Fondo de Cultura Económica.
Norris, P., Walgrave, P., & van Aelst, P. (2005). Who demonstrates? Antistate Rebels, conventional participants or everyone? Comparative Politics, 37(2), 189–205.
Pensado, J. (2013). Student unrest and authoritarian political culture during the long sixties. Stanford University Press.
Quaranta, M. (2014). The “normalisation” of the protester: Changes in political action in Italy (1981–2009). South European Society and Politics, 19(1), 25–50.
Ruiz Muñoz, M. M., & Alegre, M. L. (2018). Condiciones de producción: la emergencia del movimiento Mas de 131 en la Universidad Iberoamericana, Ciudad de México. In M. M. Ruiz Muñoz & C. J. Araujo Torre (Eds.), Irrupción estudiantil y acción ciudadana. Más de 131 y #YoSoy132 (pp. 7–28). Campo Estratégico y Acción en Modelos y Políticas Educativas del Sistema Universitario Jesuita.
Ruiz Muñoz, M. M., & Araujo Torre, C. J. (Eds.). (2018). Irrupción estudiantil y acción ciudadana. Más de 131 y #YoSoy132 (pp. 7–28). Campo Estratégico y Acción en Modelos y Políticas Educativas del Sistema Universitario Jesuita.
Saunders, C., Grasso, M., Olcese, C., Rainsford, E., & Rootes, C. (2012). Explaining differential protest participation: Novices, returners, pepeaters, and stalwarts. Mobilization, 17(3), 263–280.
Scacco, A. (2010). Who Riots? explaining individual participation in ethnic violence. Ph.D. dissertation, Department of Political Science, Columbia University.
Schussman, A., & Soule, S. A. (2005). Process and protest: Accounting for individual protest participation. Social Forces, 84(2), 1083–1108.
Snow, D., & McAdam, D. (2000). Identity work processes in the context of social movements: Clarifying the identity/movement nexus. In S. Stryker, T. J. Owens, & R. W. Wright (Eds.), Self, identity, and social movements (pp. 41–67). Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press.
Stryker, S. (2000). Identity competition: Key to differential social movement participation? In S. Stryker, T. J. Owens, & R. W. Wright (Eds.), Self, identity, and social movements (pp. 1–21). Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press.
Tarrow, S. (2011). Power in movement: Social movements and contentious politics. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Taylor, V., Kimport, K., van Dyke, N., & Andersen, E. A. (2009). Culture and mobilization: Tactical repertoires, same-sex weddings, and the impact on gay activism. American Sociological Review, 74(6), 865–890.
Tilly, C. (1978). From mobilization to revolution. Addison-Wesley.
Trevizo, D. (2011). Rural protest and the making of democracy in Mexico, 1968–2000. University Park: Penn State University Press.
Van Aeslt, P., & Walgrave, S. (2001). Who is that (Wo)man in the street? From the normalisation of protest to the normalisation of the protester. European Journal of Political Research, 39, 461–486.
Van der Meer, T. W. G., van Deth, J. W., & Scheepers, P. L. H. (2009). The politicized participant: Ideology and political action in 20 democracies. Comparative Political Studies, 42(11), 1426–1457.
Van Dyke, N., Dixon, M., & Carlon, H. (2007). Manufacturing dissent: Labor revitalization, union summer, and student protest. Social Forces, 88(1), 193–214.
Van Stekelenburg, J., & Klandermans, B. (2007). Individuals in movements: A social psychology of contention. In B. Klandermans & C. Roggenband (Eds.), Handbook of social movements across disciplines (pp. 157–204). New York: Springer.
Van Stekelenburg, J., & Klandermans, B. (2014). Fitting demand and supply: How identification brings appeals and motives together. Social Movement Studies, 13(2), 179–203.
Van Stekelenburg, J., Walgrave, S., Klandermans, B., & Verhulst, J. (2012). Contextualizing contestation: Framework, design, and data. Mobilization, 17(3), 249–262.
Verhulst, J., & Walgrave, S. (2009). The first time is the hardest? A cross-national and cross-issue comparison of first-time protest participants. Political Behavior, 31(3), 455–485.
Walgrave, S., & Wouters, R. (2014). The missing link in the diffusion of protest: Asking others. American Journal of Sociology, 119(6), 1670–1709.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2021 The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Inclán, M. (2021). What Moves Students? Ritual Versus Reactive Student Demonstrations in Mexico City. In: Cini, L., della Porta, D., Guzmán-Concha, C. (eds) Student Movements in Late Neoliberalism. Social Movements and Transformation. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-75754-0_2
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-75754-0_2
Published:
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-030-75753-3
Online ISBN: 978-3-030-75754-0
eBook Packages: Social SciencesSocial Sciences (R0)