Research
My current research focuses on the mobilization of social movements. I am interested in understanding how movements form and how individuals come to join and identify with them. I have focused in particular on politically conservative movements and movements in the Middle East. The specific studies I am actively working with right now include:
The Pro-Life Movement
This is a life-history interview and ethnographic study of the pro-life movement in the United States. My main interest has been explaining how some individuals become mobilized into the movement while demographically and attitudinally similar individuals do not. I am currently working on revisions for a book based on this study, Becoming an Activist, to be published by the University of Chicago Press.
Dissertation Abstract
The study of the pro-life movement began as my doctoral dissertation,
the abstract for which you can read here. A copy of the entire
dissertation is available from UMI
Dissertations
Express (publication number
3038483).- 'My Life is My
Argument': Reconceptualizing Religion in Understanding Social Activism
A paper focusing on the role of religion in the pro-life movement as
well as social movements generally.
- God, Abortion and
Democracy in the Pro-Life Movement
A chapter in the edited volume Taking
Faith Seriously (Harvard
University Press, 2005) that examines the ideology of the pro-life
movement.
Civic Engagement in America
The Civic Engagment Project, a large collaborative study led by Professor Theda Skocpol at Harvard University, seeks an understanding of civic engagement across U.S. history. We have developed a database of all large U.S. voluntary associations in American history and have used it along with other data sources to explore questions about the changing institutional structure of voluntarism, leadership, social capital, and state-society relationships.
- A Nation of Organizers:
The Institutional Origins of Civic Voluntarism in the United States
(American Political Science Review 94(3), 2000: 527-546). This article,
written with Theda Skocpol and Marshall Ganz, provides an overview to
one of our central findings from the project.
- Patriotic Partnerships: Why Great Wars Nourished American Civic Voluntarism, in Shaped by War and Trade (Princeton University Press, 2002, Katznelson and Shefter, eds.). A chapter written with Theda Skocpol, Bayliss Camp, and Andrew Karch that demonstrates the symbiotic relationship that has developed between the state and civic institutions during times of war.
The Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt
The Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood has been a central player in the emergence and spread of Islamic political opposition, protest, and violence in the Middle East and around the world. Not only does it continue to be an important force in Egypt, the group has spawned many of the militant Islamic groups that exist today, including organizations such as Hamas, Islamic Jihad, and Gammaat Islamiyah. My research focuses on understanding the initial rise of the organization in the 1920s, 30s, and 40s, the continued appeal of its message in Egypt and elsewhere, and the evolving relationship of the organization to the state.
- Islamic Mobilization:
Social Movement Theory and the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood
(Sociological Quarterly 42(4), 2001: 487-510). An article in which
I use declassified U.S. State Department files along with
other historical data to understand the growth of the organization as
well as the role of ideas in social movements more generally.
Political Violence and Terrorism
When do opposition movements turn to violence in the pursuit of their objectives? What are the conditions under which political violence-- and terrorist violence in particular-- is effective in moving the agenda of such movements forward? How has U.S. foreign policy encouraged or limited the scope of political violence around the world? These are the kinds of questions I am exploring in a new research project focused around assembling quantitative, time-series data on international political violence and changes in U.S. foreign policy over the last twenty years. I am also collecting more specific data on suicide bombings in Israel and the Occupied Territories since the onset of the second intifada on September 28th, 2000 as part of the study.
The Homeschool Movement
Over one million children in the United States are now schooled full-time at home-- more than the number enrolled in charter schools nationwide and more than are participating in voucher programs. I have begun a new project focused on understanding how families are drawn into the movement and what kinds of political impacts the rapidly growing movement has had over the last ten years. I am collecting both qualitative interview and quantitative public policy data for the project.
Science and Social Movements
In addition to the research projects I have currently in progress, I am also preparing to launch a significant new project on science and social movements. As I have continued to pursue questions of the relationship between ideas and collective action, I have been struck by the frequent but varying ways in which popular mobilization intersects with scientific knowledge. In some circumstances, science speaks with an authoritative voice within movements, swaying partisans, changing public opinion and having a strong impact on policy development. In other circumstances, however, science is contested and devalued by activists as mere propaganda. My research will explore the determinants of this difference through focused comparisons of both historical and contemporary cases in which science and social movements have intersected. The results will contribute to emerging debates in political sociology over identity, narrative, moral discourse, and their relationship to political action.
last updated: January 11, 2006
Ziad Munson