The use of newspaper data in the study of collective action.

INTRODUCTION

Scholarship in collective action and social movements has developed a rich research tradition that uses data culled from newspaper reports of these events, among other sources. (1) Subsequent research using a variety of sources has largely validated the central findings of many projects that initially relied on newspaper data.

This research tradition developed because of the numerous opportunities that newspaper-based event data open to scholars both theoretically and methodologically. Event data allow researchers to examine multiple kinds of collective action, from racial violence (Olzak 1989b, 1992; Bergesen & Herman 1998), to agrarian protest and rebellion (Paige 1975), to various types of conventional and nonconventional social movement protests (Earl et al. 2003, Kriesi et al. 1995). In doing so, it moves toward a stress on action and away from purely organizational views of social movements (see Melucci 1994 for a discussion of the theoretical importance of this change in conceptualization of movement activity). Newspaper data also facilitate both comparative and historical research (Tarrow 1996) and make quantitative research on social movements more viable (Olzak 1989a). Event data allow researchers more leverage over processual and mechanistic elements in causal explanations (Olzak 1989a). In addition to these numerous advantages, there is often no other alternative available for researchers interested in work beyond case studies of particular movements (Franzosi 1987). (2)

Despite the centrality and analytic utility of newspaper-based event data, recent research critically evaluates this data source. This work, which uses and reflexively assesses newspaper event data, offers a renewed opportunity to evaluate the utility of newspaper data in the study of collective action and social movements.

FROM CLASSIC TO CONTEMPORARY: NEWSPAPER EVENT RESEARCH

There are a number of reviews of existing research using newspaper event data (Franzosi 1987; Koopmans & Rucht 1999; Olzak 1989a, 1992, Rucht et al. 1999). Rather than repeating these, we summarize the major contributions of this research and then turn to an assessment of the criticisms of the approach.

Most major research traditions in social movements have benefited from analysis of newspaper event data. The development of the political process model depended heavily on newspaper event data (Jenkins & Perrow 1977, McAdam 1982), as has related work on political opportunities (Eisinger 1973, Koopmans 1995, McAdam 1982, Tarrow 1989) and protest cycles (Koopmans 1993, Tarrow 1989). (3) Some aspects of resource mobilization have been investigated using these data (Jenkins & Perrow 1977, Jenkins & Eckert 1986, Soule et al. 1999). New social movement (NSM) scholars have used newspaper event data to evaluate their claims (Koopmans 1995, Kriesi et al. 1995, Rucht et al. 1999). (4) Finally, newspaper data have been used to study more spontaneous forms of collective behavior, including ethnic violence (Olzak 1989b, 1992), rioting (Danzger 1975), and global collective action (Taylor & Jodice 1983).