Where Do Movements Matter? The United States Environmental Movement and Congressional Hearings and Laws, 1961-1990.

Research examining the political outcomes of social movement activities has been characterized by a nearly exclusive focus on the final stage of the political process, the passage of laws, as well as a limited conceptualization of how movements affect that process. Here, we empirically assess, for one social movement, the importance of organizational capacity, protest and institutional activities, public opinion, and political opportunities in garnering policy-maker attention to movement-salient issues at two distinct stages in the policy making process. Our findings strongly suggest that environmental movement organizational capacity as well as protest and institutional activities directly influence agenda setting stages in the political process. While we find only limited evidence that the environmental movement directly influenced the passage of federal environmental laws, there is some indication that successful agenda setting facilitated this outcome. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]