The DOI matches its Crossref record; 124 of the 124 references it cites were found in a registry or an index.
Limiting Dissent: The Mechanisms of State Repression in the USA
Abstract
Despite longstanding traditions of tolerance, inclusion, and democracy in the USA, dissident citizens and social movements have experienced significant and sustained – although often subtle and difficult-to-observe – repression. Using mechanism-based social movement theory, I explore a range of twentieth-century episodes of contention, involving such groups as mid-century communists, the Black Panther Party, the American Indian Movement, and the modern-day Global Justice Movement. Cracking open the black box of state repression, I demonstrate how four interactive social mechanisms – Resource Depletion, Stigmatization, Divisive Disruption, and Intimidation – animate state repression. A fifth mechanism – Emulation – diffuses the effects of these four Mechanisms of Repression. First I delineate a typology of state actions that suppress dissent. Then I shift analytically from these ten actions to the Mechanisms of Repression, explaining how these mechanisms work. Drawing on scholarship from an array of fields, and pulling data from a variety of sources, I explain how the state has engaged in activity that – operating through social mechanisms – inhibits collective action, either through raising the costs or minimizing the benefits of mobilization.
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“Subsequent research has also shown that media may play a larger role in conventional repression than the typology recognized (23).”
From Physical and virtual repertoires of contention (2022) · cites this paper as [23]
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Metadata
- Authors
- BOYKOFF, J.
- Affiliations
- Pacific University Oregon (US)
- Corresponding author
- BOYKOFF, JULES
- ORCID
- BOYKOFF, JULES
- Venue
- Social Movement Studies
- Publisher
- Informa UK Limited
- Published
- 2007-11-22
- Volume
- 6
- Issue
- 3
- Pages
- 281-310
- ISSN
- 1474-2829 (ISSN-L)
- 1474-2837
- OpenAlex
- W2099493475
- Cited by
- 138
- References
- 123
- Citations by year
- 2026: 8 · 2025: 8 · 2024: 11 · 2023: 8 · 2022: 16 · 2021: 7 · 2020: 25 · 2019: 5 · 2018: 17 · 2017: 7 · 2016: 6 · 2015: 6 · 2014: 2 · 2013: 1 · 2012: 3
- FWCI
- 3.38
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Social movement studies (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Political Conflict and Governance
- Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Social Movements and Cultural Identity
- Social Sciences › Political Science and International Relations › Political Theory and Democracy
- Keywords
- state repression, dissent, social movement theory, resource depletion, stigmatization, intimidation, emulation, collective action, Black Panther Party, American Indian Movement, alter-globalization, civil liberties, United States
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