Abortion as a Social Issue

American society produces numerous social movements to address perceived problems affecting segments of the population or the population as a whole. For a social movement to occur, the following must take place: 1) some members of society must share a grievance they want to correct; 2) they must have hope and think there is a possibility of success; 3) there is often a precipitating event that ignites these grievances and convinces the people that the time for action has arrived; 4) people are recruited through a network of attachments. For a social movement to succeed, the following must occur: 1) it must achieve an effective mobilization of people and resources; 2) it must withstand or overcome external opposition; 3) the fate of the movement depends on enlisting external allies from other major groups; 4) the movement will tend to be embodied in several separate organizations which may cooperate but which often compete vigorously. Stewart, Smith, and Denton (1989) further identify a social movement as having at least minimal organization, meaning we can identify leaders, membership, and one or more organizations. The abortion controversy involves a clash between two social and cultural movements roughly identified as Pro-Choice and Pro-Life on this issue, movements made up of somewhat different segments of society with different priorities and increasingly with more polarized points of view.

Trends in the popular reaction to abortion have been studied since

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of social movement organizations that are not engaged in distributive battles, and that therefore do not fit nearly onto a onedimensional leftright continuum, forces social movement theorists to once again consider the origins of group grievances and interests" (McVeigh, 1998, 468). Theorists identify liberalism on social issues as addressing the rights of individuals such as the right of a woman to choose to have an abortion, or social conservatism as encouraging conforming to established tradition or to the dominant values of society. It is argued that heterogeneity on nominal parameters within an individual's immediate environment promotes individuality, while homogeneity promotes conformity. However, as McVeigh notes, the political alignment does not emerge as expected: "This is consistent with the arguments made by Lipset and by new social movement theorists that in modern industrial societies, cultural issues are becoming at least as important as class issues in the political arena" (McVeigh, 1998, 468). Luker (1984) identifies sufficient leadership, membership, and organizations in the pro-life camp to constitute a movement, and she sees this movement as having coalesced largely since the Roe v. Wade decision o

Category: Psychology - A