ch. 9 (women Mobilization into the Salvadorian guerrilla army, Viterna) Flashcards
info
The author is arguing that there are multiple, conjunctural causes of mobilization, even among individuals embedded within similar networks and within similar structural context
- Activist can follow different paths to the same mobilization
- Examines the path women took took into the Salvadoran Guerrilla Army to demonstrate this
According to social psychological theories, individuals must develop a salient “participation identity” prior to mobilizing; that is being a participant must be so important to a person’s sense of self that to not participate would cause psychological and emotional harm
Women followed 3 paths to guerilla activism (politicized guerillas, reluctant guerillas, and recruited guerillas
1) politicized guerillas
Were pulled into gorilla participation by their strongly held beliefs in the political causes of the FMLN and because they were already embedded in organizational and familial networks of activism (their family were activist)
This is the “typical” route into guerilla army
biographical barriers as most women in this group had children but the networks they had made their participation possible
2) reluctant guerillas
Pushed into the guerilla camps because a crise left them with no other option. Since they has limited networks and resources to escape this crise they were pulled into the war
biographical barriers as some could not join the war because they were mothers. Limited networks as well so unlike politicized guerillas they if they were mothers they simply could not join
3) recruited guerillas
Persuaded to join guerrilla camps by members of the FMLN
All recruiting guerillas frame their mobilization as an effort to avenge the death of loved once or to seek adventure outside the refugee camp walls
No biographical barriers as most members from these group were Childless
**Networks and biographical barriers can determine if a person will participate or not
***Overall, While previous studies propose one “typical” route to activism, the author found that the variable interactions of networks, biographies, and structural context create three distinct path to the guerilla participation for salvadoran women.
argument
The author is arguing that there are multiple, conjunctural causes of mobilization, even among individuals embedded within similar networks and within similar structural context
***that there are multiple factors that led women to join the guerrilla army
