SOCIAL MOVEMENT INVOLVEMENT IN THE WAKE OF A NUCLEAR ACCIDENT: ACTIVISTS AND FREE RIDERS IN THE TMI AREA.

Focusing on the community mobilization processes following the Three Mile Island (TMI) accident, this paper presents the first empirical tests of central hypotheses derived from Olson (1965) involving both activists and free riders in a natural setting. Focusing initially on a randomly selected sample of free riders from the TMI area, we first investigate the extent of, and reasons for, this phenomenon. Free riding in an actual mobilization process is revealed to be more widespread than Olson's critics suggest, and also more complex than Olson alleged. We then compare the most politically active citizens in the TM! area with the free riders on solidarity, ideology, grievance, and other dimensions in an attempt to discern the most important correlates of social movement involvement. The paper concludes with a model which synthesizes the resource mobilization and alternative perspectives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]