Unearthing a Network of Resistance: Law and the Anti-Strip Mining Movement in Central Appalachia
Studies in Law, Politics, and Society
ISBN: 978-1-78441-568-6, eISBN: 978-1-78441-567-9
Publication date: 3 January 2015
Abstract
The nexus where law, social movements, and organizations meet demands further explication. This research adds to our understandings of these dynamics by examining the case of the central Appalachian anti-strip mining movement. After developing a social network technique to analyze over thirty years of newspapers, we find a period of reduced movement activity following the passage of the Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act of 1977. Conversely, we observe a reinvigoration of the movement following the passage of the Clean Air Amendments of 1990 and the perverse incentives they created for mountaintop removal mining. Finally, we see that joint participation in lawsuits is a primary tie that binds these groups together.
Acknowledgements
Acknowledgment
The author Robert Todd Perdue would like to acknowledge the generous support of the National Science Foundation’s Division of Social and Economic Sciences, Award Number 1228419.
Citation
Perdue, R.T. and McCarty, C. (2015), "Unearthing a Network of Resistance: Law and the Anti-Strip Mining Movement in Central Appalachia", Studies in Law, Politics, and Society (Studies in Law, Politics, and Society, Vol. 66), Emerald Group Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 35-61. https://doi.org/10.1108/S1059-433720150000066002
Publisher
:Emerald Group Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2015 Emerald Group Publishing Limited