Representing Social Movements: Advocacy and Activism in Northwest Bookstores

Much social movement research examines the role played by the individual. Studies of this type have focused almost exclusively on the individual's involvement in collective action. This article highlights individual-level behavior outside of social movement organizations. Using results from a recent survey of booksellers, I show that advocacy for the gay and lesbian rights movement and the environmental movement is expressed in several ways within bookstores. Booksellers who are advocates of a social movement, especially the gay and lesbian rights movement, are more likely to carry large numbers of movement-related books, create separate sections of these books, and display these books prominently in their stores. Individuals, acting apart from social movement organizations, aid in the diffusion of movement ideology to the populace at large. I discuss the structural and economic conditions under which this process most readily occurs.