Author: James  R.  Dumas

Major: Political Science

Graduation Year: 2016

Thesis Advisor: Mark D. Brewer

Description of Publication: My thesis aims to explain the absence of a significant protest movement regarding the issue of student debt among American college students, given that the issue of student debt affects much more of this population than any other issue on college and university campuses. To explain this absence, I analyze the issue of student debt and how it has grown into a serious crisis, as well as policy recommendations put forth by several groups that serve as partial solutions to the overall problem. I then identify a series of case studies of movements that have come about in the last fifteen or so years, focusing on three of them based on their relevancy to the student debt issue. After studying each case, I use social movement theory to explain why each of these cases featured a movement that was either unsustainable or doomed from the beginning. These theories include resource mobilization theory, efficacy, conflict theory, tactical innovation, the internet’s effect, and the changing form of protest among students. By taking all of the social movement theory factors that were associated with each case, I then try to identify why there is not currently a recognizable social movement centered on student debt and what must occur in order for such a movement to start. When social movement theory is applied to the case studies selected, it leads the conclusion that similar movements have failed to emerge because of a combination of changing environmental factors, a lack of resource mobilization, low levels of efficacy, and the absence of a trigger point to create a spark.

Location of Publication:

• fogler
• reynolds

URL to Thesis: