ABSTRACT
Activism is not an easy endeavor. It often involves struggle, sacrifi ce, and if practiced with a healthy dose of self-refl ection, confronting new information that may challenge previously held values. Depending on the nature of a particular movement’s goals and/or grievances and the larger political climate in which it exists, involvement in movements for social change can have adverse personal, professional, and legal consequences.1 At the very least, activism requires an individual’s time and/or resources. What, then, drives people toward it? This question is not new. Indeed, it has been posed throughout the history of social movement study. That it has been addressed so often and in studies of different movements speaks to its centrality in explaining the function and structure of social movements.
