ABSTRACT
In the division of labor within the social sciences, sociologists deal more with social movements and political scientists deal more with pressure groups. A social movement organization becomes a pressure group when it gains routine representation in, and access to, the government. This chapter examines the development of the pro-nuclear movement in the United States as an example of the partial transformation from pressure group to social movement. The transformation of the pro-nuclear forces from a pressure group to a social movement was a response to a threat to its polity status. Since the late 1970s, the antinuclear movement has been winning the struggle against nuclear power in the United States. Professional engineers and scientists might belong to professional associations, but their focus was largely on technical issues, oriented to member education and technical research. Popular support was not mobilized to defend nuclear power against the antinuclear forces. The pro-nuclear movement devised several strategies to deal with this problem.
