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Where We Come From
Part Two of Three By Dave Andrusko
The reviewer is Jon Shields, whose own fascinating book, "The Democratic Virtues of the Christian Right," I discussed last year (www.nrlc.org/News_and_Views/Dec09/nv120909part2.html). Let me be clear upfront: Shields finds serious misreading on Munson's part. But, as he explains at the end of his review, "None of these criticisms, however, should detract from our appreciation of what a fine book Ziad Munson has written. The Making of Pro-Life Activists is not only one of the most serious and balanced books on the right-to-life movement, it also illuminates the dynamics of social-movement mobilization well beyond the abortion controversy." Again, because I haven't read the book, I just want to touch on just three dimensions of Munson's research. Here goes…. According to Shields, "Munson conducted 82 life histories of pro-life activists in the service of asking a seemingly straightforward question: Who becomes a pro-life activist and why?" While it may surprise outsiders, it is no surprise to us that many who joined did so at a point in time when, developmentally, their own pro-life convictions were embryonic. Some were even "pro-choice." The key, it would appear, is the winsomeness of those who, in effect, brought them along. It could be a family member, a girlfriend or boyfriend, or a trusted physician. Quoting from the book, Shields concludes. "These unlikely activists simply "stumble[d] into contact with different pro-life organizations in the course of their daily lives." In other words, "activism emerged not because they consciously sought it out to express their beliefs but as an unintended result of their ordinary lives." Can your importance be any more clear, or that of your children? Shields talks about two other parts of the book in his review that are of keen interest to us. Not only were many of the activists not cradle pro-lifers, many/most did not instantly come all the way over when they did join. "Munson does an outstanding job of demonstrating what a dynamic and messy process movement mobilization is," Shields writes. "Becoming a pro-life activist is something like a religious conversion. It happens in stages and usually when people are open to new ideas thanks to a turning point in their lives." Third, even though Munson partially buys into the myth himself, according to Shields, the book's findings are "devastating" to the "canonical sociological treatments of the abortion conflict, especially Kristin Luker's Abortion and the Politics of Motherhood." By this Shields means the academic/sociological insistence "that the pro-life movement is driven by a defense of traditional gender roles despite so much counterevidence." (Shields notes that this says much more about the academicians than it does about pro-lifers.) As Shields pointed out last year in an interview discussing his own book, "The liberalism at the heart of the pro-life campaign, however, is constantly distorted by a generation of scholars who have insisted the right-to-life movement is really about the preservation of traditional gender roles or male control over female sexuality." He also told Avi Zenilman of the New Yorker, "Such interpretations tend to ignore that the right to life movement regards itself as today's civil-rights movement. The failure to grasp this reality renders the passion and dedication of the pro-life movement almost impossible to comprehend." A great review which will appear online in a matter of days. I will alert you when Shields' work appears at "Books & Culture" and send you a link. Be sure to also read "National Right to Life News Today" (www.nationalrightolifenewstoday.org). Please send your comments to daveandrusko@gmail.com. If you'd like, follow me at http://twitter.com/daveha. |
While
this is admittedly a couple of
steps removed, I want to talk
about a new book, "The Making of
Pro-Life Activists: How Social
Movement Mobilization Works," by
Ziad Munson, even though I have
not read the book. Although I
have the University of Chicago
Press book on order, there is
enough in a very helpful review
in the May/June issue of "Books
& Culture" to start the
discussion going--a discussion
I'm sure we'll pick up once I
have read the book for myself.