Social movement communities and cycles of protest: The emergence and maintenance of a local women's movement

Social movement theorists have argued that multiple movements emerge during cycles of protest in response to political opportunities. This article develops the concept of a "social movement community" and contends that the culture and community of a protest cycle, rather than political opportunities, attract many participants and provide organizational and tactical opportunities for new movements. I examine historical changes in the local women's movement community in Bloomington, Indiana, to explain how some movements are able to endure, and even thrive, after the decline of a protest cycle; their individual movement communities sustain activists and sometimes partially recreate the atmosphere of a protest cycle.