The anti-roads protest movement in nineties Britain: A sociological interpretation

McNeish, Wallace (1999) The anti-roads protest movement in nineties Britain: A sociological interpretation. PhD thesis, University of Glasgow.

Abstract

During the 1990's a wave of protests against road and motorway building spread across the UK to develop into perhaps the most confrontational, and indeed successful, challenges to government policy since the protests against the poll tax in the late 1980's. Using analytical concepts developed within the field of social movements theory this thesis interprets research data gained from the application of quantitative and qualitative research methods in two case studies to explore the key sociological dimensions of the protests. The first case study focuses on Alarm UK, the national umbrella co-ordinating organisation for local grassroots action groups opposing road building which in the mid- 1990's had over 250 such groups affiliated to it. The second case study focuses on the protests against the M77 extension in Glasgow which reached a dramatic climax in early 1995 when local opposition groups joined together with eco-activists based at the Pollok Free State, a fortified encampment set up in the path of the construction route, to employ direct action tactics against the building contractors. These two case studies bring into high relief the complex dynamics of the inter-relationships between protesters, organisations and social movements which are central to the sociological interpretation of the mobilisation against road-building presented in this thesis.

• Item Type: Thesis (PhD)
• Qualification Level: Doctoral
• Keywords: Social research, environmental studies, transportation.
• Subjects: H Social Sciences > HM Sociology
• Colleges/Schools: College of Social Sciences > School of Social and Political Sciences > Sociology Anthropology and Applied Social Sciences
• Supervisor's Name: Madigan, Professor Ruth
• Date of Award: 1999
• Depositing User: Enlighten Team
• Unique ID: glathesis:1999-71899
• Copyright: Copyright of this thesis is held by the author.
• Date Deposited: 17 May 2019 09:31
• Last Modified: 31 Oct 2022 17:07
• Thesis DOI: 10.5525/gla.thesis.71899
• URI: https://theses.gla.ac.uk/id/eprint/71899