MICHAEL BIGGS
Lecturer,
Department of
Sociology, University of Oxford
Fellow, St Cross
College
address: Department
of Sociology, Manor Road, Oxford, OX1 3UQ, United Kingdom
email: michael.biggs@sociology.ox.ac.uk phone:
01865 286 174 fax: 01865 286 171
My research centres on social movements and political protest. While ranging widely in subject and method, it has been animated by two theoretical puzzles.
One
is the volatility
of
collective protest: why a mass movement can emerge suddenly, appear
powerful, and yet collapse quickly. I have investigated two waves of
collective protest: the strike wave in the United States in 1886, and
sit-ins in the American South in 1960.
The second puzzle is why
self-inflicted
suffering can be an
effective protest tactic. I have published on self-immolation, where
someone kills him or herself—without harming others—as an act of
protest. Now I am
investigating hunger strikes in Britain and Ireland in the early
twentieth century.
I
have also published on cartography
and state formation and on self-fulfilling
prophecies.
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