Hanning Wang

My research interests are in the areas of collective action and social movements, civil resistance and political psychology, with a particular emphasis on the motivational dynamics of political participation. The three main questions driving my research ask: 1) What motivates people to participate in social movements? 2) How do protestors different from each other? 3) How do we understand individuals’ political behavior in the macro socio-political context they are embedded in? To answer these questions, I conduct cross-national comparative studies using quantitative research methods.

In my MA Thesis, I compare abeyant protestors to new protestors and established protestors in their sociodemographic characteristics, motivational dynamics, and patterns of protest participation. Through multilevel analysis of data from protestors in 84 demonstrations in eight European countries, I examine the individual-level, demonstration-level, and country-level factors that account for the unique role of abeyant protestors.