Response to S. Laurel Weldon's review of Moved to Action: Motivation, Participation, and Inequality in American Politics

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I thank Laurel Weldon for her generous and incisive review of my book. Our two books share a common interest in investigating the mechanisms through which marginalized constituencies gain voice in politics. While my book takes a micro, individual perspective, focusing on questions about participation in American politics, Weldon's takes a macro perspective, analyzing the impact of social movements and movement organizations in a comparative context. Thus, while I try to understand the factors that motivate individuals from traditionally marginalized communities to get involved, she asks what happens when they do get involved: Does their participation in movements and movement organizations matter? These divergent perspectives contextualize some of the very helpful questions Weldon raised about my book.