How Educational Opportunity Structures Shape the Presence, Forms, and Outcomes of Campus Activism

Abstract

ABSTRACT How do characteristics of colleges and universities shape campus activism? In this review article, we provide an overview of the growing body of sociological research on educational opportunity structures at U.S. colleges and universities. Specifically, we synthesize research that discusses how various characteristics of U.S. colleges and universities—including their public or private status, their secular or religious identity, their wealth, their prestige, their residential character, their bureaucratic rules, and their administrators’ openness to campus activism—influence whether student activist groups emerge, adopt different forms, and achieve their goals. We conclude by discussing remaining gaps in our knowledge and highlighting several potential lines for future research.