Transition or transformation? Personal and political development of former Berkeley Free Speech Movement activists

Abstract

Former Berkeley Free Speech Movement activists' sociopolitical status, self and ideal self constructions, perceptions of parents' child-rearing practices and moral reasoning were compared with an assessment made 11 years earlier following the Berkeley Sproul Hall sit-in. Activists were found to be less politically active, more tempered in their political radicalism, more pragmatic and personally reactive in their self and ideal self conceptualizations, more critical in their perceptions of parental relationships, and stable in their level of moral development. While activists appear to have made some important life transitions, an argument is made for their continued distinctiveness as a generational cohort both politically and psychosocially.