Back to the Future: Adult Political Behavior of Former Student Activists

Abstract

This research is the second follow-up study of 1960s civil rights activists and two control groups. The data support Mannheim's theory of distinctive intragenerational units who are agents of social change. In addition, confirmatory factor analysis verified five separate dimensions of political behavior. Civil rights activists scored the highest on four measures of active conventional and unconventional politics. The noninvolved in college politics are the least active as adults. Although both the protesters and the institutional activists are highly involved in politics, they tend to be on opposite sides in various political arenas.