Abstract
We discuss the background and context of the research that went into Jack Walker’s 1991 book, Mobilizing Interest Groups in America. Jack was uniquely situated to devise this research project, but it was also his reaction to dominant political theories of the time. The 1960s posed a puzzle: Groups that had previously been silent were getting mobilized. And yet the most powerful theoretical perspectives either said this was impossible, or that it was unwelcome. Jack thought otherwise. We discuss the reception of the book in the field, its impact on later scholars, and we speculate on what the profession lost when Jack was killed prematurely, before his book was completed, in a automobile accident.
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Aberbach, J.D., Baumgartner, F.R. & Peterson, M.A. Mobilizing Interest Groups in America: Patrons, Professions, and Social Movements: a retrospective. Int Groups Adv 10, 72–77 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1057/s41309-021-00114-3
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/s41309-021-00114-3