Michael Biggs                                                                         

 
 

Michael Biggs (Lecturer in Sociology, St Cross College) does research on social movements and political protest, and so is interested in the role of networks in mobilizing collective action. An article on the sit-ins against racial segregation in the American South in 1960 compared the relative importance of personal networks, formal organization, and news media as channels of diffusion (with Kenneth Andrews, American Sociological Review, 2006). Another article examined whether African American students were more likely to join the sit-ins if they were integrated into the cohesive social networks formed by churches (Mobilization, 2006).