Understanding social movements

This book offers a new and fresh approach to understanding social movements. It provides interdisciplinary perspectives on social and cultural protest and contentious politics. It considers major theories and concepts, which are presented in an accessible and engaging format. Historical and contemporary case studies and examples from a variety of different countries are provided throughout, including the American civil rights movement, Greenpeace, Pussy Riot, indigenous peoples movements, liberation theology, Occupy, Tea Party, and the Arab Spring. The book presents specific chapters outlining.

Cover; Title; Copyright; Dedication; CONTENTS; List of figures; List of boxes; Acknowledgements; 1 Introduction; Should we be optimistic about social movement radicalism?; Social movements in society; Doing social movement research; Understanding social movements; 2 Origins of social movement studies; Introduction; Social psychology of crowds; Collective behaviour theory; Box 2.1 Propaganda and collective behaviour: The Nuremburg rallies; Symbolic interactionism: Blumer's theory of social movements; Box 2.2 Social movement colours: 'Rebel Colours'; Box 2.3 Emergent norm theory.

Smelser's structural-functionalism and the value-added modelBox 2.4 Determinants of collective behaviour: Example of a financial panic; Evaluating Blumer and Smelser; The enduring influence of collective behaviour theories and symbolic interactionism; Box 2.5 Social movements as dramas; Summary; Rational choice theory and the free rider problem; Critiques of rational choice theory; Conclusion; Suggested readings; Note; 3 Political opportunity, resource mobilization, and social movement organization; Introduction; Resource mobilization theory; Box 3.1 Defining 'social movement'

Political process modelStruc…