What is a Social Movement? (What is Sociology?) [Kindle Edition] [Repost]

Social movements play a central role in the scope and direction ofsocial change. They were instrumental in the creation of the modernstate and, today, are major forces in politics and culture.Environmentalism, gay rights, alterglobalization, and Islamicfundamentalism are all movements with far-reaching impacts oncontemporary society.

What is a Social Movement? traces how the study of movementssuch as these - of their structures, their ideas, and theirrepertoires of protest - have grown in recent years to become amajor focus in the social sciences. It deftly navigates theorganizational, ideational, and cultural complexity of politicaland social movements, and offers a succinct but comprehensiveoverview of the hows, whys, and wheretofores of studying them. Thebook analyzes how politics and culture frequently intersect aspeople participate in movements that call for change and pursuegroup interests. By focusing on movement organizations andnetworks, on what they do, and how they articulate their ideas ofjustice and collective interests, What is a Social Movement?lays the essential groundwork for understanding this significantand exciting field of research, where it came from, and where it isheaded.