This book aims to revisit the interdisciplinary roots of social movement studies. Each discipline raises its own questions and approaches the subject from a different angle or perspective. The chapters of this handbook are written by internationally renowned scholars representing the various disciplines involved. They each review the approach their sector has developed and discuss their disciplines' contributions and insights to the knowledge of social movements. Furthermore, each chapter addresses the "unanswered questions" and discusses the overlaps with other fields as well as reviewing the interdisciplinary advances so far.

International Social Movement Research

Protest is typically rare behavior, yet the first decade of the twenty-first century has been named the era of protest. Successful protests bring masses to the streets, and the emergence of social media has fundamentally changed the process of mobilization. What protests need to be successful is demand (grievances, anger, and indignation), supply (protest organizations), and mobilization (effective communication networks). Motivation to participate can be instrumental, expressive, and identity driven, and politicized collective identity plays an important role in the dynamics of collective action. This volume brings together insights from social psychology, political psychology, sociology, and political science to provide a comprehensive and up-to-date analysis of protest participation, particularly to the question of why some people protest while others do not. It is essential reading for scholars interested in the social and political psychology of individuals in action.

This book offers novel insights into the way in which people talk about politics across various countries. Drawing on focus groups research in nine countries, including 'mature' democracies, post-communist 'new' democracies and post-authoritarian 'new' democracies, it offers comparative reflection on how talk about political activity is shaped by peoples' perceptions of specific opportunities to participate, the issues that concern them and the broader political environment. It thus examines citizens' views of major issues and political grievances in their own words and helps to shed new light on reasons for engagement in political acts, whether through electoral or protest channels, or political disengagement.

This book offers novel insights into the way in which people talk about politics across various countries. Drawing on focus groups research in nine countries, including 'mature' democracies, post-communist 'new' democracies and post-authoritarian 'new' democracies, it offers comparative reflection on how talk about political activity is shaped by peoples' perceptions of specific opportunities to participate, the issues that concern them and the broader political environment. It thus examines citizens' views of major issues and political grievances in their own words and helps to shed new light on reasons for engagement in political acts, whether through electoral or protest channels, or political disengagement.

Since the 1980s, one of the main political changes in Western Europe has been the electoral upsurge of extreme right-wing parties. However, while the electoral support of these movements has been studied extensively, their membership has largely been ignored. This book examines who joins the extreme right and why?
Drawing upon extensive research and featuring contributions from distinguished social psychologists and political scientists, this book provides the most detailed comparative study yet published of the psychology of right-wing extremist activists. Countries discussed include Germany, The Netherlands, Italy, Belgium and France.

Since the 1980s, one of the main political changes in Western Europe has been the electoral upsurge of extreme right-wing parties. However, while the electoral support of these movements has been studied extensively, their membership has largely been ignored. This book examines who joins the extreme right and why?
Drawing upon extensive research and featuring contributions from distinguished social psychologists and political scientists, this book provides the most detailed comparative study yet published of the psychology of right-wing extremist activists. Countries discussed include Germany, The Netherlands, Italy, Belgium and France.

Protest is typically rare behavior, yet the first decade of the twenty-first century has been named the era of protest. Successful protests bring masses to the streets, and the emergence of social media has fundamentally changed the process of mobilization. What protests need to be successful is demand (grievances, anger, and indignation), supply (protest organizations), and mobilization (effective communication networks). Motivation to participate can be instrumental, expressive, and identity driven, and politicized collective identity plays an important role in the dynamics of collective action. This volume brings together insights from social psychology, political psychology, sociology, and political science to provide a comprehensive and up-to-date analysis of protest participation, particularly to the question of why some people protest while others do not. It is essential reading for scholars interested in the social and political psychology of individuals in action.

This book aims to revisit the interdisciplinary roots of social movement studies. Each discipline raises its own questions and approaches the subject from a different angle or perspective. The chapters of this handbook are written by internationally renowned scholars representing the various disciplines involved. They each review the approach their sector has developed and discuss their disciplines' contributions and insights to the knowledge of social movements. Furthermore, each chapter addresses the "unanswered questions" and discusses the overlaps with other fields as well as reviewing the interdisciplinary advances so far.

Part of a series which presents research on international social movements, this volume focuses on social movements and violence. Topics discussed include: individual motivations in underground political organizations; decisions to use terrorism; and ethnic and socio-revolutionary terrorism.

Are the dynamics of contention changing? This is the question confronted by the contributors of this volume, among the most influential scholars in the field of social movements. The answers, arriving at a time of extraordinary worldwide turmoil, not only provide a wide-ranging and varied understanding of how social movements arise and persist, but also engender unanswered questions, pointing to new theoretical strands and fields of research.

"The Future of Social Movement Research" asks: How are the dynamics of contention shaped by globalization? By societies that are becoming increasingly more individualized and diverse? By the spread of new communication technologies such as social media, cell phones, and the Internet? Why do some movements survive while others dissipate? Do local and global networks differ in nature? The authors' essays explore such questions with reference to changes in three domains of contention: the demand of protest (changes in grievances and identities), the supply of protest (changes in organizations and networks), and how these changes affect the dynamics of mobilization. In doing so, they theorize and make empirically insightful how globalization, individualization, and virtualization create new grievances, new venues for action, new action forms, and new structures of contention.

The resulting work--brought together through engaging discussions and debates between the contributors--is interdisciplinary and unusually broad in scope, constituting the most comprehensive overview of the dynamics of social movements available today.

Contributors: Marije Boekkooi, VU-U, Amsterdam; Pang Ching Bobby Chen, U of California, Merced; Donatella della Porta, European U Institute; Mario Diani, U of Trento, Italy; Jan Willem Duyvendak, U of Amsterdam; Myra Marx Ferree, U of Wisconsin-Madison; Beth Gharrity Gardner; Ashley Gromis; Swen Hutter, U of Munich; Ruud Koopmans, WZB, Berlin; Hanspeter Kriesi, U of Zurich; Nonna Mayer, National Centre for European Studies; Doug McAdam, Stanford U; John D. McCarthy, Pennsylvania State U; Debra Minkoff, Barnard College, Columbia U; Alice Motes; Pamela E. Oliver, U of Wisconsin-Madison; Francesca Polletta, U of California, Irvine; Jacomijne Prins, VU-U, Amsterdam; Patrick Rafail, Tulane U; Christopher Rootes, U of Kent, Canterbury; Dieter Rucht, Free U of Berlin; David A. Snow, U of California, Irvine; Sarah A. Soule, Stanford U; Suzanne Staggenborg, U of Pittsburgh; Sidney Tarrow, Cornell U; Verta Taylor, U of California, Santa Barbara; Marjoka van Doorn; Martijn van Zomeren, U of Groningen; Stefaan Walgrave, U of Antwerp; Saskia Welschen.

Citing the critical importance of empirical work to social movement research, the editors of this volume have put together the first systematic overview of the major methods used by social movement theorists. Original chapters cover the range of techniques: surveys, formal models, discourse analysis, in-depth interviews, participant observation, case studies, network analysis, historical methods, protest event analysis, macro-organizational analysis, and comparative politics. Each chapter includes a methodological discussion, examples of studies employing the method, an examination of its strengths and weaknesses, and practical guidelines for its application.

Is the process of European integration shifting the targets of social movements from the national arena to the European Union level? Does the EU remain isolated from the reach of national democratic politics? Or are social movements responding to the transnational issues posed by the European Union, but continuing to do so by treading the traditional pathways of nation-specific contentious politics? Addressing these key but hitherto unexplored questions, this groundbreaking volume explores how European citizens are responding to the growing policymaking power of the EU. The contributors argue that the emergence of a supranational realm of European government offers new opportunities and constraints for domestic social actors. In this new transnational realm, groups such as environmentalists, students, and trade unionists can not only undertake traditional domestic forms of contentious action, but also link together across national borders. At the same time, the volume cautions against rushing to herald a new era of transnational mobilization, as significant barriers remain to launching contentious action in the transnational realm, national governments continue to play a primary role in policymaking before the EU, and tried-and-true routines of collective action and institutions attach citizens to their national political systems. At the heart of the book is a newly developed theoretical framework, which is rigorously tested against the evidence offered by the editors' longitudinal and cross-national database on contentious political action, as well as by a series of sector-specific case studies. The combination of theory and original research will make this an important reference for scholars as well as a valuable supplement in courses on comparative politics, Western Europe, and social movements.

Is there more social protest now than there was prior to the movement politics of the 1960s, and if so, does it result in a distinctly less civil society throughout the world? If everybody protests, what does protest mean in advanced industrial societies? This volume brings together scholars from Europe and the U.S., and from both political science and sociology, to consider the ways in which the social movement has changed as a political form and the ways in which it continues to change the societies in which it is prevalent.