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Scholars in the area of social action present new theories about this process, fashioning a social psychology of social movements that goes beyond theories currently in use. ... Read more

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This clearly written and comprehensive text examines the uprising of politically and economically marginalized groups in Latin American societies. Specialists in a broad range of disciplines present original research from a variety of case studies in a student-friendly format. Part introductions help students contextualize the essays, highlighting social movement origins, strategies, and outcomes. Thematic sections address historical context, political economy, community-building and consciousness, ethnicity and race, gender, movement strategies, and transnational organizing, making this book useful to anyone studying the wide range of social movements in Latin America. ... Read more

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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. ... Read more

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Social movements such as environmentalism, feminism, nationalism, and the anti-immigration movement figure prominently in the modern world.Comparative Perspectives on Social Movements examines social movements in a comparative perspective, focusing on the role of ideology and beliefs, mechanisms of mobilization, and how politics shapes the development and outcomes of movements.It includes case studies of the former Soviet Union and Eastern Europe, the United States, Italy, the Netherlands, and West Germany. ... Read more

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This book presents empirical research on the nature and structure of political violence.While most studies of social movements focus on single-nation studies, Donatella della Porta uses a comparative research design to analyze movements in two countries--Italy and Germany--from the 1960s to the 1990s.Through extensive use of official documents and in-depth interviews, della Porta is able to explain the actors' construction of external political reality, and to build a theory on political violence that synthesizes the various interactions among political actors. ... Read more

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"The book's brilliant thesis is that the Western authors need a social movement theory-paradigm to reveal the dynamics of the ongoing political and cultural movements in the Muslim world.... the book is a very good contribution to Islamism." -- M. A. Khan, Emory University, Choice, July 2004

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The Unfinished Revolution compares the post-Second World War histories of the American and British gay and lesbian movements with an eye toward understanding how distinct political institutional environments affect the development, strategies, goals, and outcomes of a social movement. The two case study chapters function as brief historical sketches that provide an introduction to British and American gay and lesbian history. An appendix provides a useful evaluative summary of common social movement theories. The book will be of value to academics and students of sociology, political science, and history. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Worst book on gay rights ever
I'm surprised that Cambridge University Press would have published this very weak study of lesbian and gay organizing in Britian and the US. It reads like senior thesis. Instead of this book, I would recommend the serious scholarship of people like Craig Rimmerman, Steven Seidman or Mark Blasius.

WOW WHAT ABRAIN CHILD
THIS GUY SURE KNOWS WHAT HE IS TALKING ABOUT AND EVERYONE SHOULD READ THIS BOOK.. THREE CHEERS TO THE AUTHOR. THANK YOUSTEPHEN FOR AN HONEST LOOK AT THIS TIME PERIOD ... Read more

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how not to learn how to do it
This is an academic's approach to protest, its analysis based on the "literature" and cursory , hoypothesis proving oriented case studies. Not for those who, like me, want to learn how to influence the powers that be to change policies through legitimised means or civil disobedience. ... Read more

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Religion has long played a central role in many social and political movements.Solidarity in Poland, anti-apartheid in South Africa, Operation Rescue in the United States--each of these movements is driven by the energy and sustained by the commitment of many individuals and organizations whose ideologies are shaped and powered by religious faith.In many cases, religious resources and motives serve as crucial variables explaining the emergence of entire social movements. Despite the crucial role of religion in most societies, this religious activism remains largely uninvestigated. Disruptive Religion intends to fill this void by analyzing contemporary social movements which are driven by people and organizations of faith.Upon a firm base of empirical evidence, these essays also address many theoretical issues arising in the study of social movements and disruptive politics. ... Read more

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InterestingInsights forReligious Change Agents
A Review of the Book Disruptive Religion: The Force of Faith in Social-Movement Activism Review by Rev. Bruce Bouchard For those of us in the church seeking to bring positive social change, the task can often be frustrating. Members of the congregation can be quite enthusiastic in caring about others in one to one relationships. They can spend hours volunteering to visit the sick and the lonely, feed the hungry, or even to share faith with those who despair. However, when it comes to standing back from the picture of individual hurts and looking at the larger panorama of systematic injustice such as poverty, human rights abuse, or waras a means of international conflict resolution, the faithful often do not seem to see the problem.Seldom is it a matter of not caring about the pain of others, rather it is a difficulty in comprehending human hurt on a systematic level. Those who try to motivate the faithful on to bring justice and responsible conflict resolution to a larger world often feel that their pleas fall on deaf ears and all their efforts are ineffective.One might be left asking the question: "Should one even bother to try?"Disruptive Religion: The Force of Faith in Social-Movement Activism,(New York and London: Routledge , 1996) an anthology edited by Christian Smith, offers an encouraging and inside look at how religious faith has influenced social change in such differing scenarios as the civil rights movement, the election of Hitler, the anti-apartheid movement, the Iranian revolution,and workers strikes in communist Poland. Unlike many works that apply the same formula to all social problems and turn the crank, the sociologists who author these essays seek insight into the special role that religion plays in each particular situation. The essays are further arranged into five topics area that help to keep the reader focused on the various ways that religioneffects the outcome of a specific social change. For example, the first topic area describes how religious groups can often be the only ones in a repressive society with the organization and leadership structure to act on behalf of the oppressed. We see this dynamic demonstratedthrough Aldon Morris' essay "The Black Church in the Civil Rights Movement: the SCLC as the Decentralized Radical Arm of the Black Church."A second essay by M. M. Salehi reveal a similar dynamic in a very different social setting in"Radical Islamic Insurgency in the Iranian Revolution of 1975-1979." Other topics include religious ritual as providing a setting for the development ofinsurgent consciousness,the church as having the capacity to mobilizes against repression,and the symbolic world of faith providing an activist identity. The finalsection addresses religious ideology and disruptive tactics. An article by James Aho yields some surprisesas to why certain individuals join hate groups. Finally, aprofessor from Mount Saint Mary's College, Ron Pagnucco, compares secular and faith-based groups. He demonstrates an amazing tenacity among faith groups to persevere against defeat and discouragement. The books is well worth the reading on many levels. For the social change agent, the essays provide many well proven strategies. It is also encouraging to see that people of faith have been successful and significant in many important social movements of the late twentieth century. For the curious mind, we receive an insiders view ofsome of the dynamics in social change that the media missed in these one time, front page, news stories.As an added bonus: almost all of the essays are reader friendly which is not to be always expected in a scholarly work. ... Read more

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Now back in print, this classic work has assumed a new significance in light of Iraq's recent history. The late Hanna Batatu's landmark study of Iraq's social formation during the twentieth century is widely regarded as one of the most significant works of recent times dealing with Middle Eastern society and politics. Originallypublished in 1978, it is one of the very few comprehensive, primary source-based histories of any Arab country ever written. In the course of pursuing research in Iraq, Batatu happened to meet Abdul Karim Qassem who later went on to lead Iraq after the overthrow of the Hashemite monarchy in 1958. The prior friendship resulted in Batatu gaining access to otherwise secret state archives.Combined with extensive interviews and on-the-ground research, The Old Social Classes catapulted Iraq into a new light.At nearly 1,300 pages the work is dense with detail including large numbers of tables and raw data to illustrate his analytical points.
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Customer Reviews (3)

Social Scientist
It is a great book.I was fortunate to get it at one third of its price.The Condition of the book is very satisfactory.I was aware before the purchase that certain items had been highlighted which happened to be a plus in my case.It took a bit longer than useal to receive the book as I usually get all books purchased within a time frame of five to ten days.This one took about twenty days.I am totally satisfied with the purchase just as I have been in all my prior purchases.Thank you for making it happen at such a reasonable price.
Dr. Banarji

A weighty textbook for the serious student of our nation's burden
I first came across the title of this book in another `review' (of sorts) so compelling that I sought the book for my own.In Cullen Murphy's "Are We Rome?" [ ISBN 0-618-74222-0] there is a passage comparing the attitudes of ancient Roman generals and current American military leadership in wartime. (I now summarize and paraphrase:)
The Romans were renowned, evidently, for being arrogant, smug, complacent, ignorant, contemptuous of their enemies (always called `barbarians'), and utterly assured of victory no matter who their opponents were. Indeed, they were often successful, but sometimes they were crushingly defeated because they paid so little attention to the capabilities or characteristics of those arrayed against them.Murphy then fast-forwards to the newly-established Green Zone in Baghdad in the early days of America's conquest of Iraq (near the time of the "Mission Accomplished" speech.) An Arab translator sits in a cubicle studying a textbook. An American general comes in and asks what he's reading."The bible" answers the Arab. "You don't read the Bible, you're a Muslim," the officer challenges.The man holds up his book:"The Old Social Classes and the Revolutionary Movements of Iraq" by Hanna Batatu, which he considers absolutely essential to understand Iraq, its people, its conflicts, its likely responses to events going forward.The general reaches into his back pocket and pulls out a tatty paperback of a tourist's guide to Iraq and proclaims "Everything I need to know is in this."

The stunning connection between this American soldier and Quintilius Varus, the officer whose name is attached to one of the worst military fiascos in Roman history (Clades Variana - The Disaster of Varus) put pins and needles in my hands and neck.Because of that debacle, the nature of Europe was given part of its qualities.Our leaders may choose to nurture their ignorance, but I want to read the book the translator had.

The copy I obtained is a paperback 2004 reprint of the original published in the 1970s. It is enormous, dense, packed with facts, statistics, graphs, charts, lists, footnotes, some maps, and needing study with a highlighter rather than a simple read.The more I absorb of Batatu's opus the less fuzzy the lens through which I look at what our president calls our national "frustration."Today is September 11, 2007.General Petraeus speaks to Congress with reassurance that though things are bad in Baghdad they are improving in the edges of the provinces.Last night Batatu's details revealed the enduring strength of the smaller communities held at arms' length from the capital city (nicknamed "the devourer of men".) Batatu's words can take scrutiny, which is more than I can say for the policy papers our government is presently using for reference.

I give the book four stars - the same as Petraeus wears on his uniform.

An journey into complexity
Hannah Batatu taught me at Georgetown 20 years ago. He was an interesting, personally often charming man with a rather dry empirical Marxist view of things. The title of his book reflects this element of materialist focus.
I have not looked into this book for some time. It is exhaustive and from memory there is a "lack of woods for the trees" element to it. At times one is given too much detail about exactly what class of peasant someone's father was.
Nonetheless, the key point I took away from it is that Iraq is a "country" full of complexity and tension. That is a simple lesson which someone who, for example, might want to invade the country would have done well to heed.
If nothing else, this books teaches us the value of history in unearthing complexity. If we try and paper over that complexity, or ignore it, reducing it to elements of "good" and "bad" things often turn very ugly indeed. ... Read more

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This expanded second edition of Tilly s widely acclaimed 2004 book brings this analytical history of social movements fully up to date. Tilly and Wood cover such recent topics as immigrants rights, new media technologies, anti-Olympic organizing in China, new mobilizations against the Iraq War, and the role of bloggers and Facebook in social movement activities. Coverage of these and other recent events serve to expand further the book's seminal theorizing and conceptualization of how social movements grew from eighteenth-century Europe to eventually fuel popular movements all over the world. To view Power Point slides of the last undergraduate course of Charles Tilly (with Ernesto Castaneda) in Spring 2007, which are related to his Paradigm book with Sidney Tarrow, Contentious Politics, please click here. ... Read more

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Social movements have an elusive power but one that is altogether real. From the French and American revolutions to the post-Soviet, ethnic, and terrorist movements of today, contentious politics exercises a fleeting but powerful influence on politics, society, and international relations. This study surveys the modern history of the modern social movements in the West and their diffusion to the global South through war, colonialism, and diffusion, and it puts forward a theory to explain its cyclical surges and declines. It offers an interpretation of the power of movements that emphasizes effects on the lives of militants, policy reforms, political institutions, and cultural change. The book focuses on the rise and fall of social movements as part of contentious politics in general and as the outcome of changes in political opportunities and constraints, state strategy, the new media of communication, and transnational diffusion. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (4)

Perfect conditions but not so fast
the book was in perfect conditions, but they took forever to send it. I am used to get them right away, and that was definitely not the case here. Once they finally shipped it, it took a day or two to arrive, so it was not a problem on the mail's part. However, I did get the book within the estimated period of delivery, so technically I cannot complain. The thing is that in general other providers send their products faster.

A Strong Focus on Politicized Social Movements
Aside from some introductory matter on the various schools of thought in social movement research, here Tarrow mostly focuses on the influence of political structures on the formation of popular movements. This includes both external political and social influences, plus developments in the interactions between movements and the states/regimes they are confronting. Tarrow mostly uses movements that have had strong political effects in various nations (mostly Europe) as examples for his theories, and utilizes the concept of "cycles of contention" to elaborate on the evolution of movements over time. This specialized focus does lead to some interesting results, such as Tarrow's reconstruction of the disparate revolutions in Europe in 1848 as a widespread movement, or coverage of how states can co-opt a movement's message as a means of control. He has a nearly Marxist conception of such trends, but mostly avoids the tiresome pontificating that is usually fostered by Marxist theorizing. Another bonus is the final chapter of the main text, dealing with new phenomena in globalized or transnational social movements. The book does lose steam frequently as Tarrow gets distracted with long histories of the movements he uses as examples (including way too much repetitive information on the 1848 phenomenon), while his generally strong writing does occasionally lapse into diffuse professor-speak, which sadly is unavoidable in this field. But in the long run, this book offers mostly powerful coverage of politicized social movements, and the study thereof. [~doomsdayer520~]

Good analysis of social movements, but...
Tarrow examines social movements and contentious politics in an in-depth way, providing a framework for understanding cycles of contention and other issues associated with social movements. This book is valuable in that the reader can use Tarrow's arguments to understand the dynamics of current movements. As the previous reviewer noted, Tarrow does leave out some important aspects of social movements, such as emotion, which detracts from his argument.

What I disliked about this book was the writing style of the author. It seemed that he was trying to express even the most simple concepts with verbose, pedantic language that made his arguments difficult to understand and distracted the reader from the points he was trying to make. For example, he defines a cycle of contention like this: "a phase of heightened conflict across the social system: with a rapid diffusion of collective action from more mobilized to less mobilized sectors; a rapid pace of innovation in the forms of contention; the creation of new or transformed collective action frames; a combination of organized and unorganized participate; and sequences of intensified information flow and interaction between challengers and authorities.Such widespread contention produces externalities that give challengers at least a temporary advantage and allows them to overcome the weaknesses in their resource base.It demands that states devise broad strategies of response that are either repressive or facilitative, or a combination of the two." (Page 142.)

The only reason I can fathom that anyone would feel the need to write in such an absurdly inflated style would be if the author's argument and thesis weren't strong to begin with, and the author's intention was to confuse the reader.I think the author could have gotten his point across in a much clearer and concise way. I would advise anyone who is thinking about reading it to peruse the sample pages for more examples of the author's style- then decide if you can stomach this book.

Overall, good information, but the writing style is ridiculous.

Ideal for the social movement student
I had to read an earlier edition of that book for a course on social movements. It was one of my first contacts with social movements literature. Since then, I plug almost everything I read on social movement to the theoretical framework described in this book. I guess the main quality of this book is that the author recognise the contributions made by different schools of thought on social movements and tries to situate them in a larger framework rather then dismiss them. Therefore, anyone working within a specific area of social movement studies can gain something from the reading of this book. However, the major contribution of this book is probably the theorization of the "cycles of contentions" based on changing political opportunity structure. As the opportunity structure open for a social movement, the movement is on the rise... when it close, for example because of a change in the public opinion caused by a rise in insecurity and violence, the movement disolve. Although a very simple theory, it appers very effective in understanding the rise and fall of social movements.

As any student of social movements would argue, this book does not cover all aspect of social movements (e.g. identity, emotions, ...) but Tarrow does leave enough space for other approaches while developing is how theoretical approach to social movements. An excellent book! ... Read more

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'This is a small but highly significant book by one of the first scholars of America...A truly notable book, this is, carefully organized, cut with a diamond point to a finish, studded with novel illustrative materials, gleaming with new illumination, serenely engaging in style, and sparingly garnished with genial humor.' --Charles a. Beard ... Read more

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A full-length analysis of social movements from a cultural perspective. This work considers the different approaches to culture, how movements are affected by their cultural environment and internal cultures within the movements themselves. ... Read more

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Few contemporary social problems in the U.S. affect more people daily than those within the American health care system. Social Movements and the Transformation of American Health Care is the first collection of essays to examine dynamics of change in health care institutions through the lens of contemporary theory and research on collective action. Gathering scholars from medicine, health policy, history, sociology, and political science, the book considers health-related social movements from four distinct levels, concentrating on movements seeking changes in the regulation, financing, and distribution of health resources; changes in institutions in public health, bio-ethics, and other fields; interactions between social movements and professions; and the cultural dominance of the medical model, and the difficulties for framing and legitimizing new issues in health care it poses. At a time when American health care is long overdue for major changes, this book takes an essential look at movements, policies, and institutions to identify the common constraints and opportunities for reform within the health care system. ... Read more