Social Movements: An Introduction

by Donatella della Porta, Mario Diani

Social Movements is a comprehensive introduction and critical analysis of collective action in society today. In this new edition, the authors have updated all chapters with the most recent scientific literature, expanded on topics such as individual motivations, new media, public policies, and governance.

Genres: Sociology, Social Movements, Politics, Academic, Anthropology, History, Nonfiction

356 pages, Paperback

First published January 12, 1999

Reviews

[Aslihan · Rating 4 out of 5]

The book provides a comprehensive conceptual framework for an elementary reader of social movements. This helps to understand how social movements are defined, who their constituents are, the process by which individuals engage in collective action. Therefore, while the book is useful as a preliminary reading on social movements, it lacks depth in addressing the historical transformations of social movements and the diversity of internal mechanisms and conflicts. There is very little on historical processes that have led to the consolidation of movements as dynamos of social and political change. There is also very little reference to social movements themselves as empirical evidence, except for global justice movement, which is well known to be the primary field of inquiry for the authors. For a full understanding of social movements, one should at least support this reading with others like Tilly, Tarrow, maybe more recently Castells.

[Chad · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very dense, but interesting as well. A complete breakdown of the sociology of social movements, different theories, studies, et cetera, in as concise an explanation as can be done. But still heavy. Very.

[Tau · Rating 1 out of 5]

Horribly written, horribly organised.

The book does contain information about how social movements can be conceptualised, has some historical sketches of how it changed over time... but it is seemingly all thrown in randomly.

There are editing errors like verbatim repeated passages or mentioning that there are two problems with something, and then only mentioning one.
The subheadings dont make sense and the text belonging to it does not actually talk about the stated topic.
It goes over the same things again and again, but you cannot be sure if its the same or not, because it also jumps back and forth in time, back and forth between different frameworks and theories... it's a mess.
I'm even taking notes, but afterwards I need to re-arrange all the notes so that they make sense.
I feel like I would have a clearer understanding of the topic if I just read individual papers.

On top of that it is written in a totally dry, lazy academic style with long, winding sentences with a lot of jargon that could've been expressed simpler and clearer. If this was mine, it would be the horrible first verbose draft - afterwards I would spend hours and hours to organise and streamline things. This has patently not happened here.

These observations, together with the incessant citing of their own works make me think this was a work produced out of pure self-interest... to make money, to get more citations and boost their h-index, to get more status... it's sad.

This all makes the book just very confusing and frustrating, like I'm just reading through the hastily thrown together garbage that somebody didn't care about. I spent my money and time on it, and they repay me with a slap in the face.

[Casey Browne · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very dense, but enjoyable as well. A complete breakdown of the sociology of social movements, different theories, studies, et cetera, in as concise an explanation as can be done. But still heavy. Very.
The book provides a comprehensive conceptual framework for an elementary reader of social movements. This helps to understand how social activities are defined, who their constituents are, the process by which individuals engage in collective action. Therefore, while the book is helpful as a preliminary reading on social movements, it lacks depth in addressing the historical transformations of social activities and the diversity of internal mechanisms and conflicts. It is very little on historical processes that have led to the consolidation of movements as dynamos of social and political change. There is also a minimal reference to social movements themselves as empirical evidence, except for the global justice movement, which is well known to be the primary field of inquiry for the authors.

[عصام محمد]

ممكن نبذة عن الكتاب

[Pixelschmelzen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Es hält was es verspricht. Eine hilfreiche, gut geschriebene Einführung in die moderne Bewegungsforschung

[Chanti · Rating 3 out of 5]

A little dense, but practical and powerful.

[Sina]

Great reference guide on Social Movements--it's definitely one of the canonical anthologies for me.

[May Somyanontanakul · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very good for those who want to study social movements.

[Hagar · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good intro to social movement theory.