Sociology in Social Movements

international encyclopedia of social and behavioral sciences . . .
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> http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/referenceworks/9780080430768#ancpt1785
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>  as the second sentence suggests, there is some consensus among
> sociologists that social movements
>  (1) seek to promote or resist some major social change,
>  (2) to a significant extent use non-institutional means, and
>  (3) establish a relationship with more general political activity
>
>  the encyclopedia includes articles on 17 different social movements (if icounted
correctly), but ido not believe that the editors are in any way claiming that
this is an
> exhaustive list . . .

Social movements are elusive phenomena empirically; they are also hard to
> grasp conceptually. Yet three criteria for defining them are stated: their
> critical relation to social change, which they aim at promoting or
> inversely at resisting, the common use of uninstitutionalized means by
> participants, and the political relevance of their protest-oriented
> actions. The early and exclusive identification of the notion with
> proletarian movements in industrial society had to be discarded and the
> differentiation of social movements from other forms of collective behaviorclearly
worked out before the topic developed into a self-contained field.
> 

A new approach to social movements emerged in the wake of the turbulent
> 1960s: whereas students of collective behavior dwelt on grievances,
> beliefs (with overtones of irrationality), and generally on psychosocial
> dimensions, the so-called ‘resource mobilization’ theory emphasized
> organization, interests, and the rationality of participants and it played
> a great part in stressing the political context and relevance of social
> movements. Now the keynote of the times seems to lie in systematic attempts
> at multidimensional synthesis integrating mobilizing organizations,
> political opportunities, and ‘framing’ processes: although articulating
> distinctive dimensions with one another is not an easy task, the hoped-for
> synthesis seems to be under way.
>  Article Out?line
>
>    - 1. From the Formulation of the Idea to the Development of a
>    Self-contained
Field<http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/B0080430767019240#sec1>
>    - 2. New Emphases in Theory and
Research<http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/B0080430767019240#sec2>
>    - 3. Contemporary Advances and
Issues<http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/B0080430767019240#sec3>
>    - *See
also*:<http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/B0080430767019240#sec4>
>    -
Bibliography<http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/B0080430767019240#bibl001>
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