16. Social movements

This chapter focuses on social movements, specific forms of collective behaviour having action repertoires of their own that distinguish them from established political actors. Social movements include movements of the extreme right and anti-racist movements, transnational peace movements, and movements aimed against powerful financial interests and orchestrated through social media. The chapter first explains the meaning of social movements and presents a conceptualization of key terms before comparing social movements with organizations. It then considers how social movements attract the attention and gain the support of the public through a combination of protest politics and information politics. It also discusses the role of social movements in political processes and describes three theoretical approaches to social movements: the classical model, the resource mobilization model, and the political process model. The chapter concludes by analysing the emergence, the level of mobilization, and the success of social movements.