Synopses & Reviews
Non-institutionalized collective action is such a conspicuous feature of today’s social landscape, exemplified by recent events in the Arab world, that a day rarely goes by in which the news does not refer to a social movement or protest activity. The study of these movements is important on many levels, especially in the greater understanding it offers of the social worlds in which they emerge and operate. This Encyclopedia delivers a comprehensive, authoritative, interdisciplinary, and up-to-date reference work, filled with examples, key perspectives, concepts, relevant research methodologies, and scholarly insights on social and political movements across the entire globe.
The Encyclopedia comprises over 400 entries, in a user-friendly A-Z format within a three-volume print set, and it will be simultaneously available online. The coverage is broad-based, and reflects major social and political movements and related collective phenomena throughout segments of history and across the world: from the Anti-Slavery Movement, to the Tiananmen student movement, to the Arab Spring. This work brings together a team of leading scholars, all of whom come to the project with exemplary track records and international standing. As you would expect from a resource in this field, the contributor team spans several disciplines and brings together scholars from over ten countries. The result is both an invaluable, interdisciplinary reference and a springboard for students and scholars who want to learn about specific social and political movements, and the various concepts, perspectives, and methodologies used to analyze those movements.
Review
“What are social movements made of? Why do some succeed, others fail? What is their outcome? To these more than ever topical questions, this monumental worldwide encyclopaedia has the answers. Edited by the leading experts in the field, its three volumes bring to life the main popular struggles around the globe since two centuries, from anti-slavery mobilizations to the women’s lib and the recent Arab revolutions, with all the conceptual and methodological tools to understand them. Not only students and scholars, but all those concerned with the pace of political change will find there the most up to date comprehensive reference handbook.”—
Nonna Mayer, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), France “This astonishingly broad collection of short essays covers not only specific social movements organized by topic, time and place, but even more importantly the general theories and methods most useful for studying such social change processes. It is a timely synthesis of a field of research which has expanded exponentially since the 1960s, and which is more relevant to today than to any other time since then.”—Myra Marx Ferree, University of Wisconsin-Madison
"This impressive set of three volumes, edited by some of the best experts in the field, provides comprehensive insight, theoretical as well as empirical, into what movements have done and accomplished all over the globe; which kinds of injustice they have protested against; and which rights they have claimed, successfully or otherwise, on behalf of their very diverse constituencies. The social science profession is enriched here by a multi-disciplinary overview that puts a welcome emphasis on data, narratives, and comparative perspective.”—Claus Offe, Hertie School of Governance
“The Encyclopedia of Social and Political Movements is an extraordinary resource for anyone who is interested in social movement research. While it is clearly useful as a handy reference guide for students and researchers, anyone who is interested in the topic will also find that this Encyclopedia just makes for some good reading. The articles, written by an all-star cast of social movement scholars, are engaging and lively. Whether you are interested in learning more about a particular social movement, or getting a handle on key concepts and theories, this is a remarkable source of information.”—Rory McVeigh, University of Notre Dame
“A huge and hugely welcome contribution! Social movements are as diverse as they are influential in shaping the course of social change. Social movement research is a flourishing field. This Encyclopedia is an invaluable and timely guide to both.”—Craig Calhoun, Director of the London School of Economics and Political Science
Review
“Political scientists, sociologists, as well as students in other academic disciplines should find this book of enormous value.” (
Library Journal, 1 April 2013)
Review
“Overall this is a fine start for a work that encompasses such a vast number of insights and so much analysis. Watching the expansion of the knowledge base in future editions will be interesting. Index at end of the third volume. Summing Up: Recommended. Upper-level undergraduates through researchers/faculty.” (
Choice, 1 July 2013)
“Political scientists, sociologists, as well as students in other academic disciplines should find this book of enormous value.” (Library Journal, 1 April 2013)
Synopsis
Comprehensive, authoritative, interdisciplinary, and up-to-date, The Wiley-Blackwell Encyclopedia of Social and Political Movements contains over 400 entries across three volumes, exploring social and political movements and related collective phenomena throughout the world.
- COMPREHENSIVE: Comprising over 400 entries across three volumes, this invaluable reference resource explores major social and political movements and related collective phenomena across the globe
- INTERNATIONAL: Brings together a prestigious editorial team drawn from ten countries and from across four disciplines
- WIDE-RANGING: Covers a broad range of historical and modern topics to create an understanding of many of the most significant social and political developments and changes throughout much of human history, from the French Revolution, to the global women's movement, to Martin Luther King Jr. and the American Civil Rights Movement, through to more recent issues including environmentalism and the Arab Spring
- AUTHORITATIVE: Organized, authored and edited by leading scholars, all of whom come to the project with exemplary track records and international standing
- MULTI-FORMAT: Available online or as a three-volume print set, structured in a user-friendly A-Z format
About the Author
David A. Snow is a Distinguished Professor of Sociology at the University of California, Irvine, where he also serves as the Co-Director of the Center for Citizen's Peacebuilding. He is the author of
The Wiley-Blackwell Companion to Social Movements (with Sarah Soule and Hanspeter Kriesi, 2004),
Social Movements: Readings on Their Emergence, Mobilization, and Dynamics (with Doug McAdam, 2009), and
A Primer on Social Movements (with Sarah Soule, 2010). Professor Snow was the 2008 recipient of the Society for the Study of Social Problems' Lee Founders Award for career contributions to the study of social problems.
Donatella della Porta lectures at the European University Institute, Florence, and directs the ERC project ‘Mobilizing for Democracy: Democratization processes and the mobilization of civil society’. She is the co-author of Social Movements: An Introduction (with Mario Diani, 2006); Europeanization and Social Movements (with Manuela Caiani, 2009); and Mobilizing on the Extreme Right: Germany, Italy, and the United States (with Manuela Caiani and Claudius Wagemann, 2012); and editor of Democracy in Social Movements (2009); Another Europe (2009). In 2011, Professor della Porta was awarded the Mattei Dogan Prize for political sociology.
Bert Klandermans is Professor in Applied Social Psychology at the VU University of Amsterdam. He is Director of the research program Social Conflict and Change. He is the editor and co-author of Methods of Social Movement Research (with Suzanne Staggenborg, 2002) and Extreme Right Activists in Europe (with Nonna Mayer, 2006). He also co-edited the Handbook of Social Movements across Disciplines (with Conny Roggeband, 2007). In 2011/2012 he was President of the International Society of Political Psychology. In 2009 he received a Royal Award for his efforts to link science and society.
Doug McAdam is Professor of Sociology and Director of the Program on Urban Studies at Stanford University. He is widely credited as one of the pioneers of the political process model in social movement analysis. His publications include Political Process and the Development of Black Insurgency, 1930-1970 (1982), Freedom Summer (1988), Dynamics of Contention (with Sid Tarrow and Charles Tilly, 2001), and Putting Social Movements in their Place: Explaining Opposition to Energy Projects in the United States, 2000-2005 (with Hilary Boudet, 2012).