Sociology of Social Movements

Sociology of social movements is a subfield of sociology that studies how collective action by large numbers of people challenges or changes existing social, political, economic, or cultural systems. It investigates how social movements emerge, mobilise, organise, and interact with other actors and institutions. It also examines how social movements affect and are affected by social issues, such as inequality, conflict, identity, and change.In this category, you will find articles that explain sociological views of social movements, such as the concepts of collective behaviour, resource mobilisation, political opportunity, and framing, the theories of relative deprivation, new social movements, and social movement outcomes, the methods of researching and analysing social movements, the sources and types of social movements (e.g., reform, revolutionary, resistance), the processes and mechanisms of social movement participation and leadership (e.g., recruitment, networks, tactics), the consequences and challenges of social movements for individuals and society (e.g., repression, co-optation, democratisation), and the responses and solutions to social movements (e.g., negotiation, accommodation, transformation). If you are interested in how social movements affect and are affected by society, this category is for you.