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Title: Power in Movement : Social Movements and Contentious Politics by Sidney Tarrow ISBN: 0-521-62947-0 Publisher: Cambridge University Press Pub. Date: 13 May, 1998 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $20.00 |
Average Customer Rating: 4 (3 reviews)
Rating: 4
Summary: A Strong Focus on Politicized Social Movements
Comment: Aside from some introductory matter on the various schools of thought in social movement research, here Tarrow mostly focuses on the influence of political structures on the formation of popular movements. This includes both external political and social influences, plus developments in the interactions between movements and the states/regimes they are confronting. Tarrow mostly uses movements that have had strong political effects in various nations (mostly Europe) as examples for his theories, and utilizes the concept of "cycles of contention" to elaborate on the evolution of movements over time. This specialized focus does lead to some interesting results, such as Tarrow's reconstruction of the disparate revolutions in Europe in 1848 as a widespread movement, or coverage of how states can co-opt a movement's message as a means of control. He has a nearly Marxist conception of such trends, but mostly avoids the tiresome pontificating that is usually fostered by Marxist theorizing. Another bonus is the final chapter of the main text, dealing with new phenomena in globalized or transnational social movements. The book does lose steam frequently as Tarrow gets distracted with long histories of the movements he uses as examples (including way too much repetitive information on the 1848 phenomenon), while his generally strong writing does occasionally lapse into diffuse professor-speak, which sadly is unavoidable in this field. But in the long run, this book offers mostly powerful coverage of politicized social movements, and the study thereof. [~doomsdayer520~]
Rating: 3
Summary: Good analysis of social movements, but...
Comment: Tarrow examines social movements and contentious politics in an in-depth way, providing a framework for understanding cycles of contention and other issues associated with social movements. This book is valuable in that the reader can use Tarrow's arguments to understand the dynamics of current movements. As the previous reviewer noted, Tarrow does leave out some important aspects of social movements, such as emotion, which detracts from his argument.
What I disliked about this book was the writing style of the author. It seemed that he was trying to express even the most simple concepts with verbose, pedantic language that made his arguments difficult to understand and distracted the reader from the points he was trying to make. For example, he defines a cycle of contention like this: "a phase of heightened conflict across the social system: with a rapid diffusion of collective action from more mobilized to less mobilized sectors; a rapid pace of innovation in the forms of contention; the creation of new or transformed collective action frames; a combination of organized and unorganized participate; and sequences of intensified information flow and interaction between challengers and authorities. Such widespread contention produces externalities that give challengers at least a temporary advantage and allows them to overcome the weaknesses in their resource base. It demands that states devise broad strategies of response that are either repressive or facilitative, or a combination of the two." (Page 142.)
The only reason I can fathom that anyone would feel the need to write in such an absurdly inflated style would be if the author's argument and thesis weren't strong to begin with, and the author's intention was to confuse the reader. I think the author could have gotten his point across in a much clearer and concise way. I would advise anyone who is thinking about reading it to peruse the sample pages for more examples of the author's style- then decide if you can stomach this book.
Overall, good information, but the writing style is ridiculous.
Rating: 5
Summary: Ideal for the social movement student
Comment: I had to read an earlier edition of that book for a course on social movements. It was one of my first contacts with social movements literature. Since then, I plug almost everything I read on social movement to the theoretical framework described in this book. I guess the main quality of this book is that the author recognise the contributions made by different schools of thought on social movements and tries to situate them in a larger framework rather then dismiss them. Therefore, anyone working within a specific area of social movement studies can gain something from the reading of this book. However, the major contribution of this book is probably the theorization of the "cycles of contentions" based on changing political opportunity structure. As the opportunity structure open for a social movement, the movement is on the rise... when it close, for example because of a change in the public opinion caused by a rise in insecurity and violence, the movement disolve. Although a very simple theory, it appers very effective in understanding the rise and fall of social movements.
As any student of social movements would argue, this book does not cover all aspect of social movements (e.g. identity, emotions, ...) but Tarrow does leave enough space for other approaches while developing is how theoretical approach to social movements. An excellent book!
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Title: Comparative Perspectives on Social Movements : Political Opportunities, Mobilizing Structures, and Cultural Framings by Doug McAdam, John D. McCarthy, Mayer N. Zald ISBN: 0521485169 Publisher: Cambridge University Press Pub. Date: 26 January, 1996 List Price(USD): $24.00 |
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Title: Poor People's Movements : Why They Succeed, How They Fail by FRANCES FOX PIVEN, RICHARD CLOWARD ISBN: 0394726979 Publisher: Vintage Books Pub. Date: 12 December, 1978 List Price(USD): $13.60 |
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Title: Dynamics of Contention by Doug McAdam, Sidney Tarrow, Charles Tilly ISBN: 0521011876 Publisher: Cambridge University Press Pub. Date: 10 September, 2001 List Price(USD): $22.00 |
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Title: New Social Movements: From Ideology to Identity by Enrique Larana, Hank Johnston, Joseph R. Gusfield ISBN: 1566391873 Publisher: Temple Univ Press Pub. Date: September, 1994 List Price(USD): $24.95 |
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Title: Methods of Social Movement Research by Bert Klandermans, Suzanne Staggenborg ISBN: 0816635951 Publisher: Univ of Minnesota Pr (Txt) Pub. Date: August, 2002 List Price(USD): $29.95 |
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