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Title: Social Movements: An Introduction by Donatella Della Porta, Mario Diani ISBN: 0-631-19212-3 Publisher: Blackwell Publishers Pub. Date: 01 February, 1999 Format: Hardcover Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $70.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 3.67 (3 reviews)
Rating: 3
Summary: Mostly Useful for European Studies
Comment: Despite the title, this book cannot really be considered an introduction to the field of social movement research, because it is more specialized than that. Della Porta and Diani are leading sociologists in the European university system, so movements in Europe become the natural focus of this book. This is especially useful if you have interests in European developments, both with social movements and the study thereof, plus unique Euro-politics in the areas of leftism and anarchism. Such material is often fascinating, especially in regards to the fall of the Iron Curtain in recent decades. But beware that this focus cannot be generalized to social movements in other regions of the world because of differing political and social climates - regardless of the authors' occasional attempts to bring examples from America and other regions into the text for comparison.
Note that the authors focus primarily on the "political opportunity structure" arm of social movement research. Once again this leads to quite informative results, except that other realms of knowledge in this field, especially framing and mobilization structures, are under-represented. Also beware of the final chapter which presents an attempt to wrap up (European) social movements into the greater scheme of things. Personal opinions seep into that chapter's coverage of feminist and women's movements, while the authors' theories on the continuities between successful movements and the growth of democracy is a purely European perspective, and even then it only applies to a few specific circumstances like Poland and Romania. One final issue with this book is the writing style, which often succeeds in drying out fascinating material with very tedious academic prose. This may be an issue with translation. [~doomsdayer520~]
Rating: 3
Summary: Good introduction
Comment: They touch on a lot of recent work on social movements, and are good with many new concepts. But the book is not well written enough for undergrads.
Rating: 5
Summary: More than a starting point
Comment: This book is not only a comprehensive introduction to the study of social movements; rather, it presents the "state of art" in the field. The Authors examine several theoretical approaches in a critical way, pointing out their possibilities and limitations. The own object of study -social movements- is examined from various perspectives, from their 'reason de être' to their organizational form and political context. However, it is important to say that the reader will not find a theory or model declared to be "the winner" at any point of the book: the Authors seem to be more concerned with raising questions than answering them. A very interesting book.
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