Publisher's Synopsis
In recent years, social movements have become a popular subject of sociological investigation. This book considers the subject, integrating American and European approaches.;The authors see social movements in terms of a social theory of knowledge that is both politically and historically informed. Social movements are, they argue, forms of activity whereby individuals create new kinds of social identities not only for themselves, but for the societies of which they are a part.;The book is particularly concerned with processes which transform groups of individuals into social movements, and which give social movements their active orientation. Social movements from different periods and cultures are examined comparatively.
