Overview

Social movements continue to provide rich fodder for social researchers in the twenty-first century. This reader gives range and depth to ongoing debates about what constitutes a social movement, what motivates actors to participate in social movements, and how social movements continue to evolve in post-industrial societies such as the United States. Not all social movements are about positive social change and some movements have been and will be destructive. The nine essays contained in this text represent classical movements such as the Oneida utopian movement of nineteenth century America and contemporary emerging movements such as the church-growth movement. The authors examine movements that are attempting to revitalize American health care and religious practice along with movements that are counter to social justice such as the white supremacist movement.Was Jonestown a cult or social movement? How does a charismatic leader such as John Humphrey Noyes sell the notion of selective breeding to Oneida communitarians? What is motivating people to participate in the contemporary communal movement in the United States? Such questions are fundamental to our understanding of the emergence and sustainability of social movements. This reader provides authoritative answers to these questions and many more as well as providing a basis for further thought and discussion among students of social movements.While this volume does not attempt to present a unified theory of social movements, the authors apply different theoretical approaches to their explanation of the movements they write about. Authors represent various disciplines such as anthropology, education, and sociology and specialty areas such as criminal justice, immigration, and religion. This multidisciplinary approach adds to the appeal of this reader; with the goal of accessibility to a wide range of audiences who are interested in social movement phenomena, both past and present.

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9781847185181

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Reviews

Professors Dentice and Williams provide college students and interested lay readers with an informative, interdisciplinary and insightful introduction to the subject of social movements. The selections are readable and intelligent. I strongly recommend Social Movements: Contemporary Perspectives to anyone who seeks to understand the particular contribution of social movements to contemporary life. - Jack Levin; The Brudnick Professor of Sociology and Criminology at Northeastern University (and author of The Violence of Hate: Confronting Racism, Anti-Semitism, and Other Forms of Bigotry) Current work in social movements tends oscillates between highly abstract theoretical models and detailed pointalist portraits of individual movements. By bringing together work on nine different movements, especially on the far right, Dianne Dentice and James Williams build middle range explanations from the ground up. This volume will find a comfortable home in courses that are uncomfortable with facile explanations. - Michael Kimmel, Sociology, SUNY Stony Brook. Social Movements: Contemporary Perspectives provides scholars, as well as lay readers, an interesting and fresh look at a number of unconventional collectivities - utopian and not so utopian - devoted to changing the world. I find the scholarship in this volume to be instructive, insightful, and smart, and believe it makes a valuable contribution to the discipline. I recommend it highly to all who are interested in how and why humans band together to precipitate social change. - Douglas F. George, Assistant Professor of Sociology, University of Central Arkansas, Conway, Arkansas.

Professors Dentice and Williams provide college students and interested lay readers with an informative, interdisciplinary and insightful introduction to the subject of social movements. The selections are readable and intelligent. I strongly recommend Social Movements: Contemporary Perspectives to anyone who seeks to understand the particular contribution of social movements to contemporary life. - Jack Levin; The Brudnick Professor of Sociology and Criminology at Northeastern University (and author of The Violence of Hate: Confronting Racism, Anti-Semitism, and Other Forms of Bigotry) Current work in social movements tends oscillates between highly abstract theoretical models and detailed pointalist portraits of individual movements. By bringing together work on nine different movements, especially on the far right, Dianne Dentice and James Williams build middle range explanations from the ground up. This volume will find a comfortable home in courses that are uncomfortable with facile explanations. - Michael Kimmel, Sociology, SUNY Stony Brook. Social Movements: Contemporary Perspectives provides scholars, as well as lay readers, an interesting and fresh look at a number of unconventional collectivities - utopian and not so utopian - devoted to changing the world. I find the scholarship in this volume to be instructive, insightful, and smart, and believe it makes a valuable contribution to the discipline. I recommend it highly to all who are interested in how and why humans band together to precipitate social change. - Douglas F. George, Assistant Professor of Sociology, University of Central Arkansas, Conway, Arkansas.

Author Information

Dianne Dentice graduated with her Ph.D. in Sociology from Texas Woman's University in Denton, Texas in August 2006. She recently completed a play called Ten Days in Paris which chronicles the pivotal meeting between Marx and Engels in 1844. She is currently an Assistant Professor of Sociology at Stephen F. Austin State University in Nacogdoches, Texas. Her most recent research deals with the Ku Klux Klan.James L. Williams is Professor and Chair of the Department of Sociology and Social Work at Texas Woman's University in Denton, Texas. He received his Ph.D. in Sociology from the University of Georgia. His research and teaching interests include criminology, deviant behavior, criminal justice, and extremist social movements.

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