David S. Meyer

People protest to try to change the world, because they think they can help change the world, and sometimes they do. But not by themselves, and generally not just how and when they want. This incisive book explains how groups of ordinary individuals can affect the world, what makes it possible when it works, and why it sometimes doesn't go to plan. Digging into previous scholarship on social movements, David S. Meyer looks at the origins of social movements, how they contrast with revolutionary campaigns, and assesses the periodic influence of activists on politics, policy, culture, and the way people live their lives. He concludes by stressing the narratives about political change that activists construct and the power that lies in these stories. With sharp insight and a wealth of intriguing cases, this book offers a fuller understanding of the politics and potential payoffs of protest politics.​

How Social Movements (Sometimes) Matter

Nella Van Dyke

Although there is a long history of conservative movements in America, the library of social movement studies leans heavily to the left. The Tea Party movement, its sudden emergence and its uncertain fate, provides a challenge to mainstream American politics. It also challenges scholars of social movements to reconcile this new movement with existing knowledge about social movements in America. Understanding the Tea Party Movement addresses these challenges by explaining why and how the movement emerged when it did, how it relates to earlier eruptions of conservative populism, and by raising critical questions about the movement's ultimate fate.

Understanding the Tea Party Movement

Nancy Whittier

Belinda Robnett

Why do social movements take the forms they do? How do activists' efforts and beliefs interact with the cultural and political contexts in which they work? Why do activists take particular strategic paths, and how do their strategies affect the course and impact of the movement? Social Movements aims to bridge the gap between "political opportunities" theorists who look at the circumstances and effects of social movement efforts and "collective identity theorists" who focus on the reconstruction of meaning and identity through collective action. The volume brings together scholars from a variety of perspectives to consider the intersections of opportunities and identities, structures and cultures, in social movements. Representing a new generation of social movement theory, the contributors build bridges between political opportunities and collective identity paradigms, between analyses of movements' internal dynamics and their external contexts, between approaches that emphasize structure and those that emphasize culture. They cover a wide range of case studies from both the U.S. and Western Europe as well as from less developed countries. Movements include feminist organizing in the U.S. and India, lesbian/gay movements, revolutionary movements in Burma, the Philippines, and Indonesia, labor campaigns in England and South Africa, civil rights movements, community organizing, political party organizing in Canada, student movements of the left and right, and the Religious Right. Many chapters also pay explicit attention to the dynamics of gender, race, and class in social movements. Combining a variety of perspectives on a wide range of topics, the contributors' synthetic approach shifts the field of social movements forward in important new directions.

Identity, Culture, and the State

Social Movements

David S. Meyer, Professor

The Tea Party and Occupy--two large, volatile, and diverse movements that have captured significant political space in recent years--illustrate both the high aspirations Americans have for their government and the deep disappointments they feel in it. These movements offer contrasting visions of America's past and, more importantly, its future.This book focuses on the time between the election of Barack Obama in 2008 and his attempted re-election in November 2012. Meyer argues that protest politics, represented by both organisations respond to--and influence--politics in mainstream political institutions.The Battle for America tells the stories of two emblematic movements, shows how each relates to mainstream politics and policy, and examines the way that protest politics of any era shape the greater political milieu in which they operate.

The Tea Party, Occupy, and Their Impact on Mainstream Politics

The Battle for America

Valerie Jenness

Helen M. Ingram

Explores the crucial nexus of policy makers and social movements for the first time.

Social Movements, Public Policy, And Democracy

Routing The Opposition

People protest to try to change the world, because they think they can help change the world, and sometimes they do. But not by themselves, and generally not just how and when they want. How Social Movements (Sometimes) Matter explains how groups of ordinary individuals can affect the world, what makes it possible when it works, and why it sometimes doesn’t go to plan. Starting with the United States, but drawing examples from around the world, and digging into previous scholarship on social movements, David S. Meyer looks at the origins of social movements, how they contrast with revolutionary campaigns, and assesses the periodic influence of activists on politics, policy, culture, and the way people live their lives. He concludes by stressing the narratives about political change that activists construct and the power that lies in these stories. With sharp insight and a wealth of intriguing cases, this book offers a fuller understanding of the politics and potential payoffs of protest politics.

The Politics of Protest offers both a historical overview and an analytical framework for understanding social movements and political protest in American politics. Meyer shows that protest movements, an integral part of our nation's history from the Boston Tea Party to the Civil Rights Movement, are hardly confined to the distant past. He argues that protest movements in America reflect and influence mainstream politics and that in order to understand our political system--and our social and political world--we need to pay attention to protest. The Politics of Protest opens with a short history of social movements in the United States, beginning with the development of the American Republic and outlining how the American constitutional design invites protest movements to offer continual challenges. It then discusses the social impulse to protest, considers the strategies and tactics of social movements, looks at the institutional response to protest, and finally examines the policy ramifications. Each chapter includes a brief narrative of a key movement that illustrates the topic covered in that chapter. New to This Edition * A new chapter on media and movements (Chapter 6: Protest and Communication: New and Old Media) that examines how media has changed in the past two decades, focusing in particular on online activism * New discussions on such topics as the election of a black president, the emergence of the Tea Party movement, and the intensifying conflict regarding immigration policy * More material on the successes of the gay and lesbian movement in promoting policy changes to marriage at the state level and in national military service

Social Movements in America

The Politics of Protest

Offers both a historical overview and an analytical framework for understanding social movements and political protest in American politics.

Sidney Tarrow

Even before the 2016 presidential election took place, groups and individuals angry at Donald Trump, and frightened about what a Trump presidency could mean, were taking to the streets. After the election, and particularly after he inaugural, the protests continued. Over time, the Resistance was joined by a broad variety of groups and embraced an increasing diversity of tactics. In The Resistance, David S. Meyer and Sidney Tarrow have gathered together a cast of eminent scholars to tackle the emergence of a volatile and diverse movement directed against the Trump presidency. Collectively, the contributors examine the origins and concerns of different factions of this movement, and evaluate their prospects for surviving and exercising political influence. Through a range of analytical and methodological approaches, The Resistance offers both an overview of the broad scope of the emerging movement and sharp analyses of the campaign as it works through the numerous crises that the Trump era has introduced.

The Dawn of the Anti-Trump Opposition Movement

The Resistance

Professor of Sociology Political Science and Planning Policy and Design at the University of California Irvine and a Fellow of the Center for the Study of Democracy David S Meyer

Sidney G. Tarrow

Scholars consider ways in which the social movement has changed as a political form, and how it changes the societies in which it occurs. This volume contains revealing perspectives on the effectiveness of social protest.

David S. Meyer

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