Social Movements
Social Strain, Structural Breakdown, Political Opportunity, and Collective Action
By , Department of Sociology and Corrections, Minnesota State University (March 2008)
Section: Social Movements
Subjects: Sociology, Social Movements.
Abstract
Sociology traditionally identified social strain and structural breakdown as causes of collective action. Such explanations were widely interpreted as endorsing social order and viewing its breakdown and the resulting collective action in a negative light. In the 1970s, advocates of the resource mobilization perspective criticized strain and breakdown explanations and this negative connotation of collective action. Rather than strain or breakdown, these theorists explained collective action in terms of solidarity, interests, and resources. Despite these criticisms, strain and breakdown explanations persisted at the margins of mainstream social movement theory. Moreover, the resource mobilization approach invoked ‘opportunity’ to explain collective action. There is a strong resemblance between ‘strain and breakdown’ and ‘opportunity’. Both explain collective action in terms of external, facilitating conditions, but opportunity explanations connote a more favorable evaluation of the resulting collective action. Such resemblances suggest the viability of a synthesis between older and newer explanations of collective action.
DOI: 10.1111/j.1751-9020.2008.00109.x
This article abstract has been viewed 3722 times.
Top 5 related articles
-
Social Movement Strategy, Tactics, and Collective Identity
By , Swarthmore College
(Vol. 3, June 2009)
Sociology Compass -
Identity Deployment and Social Change: Understanding Identity as a Social Movement and Organizational Strategy
By and , University of Connecticut
(Vol. 3, December 2009)
Sociology Compass -
Contemporary Research on Social Movements and Protest in Latin America: Promoting Democracy, Resisting Neoliberalism, and Many Themes in between
By , Willamette University
(Vol. 3, June 2009)
Sociology Compass -
Continuing Validity of the Collective Behavior Approach
By , University of Joensuu, Finland
(Vol. 2, July 2008)
Sociology Compass -
Social Movements in Organizations
By , Hamilton College
(Vol. 2, March 2008)
Sociology Compass
Top 5 Related Blackwell Reference Chapters
Social Conflict and Communication
In a world of finite resources, growing populations, expanding democracy among weak nations, and expanding ...
By Douglas Blanks Hindman
Social Mobilization
Social mobilizations are concrete evidence of commitment and activism aimed at some form of social transformation, ...
By Andrew Calabrese
Social Movement Media, Transnational
Transnational social movements engage in communication processes as well as the creation of media products ...
By Karin Gwinn Wilkins
Social Movements and Communication
All societies generate dissatisfaction among their people based on unequal distributions of wealth, power, ...
By James K. Hertog
Protest and revolution, stages in
Amid the passionate throes of a revolution, it may not appear to a revolutionary that he or she passed ...
By Paul Rubinson
From The International Encyclopedia of Revolution and Protest