Fusing two key concerns of contemporary sociology: globalization and its discontents, and the 'complexity turn' in social theory, authors Chesters and Welsh utilize complexity theory to analyze the shifting constellation of social movement networks that constitute opposition to neo-liberal globalization. They explore how seemingly chaotic and highly differentiated social actors interacting globally through computer mediated communications, face-to-face gatherings and protests constitute a 'multitude' not easily grasped through established models of social and political change.

Drawing...

Social Movements:The key Concepts has relevance for a range of disciplines such as healthcare, Development Studies, Anthropology and Globalisation. Coverage includes The Civil Rights Movement, Direct action, Hactyvism, Indymedia and Feminism.

Social Movements: The Key Concepts provides an insightful, contemporary introduction to some of the frequently encountered terms and groups that are central to the study of collective action and social and political activism. Following an A-Z format, the entries defined and discussed are drawn from the following areas:

• the old social movements of the nineteenth century
• the new social movements of the 1960s and 1970s
• the rise of contemporary network movements.

Key American, European and global social movements are addressed, with each...