Keyword

Axes

Upper Left Quadrant Details Upper Right Quadrant Details Lower Left Quadrant Details Lower Right Quadrant Details Details

Quadrants

Outline

Movements are aggregates of people making claims about a new order of life. With four basic empirical properties: collective challenge, common purpose, social solidarity and sustained interaction with elites, opponents and authorities (Tarrow).
The vertical axis refers to a fundamental divide in social movements analysis. The European approach asks "why" movements arise, focusing on crisis erupting from major structural "strains" (Smelser) in the society. The American approach asks "how" social movements develop, concentrating upon conditions which favour creation and success of collective action. The horizontal axis indicates the relationship of collective movements with political order. While most movements challenge existing authorities, they only rarely seek to overthrow them and may have a more or less overt tendency to institutionalize their activities.