Social Movements and Networks: Relational Approaches to Collective Action(Comparative Politics)

This text examines the extent to which a network approach should inform research on collective action. Leading social movements researchers systematically map out and assess the contribution of social network approaches to their field of enquiry in light of broader theoretical perspective. By exploring how networks affect individual contributions to collective action in both democratic and non-democratic organizations, and how patterns of inter-organizational linkages affect the circulation of resources within and between movements, the authors show how network concepts improve our grasp of the relationship between social movements and elites and of the dynamics of the political processes.

Table of Contents:
Introduction 1: Mario Diani: Social movements, contentious actions, and social networks: 'from metaphor to substance'? Part I. Individual networks 2: Florence Passy: Social Networks Matter. But How? 3: Helmut Anheier: Movement development and organizational networks: The role of 'single members' in the German Nazi party, 1925-1930 Part II. Interorganizational networks 4: Maryjane Osa: Networks in opposition: Linking organizations through activists in the Polish People's Republic 5: Mario Diani: 'Leaders' or brokers? Positions and influence in social movement networks 6: Christopher Ansell: Community embeddedness and collaborative governance in the San Francisco Bay Area environmental movement Part III. Networking the political process 7: Charles Tilly and Lesley J. Wood: Contentious connections in Great Britain, 1828-1834 8: Pamela Oliver and Daniel Myers: Networks, diffusion, and cycles of collective action 9: Jeffrey Broadbent: Movement in context: Thick networks and Japanese environmental protest Part IV. Theories of networks, movements, and collective action 10: Roger Gould: Why do networks matter? Rationalist and structuralist interpretations 11: Ann Mische: Cross-talk in movements: Reconceiving the culture-network link 12: Doug McAdam: Beyond structural analysis: toward a more dynamic understanding of social movements 13: Mario Diani: Networks and social movements: A research programme

About the Author :
Mario Diani is Professor of Sociology at the University of Trento, Italy, and the European Editor of Mobilization. Doug McAdam is Professor of Sociology at Stanford University, and Director of the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences.