Review: Hoffbauer and Ramos on Opp's Theories of Political Protest

Karl-Dieter Opp. Theories of Political Protest and Social Movements: A Multidisciplinary Introduction, Critique, and Synthesis. New York: Routledge, 2009, 448 pp. $US 45.95 paper (978-0-415-48389-6), $US 150.00 hardcover (978-0-415-48388-9)

Theories of Political Protest and Social Movements sets out to identify the explanatory power of dominant social movement theories in accounting for political protests. In doing so, the book highlights the implicit and under-theorized links between micro and macro level social movement perspectives, and identifies how they influence one another. Opp argues that current theoretical approaches should be integrated to gain a better understanding of protest actions and movement outcomes, and that such integration can be achieved by adopting a structural-cognitive model.  Read more