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Cover image of Global Struggles and Social Change
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Global Struggles and Social Change

From Prehistory to World Revolution in the Twenty-First Century

Christopher Chase-Dunn and Paul Almeida

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Deftly demonstrates how the rise and fall of social movements throughout history is closely linked to economic and political developments.

In the early decades of the twenty-first century, an international movement to slow the pace of climate change mushroomed across the globe. The self-proclaimed Climate Justice movement urges immediate action to reduce carbon emissions and calls for the adoption of bold new policies to address global warming before irreversible and catastrophic damage threatens the habitability of the planet. On another front, since the 1980s, multiple waves of resistance...

Deftly demonstrates how the rise and fall of social movements throughout history is closely linked to economic and political developments.

In the early decades of the twenty-first century, an international movement to slow the pace of climate change mushroomed across the globe. The self-proclaimed Climate Justice movement urges immediate action to reduce carbon emissions and calls for the adoption of bold new policies to address global warming before irreversible and catastrophic damage threatens the habitability of the planet. On another front, since the 1980s, multiple waves of resistance have occurred around the world against the uneven transition from state-led development to the neoliberal globalization project. Both Climate Justice and Anti-Austerity movements represent the urgency of understanding how global change affects the ability of citizens around the world to mobilize and protect themselves from planetary warming and the loss of social protections granted in earlier eras.

In Global Struggles and Social Change, Christopher Chase-Dunn and Paul Almeida explore how global change stimulates the formation and shape of such movements. Contending that large-scale economic shifts condition the pattern of social movement mobilizations around the world, the authors trace these trends back to premodern societies, revealing how severe disruptions of indigenous communities led to innovative collective actions throughout history. Drawing on historical case studies, world system and protest event analysis, and social networks, they also examine the influence of global change processes on local, national, and transnational social movements and explain how in turn these movements shape institutional shifts.

Touching on hot-button topics, including global warming, immigrant rights protests, the rise of right-wing populism, and the 2008 financial crisis, the book also explores a broad range of premodern social movements from indigenous people in the Americas, Mesopotamia, and China. The authors pay special attention to periods of disruption and external threats, as well as the role of elites, emotions, charisma, and religion or spirituality in shaping protest movements. Providing sweeping coverage, Global Struggles and Social Change is perfect for students and anyone interested in globalization, international and comparative politics, political sociology, and communication studies.

Reviews

Reviews

This work is most significant as an application of the world-systems perspective to a broad, historical analysis of global social change and popular mobilization. A timely and important book by noteworthy authors.

A timely and engaging discussion that introduces very interesting examples of social movements while also making an original, plausible, and empirically well-supported case for how transnational social movement strategies may well contribute to global change in ways that stem the threats posed by globalization. This innovative book addresses the shortcomings of other literatures on transnational social movements.

About

Book Details

Publication Date
Status
Available
Trim Size
6
x
9
Pages
224
ISBN
9781421438627
Illustration Description
1 halftone, 10 line drawings
Table of Contents

List of Tables and Figures
Preface
Introduction
Chapter 1. Social Movements and Collective Behavior in History and Prehistory
Chapter 2. Resistance to Neoliberalism in the Global North and South

List of Tables and Figures
Preface
Introduction
Chapter 1. Social Movements and Collective Behavior in History and Prehistory
Chapter 2. Resistance to Neoliberalism in the Global North and South: National and Local Dynamics
Chapter 3. Transnational Movements: Climate Justice
Chapter 4. The New Global Left and the World Revolution of 20xx: Movements, Culture, Fronts, and Organization
Chapter 5. Evolution of the Global Right in the Geoculture
Chapter 6. The Future of Global Change and Social Movements
Notes
References
Index

Author Bios
Christopher Chase-Dunn
Featured Contributor

Christopher Chase-Dunn

Christopher Chase-Dunn is a Distinguished Professor of Sociology at the University of California, Riverside, where he is the director of the Institute for Research on World-Systems. He is the coauthor of Global Struggles and Social Change: From Prehistory to World Revolution in the Twenty-First Century.
Paul Almeida
Featured Contributor

Paul Almeida

Paul Almeida is an associate professor of sociology at the University of California, Merced, and the author of Waves of Protest: Popular Struggle in El Salvador, 1925–2005.