Social Movements and Social Classes

Louis Maheu is Professor of Sociology and Vice-Dean of the Graduate Faculty at Universite de Montreal. His recent books include La Recomposition du Politique (1991) and Hommage a Marcel Rioux: Sociologie Critique, Creation Artistique et Societe Contemporaine (editor, 1992) CONTRIBUTORS OUTSIDE THE WESTERN HEMISPHERE Maheu: Social Movements and Social Classes Klaus Eder Humboldt University Berlin & European University Institute Fiesole Alberto Melucci University of Milan Jan Pakulski University of Tasmania Hobart Chris Pickvance University of Kent Maurice Roche University of Sheffield Chris Rootes University of Kent Alain Touraine CADIS Paris John Urry University of Lancaster Michel Wieviorka CADIS Paris

Introduction - Louis Maheu PART ONE: FOUNDATIONS FOR COLLECTIVE ACTION Does Social Class Matter in the Study of Social Movements? - Klaus Eder A Theory of Middle-Class Radicalism Social Movements and Class - Jan Pakulski The Decline of the Marxist Paradigm Racism and Social Movements - Michel Wieviorka The New Social Movements Revisited - Alberto Melucci Reflections on a Sociological Misunderstanding PART TWO: SPACE, POWER AND COLLECTIVE ACTION Social Movements in the Transition from State Socialism - Chris Pickvance Convergence or Divergence? Social Movements and the Challenge of Urban Politics - Henri Lustiger-Thaler and Louis Maheu Rethinking Class - John Urry PART THREE: COLLECTIVE ACTION: FROM POLITICS TO DEMOCRACY Rethinking Citizenship and Social Movements - Maurice Roche Themes in Contemporary Sociology and Neoconservative Ideology A New Class? The Higher Educated and the New Politics - Chris Rootes Collective Action and the Paradigm of Individualism - Pierre Hamel Democracy - Alain Touraine From a Politics of Citizenship to a Politics of Recognition

`This book includes the work of twelve authors and many different topics are discussed... The chapters of the book were originally papers presented in Madrid in 1990 at the conference of the International Sociological Association's Research Committee on Social Movements and Social Classes Research. Since then, the authors have rewritten their contributions, and what is especially interesting is that they have commented on the contributions in the other chapters. This means that most chapters not only present the ideas of the individual authors, but also comment on and engage in a dialogue with the other contributions. In this way the book reveals the variation in the field of social movements and classes and the process has forced the authors to sharpen their arguments. The result is that the book is a presentation of a debate, but it does not provide definite answers. Rather, it mirrors the constant attempts to grasp the different theories and empirical studies of this field' - Acta Sociologica