Contention in Context

Jeff Goodwin is Professor of Sociology at New York University. James M. Jasper is Professor of Sociology at the Graduate Center of the City University of New York. They are coeditors of The Social Movements Reader: Cases and Concepts (2009) and The Contexts Reader (2007).

"Debates about the concept of political opportunity structure remain vivid and strongly divisive. This book clearly highlights the variety of theoretical conceptualizations in the field and offers path-breaking proposals that will be very useful in future discussions about the actual effect of political contexts on the fate of social movements."—Olivier Fillieule, University of Lausanne "This book edited by two renowned social movement scholars addresses a fundamental debate in the field regarding the impact of political opportunity on social movements and other forms of political contention. A must read for students and scholars alike, it proposes a synthetic but more strategic approach that takes into account the micro-structural processes and mechanisms beneath the political contexts that inspire collective action."—Verta Taylor, University of California, Santa Barbara