Lesley J. Wood – författare

Social Movements 1768-2018 provides the most comprehensive historical account of the birth and spread of social movements. Renowned social scientist Charles Tilly applies his synthetic theoretical skills to explain the evolution of social movements across time and space in an accessible manner full of historical vignettes and examples. Tilly explains why social movements are but a type of contentious politics to decrease categorical inequalities. Questions addressed include what are the implications of globalization and new technologies for social movements, and what are the prospects for social movements? The overall argument includes data from mobilizations in England, Switzerland, Czechoslovakia, Russia, China, India, Argentina, Chile, Cuba, Mexico, Egypt, Tunisia, Iran, Iraq, and Kazakhstan. This new edition has been fully updated and revised with young researchers and students in mind. New case studies focus on social movements in Mexico, Spain, and the United States including Black Lives Matter, immigrants’ rights struggles, The Indignados, the Catalan movement for independence, #YoSoy132, Ayotzinapa43, mass incarceration and prisoner rights, and more. Timelines are included to familiarise the reader with the events discussed and discussion questions are framed to increase understanding of the implications, limits, and importance of historical and ongoing social movements.

Social Movements 1768-2018 provides the most comprehensive historical account of the birth and spread of social movements. Renowned social scientist Charles Tilly applies his synthetic theoretical skills to explain the evolution of social movements across time and space in an accessible manner full of historical vignettes and examples. Tilly explains why social movements are but a type of contentious politics to decrease categorical inequalities. Questions addressed include what are the implications of globalization and new technologies for social movements, and what are the prospects for social movements? The overall argument includes data from mobilizations in England, Switzerland, Czechoslovakia, Russia, China, India, Argentina, Chile, Cuba, Mexico, Egypt, Tunisia, Iran, Iraq, and Kazakhstan. This new edition has been fully updated and revised with young researchers and students in mind. New case studies focus on social movements in Mexico, Spain, and the United States including Black Lives Matter, immigrants’ rights struggles, The Indignados, the Catalan movement for independence, #YoSoy132, Ayotzinapa43, mass incarceration and prisoner rights, and more. Timelines are included to familiarise the reader with the events discussed and discussion questions are framed to increase understanding of the implications, limits, and importance of historical and ongoing social movements.

Crisis and Control explains how neoliberal transformations of political and economic systems are militarising the policing of protest, based on a compelling empirical study of police agencies and practices from 1995 until the present. Lesley J. Wood shows that the increasing role of the security and defense industries, professional police associations, anti-terrorism initiatives and 'best practices' in policing networks have accelerated the use of less lethal weapons, pre-emptive arrests, infiltration and barricading strategies against protesters. The book uses Bourdieu and Boltanski to analyse court transcripts, police reports, policy, training materials and the conference programs of professional police organisations to argue that police agencies are neither omnipotent strategists, nor simple tools of the elite, but institutions struggling to maintain legitimacy, resources and autonomy in a changing field.

What are the micro-level interactions and conversations that underlie successful and failed diffusion? By comparing the spread of direct action tactics from the 1999 Global Justice Movement protests against the World Trade Organization in Seattle to grassroots activists in Toronto and New York, Lesley Wood argues that dynamics of deliberation among local activists both aided and blocked diffusion. To analyze the localization of this cycle of protest, the research brings together rich ethnography, interviews, social network analysis and catalogs of protest events. The findings suggest that when diverse activists with different perspectives can discuss innovations in a reflexive, egalitarian manner, they are more likely to make strategic and meaningful choices.

What are the micro-level interactions and conversations that underlie successful and failed diffusion? By comparing the spread of direct action tactics from the 1999 Global Justice Movement protests against the World Trade Organization in Seattle to grassroots activists in Toronto and New York, Lesley Wood argues that dynamics of deliberation among local activists both aided and blocked diffusion. To analyze the localization of this cycle of protest, the research brings together rich ethnography, interviews, social network analysis and catalogs of protest events. The findings suggest that when diverse activists with different perspectives can discuss innovations in a reflexive, egalitarian manner, they are more likely to make strategic and meaningful choices.