Blackwell Reference Online

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Since the 1970s, social movement theory has changed dramatically. One reason is that “the study of social movements is volatile because the phenomena under consideration change so rapidly” (Garner 1997: 1). In this imagery, theory changes to reflect changes in its subject matter. However, theoretical change often has less to do with faithful reflections of a changing subject matter than with rapid shifts in assumptions, perspectives, and questions (Kuhn 1962). A broader sociology of knowledge suggests that theories also change in response to altered sociohistorical contexts and new generations of theorists who bring different experiences to their theoretical work and to the very definition of their subject matter.Within sociology as a whole, all these factors prompted the paradigm shifts of the post-World War II period. The functionalist orthodoxy of the 1950s gave way to several alternatives in the 1960s because social phenomena changed, social and political currents also changed, and new generations of sociologists brought different experiences to their work. The theoretical disputes between functionalism, conflict theory, critical theory, phenomenology, feminist theory, and other alternatives defined the broader context in which paradigm shifts occurred in subfields like collective behavior and social movements. The story of social movement theory is not just a function of movements ... log in or subscribe to read full text