Blackwell Reference Online

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Social mobilizations are concrete evidence of commitment and activism aimed at some form of social transformation, whether in the formal sense of changing laws or by influencing informal social norms. Mobilizations are episodic and shorter-lived than movements, and are often key milestones in the history of movements, providing observable evidence of solidarity, progress, and public awareness built around a particular cause or set of related causes (→  Social Movements and Communication ). Mobilizations may receive the conferral of legitimacy through the support of political institutions such as local and national governments, or intergovernmental organizations such as UN agencies. But mobilizations also may challenge and serve to undermine the moral authority and/or political legitimacy of such institutions. They can be understood as means to the ends sought by social movements, and although no single mobilization is sufficient evidence of the existence and scope of a social movement, no movement can be said to exist without one or more forms of observable mobilization. Mobilization repertoires may vary according to legality/illegality, scale, size, cost, intensity, and purpose. Practices may include mass street demonstrations; protest marches; sit-ins and blockades; occupations of land or buildings; street theatre and performance; temporary public art installations; “culture ... log in or subscribe to read full text