The Rise of the Masses: Spontaneous Mobilization and Contentious Politics
by Benjamin Abrams
University of Chicago Press, 2023 eISBN: 978-0-226-82682-0 | Paper: 978-0-226-82683-7 | Cloth: 978-0-226-82681-3 Library of Congress Classification HM883.A267 2023 Dewey Decimal Classification 303.484
ABOUT THIS BOOK | AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY | REVIEWS | TOC | REQUEST ACCESSIBLE FILE
ABOUT THIS BOOK An insightful examination of how intersecting individual motivations and social structures mobilize spontaneous mass protests.
Between 15 and 26 million Americans participated in protests surrounding the murders of George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor, and others as part of the Black Lives Matter protests in 2020, which is only one of the most recent examples of an immense mobilization of citizens around a cause. In The Rise of the Masses, sociologist Benjamin Abrams addresses why and how people spontaneously protest, riot, and revolt en masse. While most uprisings of such a scale require tremendous resources and organizing, this book focuses on cases where people with no connection to organized movements take to the streets, largely of their own accord. Looking to the Arab Spring, Occupy Wall Street, and the Black Lives Uprising, as well as the historical case of the French Revolution, Abrams lays out a theory of how and why massive mobilizations arise without the large-scale planning that usually goes into staging protests.
Analyzing a breadth of historical and regional cases that provide insight into mass collective behavior, Abrams draws on first-person interviews and archival sources to argue that people organically mobilize when a movement speaks to their pre-existing dispositions and when structural and social conditions make it easier to get involved—what Abrams terms affinity-convergence theory. Shedding a light on the drivers behind large spontaneous protests, The Rise of the Masses offers a significant theory that could help predict movements to come.
AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY Benjamin Abrams is a lecturer in sociology at University College London.
REVIEWS
“Skillfully drawing on and synthesizing an impressive range of theoretical perspectives, Benjamin Abrams has fashioned a highly original theory of spontaneous mass mobilization. As if that weren’t enough, he goes on to make a compelling, empirically informed case for the application of his affinity-convergence theory to four iconic mass movements, ranging from the French Revolution to the George Floyd Protests of 2020. Anyone interested in the dynamics of spontaneous mass action will want to read this book.”
— Doug McAdam, Ray Lyman Wilbur Professor of Sociology, Stanford University
“Drawing on four diverse cycles of contention. . . . Abrams shows how much of the process of mobilization can be explained as the product of affinities and convergence on the part of unorganized groups—the 'masses' in his title—while their failures can be explained as their inability to create viable and robust structures around their affinities. His book should be read by social movement specialists and by general readers concerned with the current waves of mass mobilization alike. While the book is based on immense reading and research, it is Abrams's deep thinking that I admire most. A very readable and engaging book."
— Sidney Tarrow, author of Power in Movement
“Social movements and revolutions are enormously consequential. Yet, their confounding and elusive mysteries are not fully understood. How do they burst forth, who brings them into being, and why do they fail or succeed? Do they spring from spontaneity or organization? The Rise of the Masses squarely confronts these fundamental questions through careful analysis, copious evidence, and enthralling narratives of historic movements. In so doing, Abrams illuminates how these engines of social change operate. This book is a rich fount of knowledge that should be widely read.”
— Aldon Morris, author of The Origins of the Civil Rights Movement
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Introduction
Part I: Theorizing Mobilization
1. What We Know about Mobilization, and What We Need To
2. Affinity-Convergence Theory
Part II: The Egyptian Revolution, 2011
3. Egypt on the Eve of Revolution
4. The Anatomy of a Revolutionary Moment
5. The Fall and Fall of Revolutionary Egypt
Part III: Occupy Wall Street
6. Globalizing the Revolution
7. Enter the Occupiers
8. The End of the Extraordinary
Part IV: The Black Lives Uprising, 2020
9. From Tragedy to Uprising
10. Mass Mobilization for Black Lives
Part V: The French Revolution, 1789
11. Mass Mobilization against the Ancien Régime
12. The Development of Revolutionary Mobilization
Conclusion
Acknowledgments
Notes
Index
REQUEST ACCESSIBLE FILE
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Please have the accessibility coordinator at your school fill out this form.
The Rise of the Masses: Spontaneous Mobilization and Contentious Politics
by Benjamin Abrams
University of Chicago Press, 2023 eISBN: 978-0-226-82682-0 Paper: 978-0-226-82683-7 Cloth: 978-0-226-82681-3
An insightful examination of how intersecting individual motivations and social structures mobilize spontaneous mass protests.
Between 15 and 26 million Americans participated in protests surrounding the murders of George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor, and others as part of the Black Lives Matter protests in 2020, which is only one of the most recent examples of an immense mobilization of citizens around a cause. In The Rise of the Masses, sociologist Benjamin Abrams addresses why and how people spontaneously protest, riot, and revolt en masse. While most uprisings of such a scale require tremendous resources and organizing, this book focuses on cases where people with no connection to organized movements take to the streets, largely of their own accord. Looking to the Arab Spring, Occupy Wall Street, and the Black Lives Uprising, as well as the historical case of the French Revolution, Abrams lays out a theory of how and why massive mobilizations arise without the large-scale planning that usually goes into staging protests.
Analyzing a breadth of historical and regional cases that provide insight into mass collective behavior, Abrams draws on first-person interviews and archival sources to argue that people organically mobilize when a movement speaks to their pre-existing dispositions and when structural and social conditions make it easier to get involved—what Abrams terms affinity-convergence theory. Shedding a light on the drivers behind large spontaneous protests, The Rise of the Masses offers a significant theory that could help predict movements to come.
AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY Benjamin Abrams is a lecturer in sociology at University College London.
REVIEWS
“Skillfully drawing on and synthesizing an impressive range of theoretical perspectives, Benjamin Abrams has fashioned a highly original theory of spontaneous mass mobilization. As if that weren’t enough, he goes on to make a compelling, empirically informed case for the application of his affinity-convergence theory to four iconic mass movements, ranging from the French Revolution to the George Floyd Protests of 2020. Anyone interested in the dynamics of spontaneous mass action will want to read this book.”
— Doug McAdam, Ray Lyman Wilbur Professor of Sociology, Stanford University
“Drawing on four diverse cycles of contention. . . . Abrams shows how much of the process of mobilization can be explained as the product of affinities and convergence on the part of unorganized groups—the 'masses' in his title—while their failures can be explained as their inability to create viable and robust structures around their affinities. His book should be read by social movement specialists and by general readers concerned with the current waves of mass mobilization alike. While the book is based on immense reading and research, it is Abrams's deep thinking that I admire most. A very readable and engaging book."
— Sidney Tarrow, author of Power in Movement
“Social movements and revolutions are enormously consequential. Yet, their confounding and elusive mysteries are not fully understood. How do they burst forth, who brings them into being, and why do they fail or succeed? Do they spring from spontaneity or organization? The Rise of the Masses squarely confronts these fundamental questions through careful analysis, copious evidence, and enthralling narratives of historic movements. In so doing, Abrams illuminates how these engines of social change operate. This book is a rich fount of knowledge that should be widely read.”
— Aldon Morris, author of The Origins of the Civil Rights Movement
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Introduction
Part I: Theorizing Mobilization
1. What We Know about Mobilization, and What We Need To
2. Affinity-Convergence Theory
Part II: The Egyptian Revolution, 2011
3. Egypt on the Eve of Revolution
4. The Anatomy of a Revolutionary Moment
5. The Fall and Fall of Revolutionary Egypt
Part III: Occupy Wall Street
6. Globalizing the Revolution
7. Enter the Occupiers
8. The End of the Extraordinary
Part IV: The Black Lives Uprising, 2020
9. From Tragedy to Uprising
10. Mass Mobilization for Black Lives
Part V: The French Revolution, 1789
11. Mass Mobilization against the Ancien Régime
12. The Development of Revolutionary Mobilization
Conclusion
Acknowledgments
Notes
Index
REQUEST ACCESSIBLE FILE
If you are a student who cannot use this book in printed form, BiblioVault may be able to supply you
with an electronic file for alternative access.
Please have the accessibility coordinator at your school fill out this form.
It can take 2-3 weeks for requests to be filled.
ABOUT THIS BOOK | AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY | REVIEWS | TOC | REQUEST ACCESSIBLE FILE