Providing a unique blend of cases, concepts, and essential readings The Social Movements Reader, Third Edition, delivers key classic and contemporary articles and book selections from around the world.

• Includes the latest research on contemporary movements in the US and abroad, including the Arab spring, Occupy, and the global justice movement
• Provides original texts, many of them classics in the field, which have been edited for the non-technical reader
• Combines the strengths of a reader and a textbook with selected readings and extensive editorial material
• Sidebars offer concise definitions of key terms, as well as biographies of famous activists and chronologies of several key movements
• Requires no prior knowledge about social movements or theories of social movements

"As a new wave of protest is spreading globally, this expanded reader offers us important tools to understand why and how social movements emerge, develop and influence politics and society."---Donatella Della Porta, European University Institute, Italy

"This timely reader provides not only a comprehensive introduction for undergraduates and postgraduates studying social movements but also a shrewd global perspective, combining the best of classical literature in the field and contemporary theoretical and methodological concerns ... an excellent text for anyone interested in understanding social conflicts."---Olivier Fillieule, University of Lausanne, Switzerland

This third edition of the highly successful The Social Movements Reader builds on its selection of "classic" texts and core readings from recent decades with the latest research on contemporary movements in the US and around the world, including the Arab Spring, Occupy, and the global justice movement

With its unique blend of cases, concepts, and essential scholarship, the Reader addresses commonly asked questions about these and many other movements, including: Why do movements arise? Who joins them? Why do they use particular tactics? And what do movements accomplish?

Requiring no prior knowledge about social movements, this new edition combines the strengths of both a reader and a textbook, supplementing the most important and readable articles and book selections on social movements with definitions of key concepts, biographies of exemplary leaders, new developments in the field, and timelines of several ongoing social movements - (Blackwell UK)

Jeff Goodwin is Professor of Sociology at New York University. He is the author of No Other Way Out: States and Revolutionary Movements, 1945--1991 (2001).
James M. Jasper is Professor of Sociology at the Graduate Center of the City University of New York. He has written many books, including Getting Your Way (2006), The Art of Moral Protest (1997), and The Animal Rights Crusade (1992)

Together they have edited Contention in Context (2012), two previous editions of The Social Movements Reader (2003, 2009), and Passionate Politics (2001) - (Blackwell UK)

Jeff Goodwin is Professor of Sociology at New York University. He is the author of No Other Way Out: States and Revolutionary Movements, 1945-1991 (2001).

James M. Jasper is Professor of Sociology at the Graduate Center of the City University of New York. He has written many books, including The Animal Rights Crusade(1992) and The Art of Moral Protest (1997), and Getting Your Way (2006).

Together they have edited two previous editions of The Social Movements Reader (2003, 2009) Passionate Politics (2001) and Contention in Context (2012).

This third edition of the highly-successful Social Movements Reader builds on its selection of “classic” texts and core readings from recent decades with the latest research on contemporary movements in the US and around the world, including the Arab spring, Occupy, and the global justice movement.

With its unique blend of cases, concepts, and essential scholarship, the Reader addresses commonly asked questions about these and many other movements, including: Why do movements arise? Who joins them? Why do they use particular tactics? And what do movements accomplish?

Requiring no prior knowledge about social movements, this new edition combines the strengths of both a reader and a textbook, supplementing the most important and readable articles and book selections on social movements with definitions of key concepts, biographies of exemplary leaders, new developments in the field, and timelines of several ongoing social movements.