Social Stratification and Social Movements : Theoretical and Empirical Perspectives on an Ambivalent Relationship

This volume addresses the contested relationship between social stratification and social movements in three different ways: First, the authors address the relationship between social stratification and the emergence of protest mobilization. Second, the texts look at social stratification and social positions to explain variations in political orientations, as well as differing aims and interests of protestors. Finally, the volume focuses on the socio-structural composition of protestors. Social Stratification and Social Movements takes up recent attempts to reconnect research on these two fields. Instead of calling for a return of a class perspective or abandoning the classical social movement research agenda, it introduces a multi-dimensional perspective on stratification and social movements and broadens the view by extending the empirical analysis beyond Europe.

Sabrina Zajak is leader of the Department Consensus and Conflict at the German Center for Integration and Migration Research, Berlin, and Assistant Professor for globalization conflicts, social movement and labour at the Ruhr- University Bochum, Institute for Social Movements, Germany. She is the author of Transnational Activism, Global Labour Governance, and China.

Sebastian Haunss is founding member of the Institute for Social Movement Studies (ipb) and Professor of Political Science at the University of Bremen Research Center on Inequality and Social Policy (SOCIUM) where he leads the research group on Social Conflicts. He is author of Conflicts in the Knowledge Society: The Contentious Politics of Intellectual Property.