“Global Movements is essential reading for all those trying to understand our twenty-first-century society. It is the first complex account of new forms of worldwide protest and society.” Tim Jordan, Open University
"This book will be fascinating for anyone who has ever taken part in direct action … McDonald’s work opens up a whole new world for other researchers on global movements."
Development and Change
“Most essays and research on global movements adopt either a planetary perspective, or the subjective perspective of their participants. McDonald, in this brilliant and solid book, articulates both points of view.” Michel Wieviorka, École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales
“[McDonald] provides a particularly thorough and engaging theoretical introduction, evaluating the literature on globalization and social movements in US and European tradition and stressing the obsolescence of a focus on either structure and organization, or representation and identity.”
Choice
The past decade has witnessed an extraordinary rise of new global movements that throw into question the way we think about culture, power, and action in a globalizing world. This book surveys the field and explores some of the most significant of these movements, including antiglobalization and new Islamic movements.
These movements require a rethinking of the very idea of social movement, a concept that owes a great deal to the civic and industrial culture that was so critical to Western modernity, but may be less adequate when exploring forms of culture, action, and communication in a globalized world. This book explores key dimensions of these movements, the tensions they confront, and the crises to which they are subject. It will provide an essential text for students on globalization and social movements.
About the Author
Kevin McDonald is Senior Lecturer in Sociology at the University of Melbourne. He is the author of Struggles for Subjectivity: Identity, Action and Youth Experience (1999) and Pressing Questions: Explorations in Sociology (2nd ed., 2000).
