Ron Eyerman

Building on their studies of sixties culture and theory of cognitive praxis, Ron Eyerman and Andrew Jamison examine the mobilization of cultural traditions and formulation of new collective identities through the music of activism. They combine a sophisticated theoretical argument with historical-empirical studies of nineteenth-century populists and twentieth-century labour and ethnic movements, focusing on the interrelations between music and social movements in the United States and the transfer of those experiences to Europe. Specific chapters examine folk and country music, black music, music of the 1960s movements, and music of the Swedish progressive movement.

This book offers a new perception on the role of intellectuals in the modern social order. The author considers the meaning of the notion 'intellectual' today and the impact that recent social changes have had upon the nature of contemporary intellectual culture. The intellectual, Eyerman argues, does not belong to a fixed social stratum and is to be understood in terms of his or her social positioning, rather than in relation to any personal qualities or capabilities. To be an intellectual is to take on and reinvent a role from within the multiple possibilities of tradition and context. Discussing the 'stratification' of intellectual life, this book includes a central contribution to social theory in general as well as to the understanding of modern intellectual culture. . The work will be of interest to students and professionals in the areas of sociology, philosophy and cultural studies.

"In November 2004, the controversial Dutch filmmaker Theo van Gogh was killed on a busy street in Amsterdam. A twenty-six year old Dutch citizen of Moroccan descent shot van Gogh, slit his throat, and pinned a five-page indictment of Western society to his body. The murder set off a series of reactions, including arson against Muslim schools and mosques. In "The Assassination of Theo van Gogh", Ron Eyerman explores the multiple meanings of the murder and the different reactions it elicited: among the Amsterdam-based artistic and intellectual subculture, the wider Dutch public, the local and international Muslim communities, the radical Islamic movement, and the broader international community. After meticulously analyzing the actions and reputations of van Gogh and others in his milieu, the motives of the murderer, and the details of the assassination itself, Eyerman considers the various narrative frames the mass media used to characterize the killing."--Book cover.

A comprehensive introduction and critical analysis of collective action in society today.

"This original book is the first to concentrate on the methodological problems of studying collective action. How do social movements such as environmental concern, political protest or feminism emerge and operate? How can the researcher chart and analyse the process?" "In a lucid and coherent discussion ranging across Europe, the authors emphasize the link between theorization and data analysis. This crucial step in the research process is often ignored in contemporary debates, which tend to reduce methodological issues to the mechanics of research techniques." "The book illustrates the different research strategies that have developed to fit the theoretical and empirical peculiarities of research on collective action. These include both quantitative approaches, such as protest event analysis and network analysis, and qualitative approaches, such as political discourse analysis and life histories. The authors address problems of data construction, research design and operationalization of specific theoretical concepts. The impact on the research process of the relationship between researchers and researched is also assessed." "As an example of intelligent and reflective writing about the business of doing social research, Studying Collective Action will be of wide interest to students and lecturers in political science and sociology."--BOOK JACKET.

This volume is first consistent effort to systematically analyze the features and consequences of colonial repatriation in comparative terms, examining the trajectories of returnees in six former colonial countries (Belgium, France, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, and Portugal). Each contributor examines these cases through a shared cultural sociology frame, unifying the historical and sociological analyses carried out in the collection. More particularly, the book strengthens and improves one of the most important and popular current streams of cultural sociology, that of collective trauma. Using a comparative perspective to study the trajectories of similarly traumatized groups in different countries allows for not only a thick description of the return processes, but also a thick explanation of the mechanisms and factors shaping them. Learning from these various cases of colonial returnees, the authors have been able to develop a new theoretical framework that may help cultural sociologists to explain why seemingly similar claims of collective trauma and victimhood garner respect and recognition in certain contexts, but fail in others.