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Book Review Power in Movement: Social Movements, Collective Action and

Politics by Sidney Tarrow

Article  in  American Journal of Sociology · July 1995

DOI: 10.1086/230707

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Review: [untitled]
Author(s): Robert D. Benford
Source: The American Journal of Sociology, Vol. 101, No. 1 (Jul., 1995), pp. 227-229
Published by: The University of Chicago Press
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/2782514 .
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 Book Reviews

and behaviorsthat develop betweengroupsare the degree of physical

segregationand role segregationbetween groups. Physical separation
makes paternalismand controlthroughideologymoredifficult because
the lack of day-to-dayclose contactaffordssubordinategroups more
opportunities to developtheirown interpretations oftheirexploitedposi-
tions.Role segregationallows individualsfromdifferent groupsto be in
veryclose proximity while the boundariesbetweengroupsstay sharply
defined.Using data froma 1975 nationwidesurveyof Americansde-
signedto exploretheseissues,Jackmanshows that genderrelationsare
characterizedby the least amountof physicalsegregation,a highdegree
of role segregation,and a highdegreeof paternalism.Race relationsare
characterizedby a greatdeal of physicalseparation,a moderatedegree
of rolesegregation, a loweramountofpaternalism,and a higheramount
of conflict.Even in conflict-ridden Americanrace relations,Jackman
showsthatabout40% ofwhitesexhibitpaternalism,nothostility, toward
blacks. Class relationsfallbetweentheextremesofgenderand race, with
a moderate amount of role and spatial segregationand a moderate
amountof conflictand paternalism.
This is an ambitiousbook in thatit attemptsto redirectscholarlywork
in threedifferent fields,it takesa novel methodologicalapproach,and it
proposesa new theoryofintergroup relations.It mightbe a controversial
bookforthosewho do notacceptthepremisethatJackmantakesas given,
thatexploitationis keyto therelationsbetweentheclasses,thesexes,and
theraces. (Mostsociologists, I suspect,wouldhave littletroublewithsuch
a premise.)It is above all a scholarlybook,however,whichpersuadedme
ofa bold new approach,surveyedand synthesized a wide bodyofknowl-
edge,and used new empiricalmaterialto supporta theoreticaladvance. I
hope otherscholarswilltesttheseideas withotherdata, in othersocieties,
withothertypesofintergroup relations,and in otherhistoricalperiods.

Power in Movement:Social Movements,CollectiveAction and Politics.

By SidneyTarrow. New York: CambridgeUniversityPress, 1994. Pp.
ix+251. $59.95 (cloth);$17.95 (paper).

RobertD. Benford
UniversityofNebraska-Lincoln

For over two centuries,ordinarypeople, relativelypowerlessfolk,have

exerciseda powerfulinfluenceon politicsand societyby acting collec-
tively.There is, in otherwords, "power in movement."Under what
conditionsis thisthe case? Has the influenceof social movementsbeen
"real" and enduringor illusoryand ephemeral?Are therecommonpat-
ternsof power dynamicsin the careersof movements?These are the
centralquestionsof SidneyTarrow's extraordinary monograph,Power
in Movement.While partialanswersto thesequestionscan be foundin
his earlierworks and in the writingsof others-most notablyCharles

227
AmericanJournalof Sociology

Tilly-this is the mostcomprehensive, holisticanalysisof the historyof

social movementsyet published.That in itselfwould constitutea sub-
stantialcontributionto sociology,history,and politicalscience.But Tar-
rowgoes muchfurther bydevelopinga generaltheoryofcollectiveaction
thataccountsforthe riseand fallof movements,the powerstheyderive
and exercise,and theirculturaland structuralimpacts.
Politicalopportunity structuresformthe cornerstone of Tarrow's the-
ory of collectiveaction, and it is upon these structuresthat all other
processesdepend,frommovementemergenceto movementparticipation
to resourcemobilizationto movementoutcomes.Yet thisis not a mono-
causal, deterministic theoryof collectiveaction. Rather,it is a sophisti-
cated elaborationof the structuralcomplexitiesthatconstrainand facili-
tate collectiveaction. The most salient of these changes in political
opportunity structuresincludeincreasingaccess to power,unstablepoliti-
cal alignments,influentialallies, and divisionsamong elites. Although
each had been previouslyidentified,Tarrow's insightful articulationof
the conditionsunderwhichtheseaffectvariousformsofcollectiveaction
and how theydo so is novel. Moreover,Tarrow'sformulation ofpolitical
opportunity structuresis not as purelyobjectivisticas has typicallybeen
the case with earlierscholars. Though still clingingto the objectivist
ontologyof the resourcemobilizationand politicalprocessapproaches,
his conceptualizationopens the door forthe developmentof a construc-
tionistapproachto politicalopportunities. For Tarrow,politicalopportu-
nities are not simplyexternal"things,"but ratherforcesthat can be
createdand manipulatedby movementactors themselves.Challengers
can affecttheir political opportunitiesby diffusingcollective action
throughtheirsocial networks,by formingcoalitions,and by creating
incentivesforelitesto respond."Early risers"in a cycle of protestcan
broadenthe politicalopportunity structureforotheraggrievedpopula-
tionsin a numberof ways. For one, theylowerthe "transactioncostsof
contentionforeven weak actors"(p. 154), in partby demonstrating "the
vulnerability of authorities"to the demandsof the relativelypowerless.
Early riserscan also develop resonantmasterframesthat can be em-
ployedsuccessfully by otherchallengerswho mobilizelaterin the cycle.
Each of the foregoingas well as numerousotherdimensionsof Tar-
row's theoryare richlyillustratedand carefullyelaboratedusing scores
of movementsand several cyclesof protestfrom1789 to 1989. These
data (fromprimaryand secondarysources)not only serve as a vehicle
forillustrating and supportinghis theory,theyalso allow him to derive
generalizationsregardingtrendsin the dynamicsof social movements.
Thus Tarrow shows how repertoires of contentionevolved fromtradi-
tional forms(local and patronized)to "modular" forms(national and
autonomous),how state buildingcreated new opportunitiesfor social
movements,how theadventof printmedia and theemergenceof special
purposeassociationscontributedto the diffusionof movementsto new
publics,and, mostrecently,how globalizationtrendsin communication,

228
 Book Reviews

transportation, and capital have spawned transnationalsocial move-

ments.
When weighedagainstthe extensivecontributions made by Power in
Movement,mycriticisms are few.At timesTarrowgivestoo muchcredit
to politicalopportunity structureswhile slightingthe social construction
ofideologies,identities,grievances,and thelike. For instance,he restates
resource mobilization'sconstancyof grievances assumption/assertion
even whenhis own historicaldata indicateotherwiseand at a timewhen
itsoriginalproponentshave eitherdeniedtheyevermade such a dubious
claim or have softenedit. Instead, he cites old evidence and ignores
the litanyof critiquesagainstthisposition.Hence, the linkagebetween
objectiveconditionsand collectiveinterpretations appearsmoremechani-
cal and automaticthanmostsocial constructionists would posit. Finally,
because the evidence in supportof political opportunitystructuresis
almost always marshaledex post facto to explain the emergenceof a
movementor a cycle of protest,we still lack evidence regardingthe
Whydo somemovementsfailto emerge
effectsof politicalopportunities.
or mobilizewhenthepoliticalopportunity structuresare apparentlyripe?
Does any changein thepoliticalopportunity structureprovidethe impe-
tus forcollectiveaction?What happenswhenthelocal politicalopportu-
nitystructures are favorablebut the nationalare not?
These commentsand questionsshould not be taken as an indictment
of Tarrow's outstandingwork. Rather,we can take solace in the fact
that he has lefta littlework forthe restof us. Power in Movementis
essentialforall seriousstudentsof social movements,politicalsociology,
historicalsociology,and politicalscience.

Peasant Power in China: The Era ofRural Reform,1979-1989. By Dan-

iel Kelliher. New Haven, Conn.: Yale UniversityPress, 1993. Pp.
xxi+264. $30.00.

Dali L. Yang
UniversityofChicago

Though dust-jacketblurbs are usually, and justifiably,discounted,in

the case of Kelliher'sbook, theblurbis appropriate.This book is indeed
"a carefullywrought,intelligent,well-written, and originalanalysis of
centralissues in Chinese peasant politics"in the reformperiod.
China's ruralreforms are importantnotonlybecause ofthevast num-
ber of people affectedbut also because the apparent success of these
reformsprovidedthe momentumforreformsin otheraspects of China's
politicaleconomy.Drawing on extensivefieldwork,especiallyin Hubei
province,Kelliherprovidesan interpretative studyofthreemajor arenas
of reforms: familyfarming,marketing,and privatizationin land tenure,
credit,and labor. In each of these arenas, peasants "pushed unsanc-

229

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