Protest on the Fly

David A. Snow · Dana M. Moss

143 citations0/0 files storedAmerican Sociological Review

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Social Movements and Cultural Identity Political Conflict and Governance Contemporary Sociological Theory and Practice

Abstract

This article reexamines spontaneity as an important, albeit neglected, mechanism in collective action dynamics, and elaborates on its operation and effects in protest events and social movements. We do not presume that spontaneity is routinely at play in all collective actions. Rather, based on our grounded analysis of historical and ethnographic data, we contend that spontaneity is triggered by certain conditions: nonhierarchical organization; uncertain/ambiguous moments and events; behavioral/emotional priming; and certain ecological/spatial factors. We conclude by elaborating why the activation of spontaneous actions matters in shaping the course and character of protest events and movements, and we suggest that spontaneity be resuscitated in the study of collective action and everyday life more generally.

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References

1992Basics of Qualitative Research: Grounded Theory Procedures and Techniques.2006Constructing grounded theory : a practical guide through qualitative analysis 1993Basics of Qualitative Research: Grounded Theory Procedures and Techniques 2011Thinking, Fast and Slow 2006Constructing Grounded Theory. A Practical Guide Through Qualitative Analysis 2020Selections from the prison notebooks 1995Stereotype threat and the intellectual test performance of African Americans.1977Resource Mobilization and Social Movements: A Partial Theory

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2016Explaining spontaneous occupation: antecedents, contingencies and spaces in the Umbrella Movement 2018Activism in the Middle East and North Africa in times of upheaval: social networks’ actions and interactions 2016Success-Breeds-Success in Collective Political Behavior: Evidence from a Field Experiment 2020Spontaneity, Coalition Structure, and Strategic Choice

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