Putting Social Movements in Their Place

Doug McAdam is Professor of Sociology at Stanford University and the former Director of the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences (CASBS). He is the author or co-author of 13 books and some 75 articles in the area of political sociology, with a special emphasis on the study of social movements and revolutions. Among his best known works are Political Process and the Development of Black Insurgency, 1930-1970, a new edition of which was published in 1999; Freedom Summer (1988), which was awarded the 1990 C. Wright Mills Award as well as being a finalist for the American Sociological Association's best book prize for 1991; and Dynamics of Contention (2001) with Sid Tarrow and Charles Tilly. He is also the author of the forthcoming book, A Theory of Fields (with Neil Fligstein). He is a two-time former Fellow of CASBS, a recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship and a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences (2003).

This book reports the results of a comparative study of twenty communities earmarked for environmentally risky energy projects.

1. From Copernicus to Ptolemy and (hopefully) back again; 2. Comparing communities 'at risk' for mobilization; 3. Explaining variation in the level of opposition to energy projects; 4. Does opposition matter?: Mobilization and project outcome; 5. From not my back yard to not in anyone's back yard: the emergence of regional movements against liquefied natural gas; 6. Back to the future: returning to a Copernican approach to the study of contention.