ABSTRACT
This chapter sets the stage for the substantive discussions in the following chapters. In order to understand what this chapter is about it is necessary to briefly sketch the research program suggested in this book. The starting point is that each theoretical perspective1 in the social movement literature deals with micro-macro relationships.2 This will be shown in detail in the following chapters. For example, in the literature on political opportunities an assumption is that changing opportunities (macro factors) affect certain individual incentives (micro factors). Furthermore, each theoretical perspective applies some general (social psychological) theory of individual behavior, i.e. a micro theory. For example, if it is assumed that political opportunities affect individual incentives to protest, it is implicitly held that incentives affect protest behavior. Otherwise, changing political opportunities would not change collective political action. The problem of the vast social movement literature is that this theoretical structure is never spelled out in detail: neither micromacro relationships nor micro theories are clearly specified. The message of this book is that this is a failure and that a reorientation of theory and research to engage in such micro-macro modeling is necessary.3 The present chapter will discuss some components of this research program.
