ABSTRACT
This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book provides an examination of particular cases, the utility of incorporating a global dimension into the study of social movements. It argues that the potential for revolutionary collective action resided in the coalition of skilled workers whose privileged status within the working class was challenged by the direction of economic change. The book deals with Calhoun over the timing and extent of industrialization as indicated by the concentration of capital, the progress of mechanization, or the degree of proletarianization. It reviews the literature on social protest and agrarian societies in South and Southeast Asia. The book explores the concept of sectors and interest groups differentially linked to the world economy to develop a comparative analysis of economic policy responses to the economic crises of the 1930s: conservative monetarism in Britain, New Deal in the US, social democracy in Sweden, fascism in Germany.
