ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses a number of staid interest-group organizations mounting at least the shorter-term and "less flexed" forms of protest occupation of public space for the purpose of pressing political demands. It explores manifestly protest/movement organizations doing a great deal of prosaically diplomatic and lobbying action along with the centerpiece of protest action that they are also carrying on. In broader and comparative perspective, the coupling of organization and action have become ever looser in Western societies since the sixties, especially at the less serious levels of protest acts, gatherings, events, and campaigns. In particular, marches, rallies and vigils— the time-honored staples of Movement organizations (MOs)— have entered the ordinary repertoires of the largest and mainline interest groups. Sociologists as an interest group—which can and should be read as an almost ideal-typical outline of the organizational and action features of the classic interest group.
