ABSTRACT
Chapter 11 looks at the political psychology of social movements. Social movements are collective challenges by people with common purposes and solidarity in sustained interaction with elites and authorities. In the 1950s and 1960s, the United States experienced a massive social movement, the Civil Rights Movement, which changed the American political, legal, and social systems. In 2008, the Tea Party made a major splash in American politics, and in 2011, the Occupy Wall Street movement began. Years later, other movements emerged, such as Black Lives Matter, #MeToo, and alt-right. However, social movements are not seen only in America. In recent years, Europe has experienced the rise of the radical right, and in the Middle East the “Arab Spring” resulted in the overthrow of dictatorial regimes in Tunisia, Egypt, Libya, and Yemen.
