ABSTRACT
Social psychological theories assume that collective behaviour arises largely from the characteristics of individual protestors, who, loosed from their normal social moorings, become susceptible to irrational impulses which arise as responses to social disorganization and isolation. The collective goods of human survival and the promise of a better world were even stronger incentives. The unusual character of a movement would call for a new line of inquiry in collective action research. Creativity is connected to rationality, but it has its own unique features: It is the process of exploring beyond conventional ways of thinking, behaving, and organizing. "Creative action theory" might address the question of how activist creativity affects the belief system of a movement, the character of its organization, its strategies of action, and how it mobilizes resources. It could also consider how movements in turn influence activist creativity.
