ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the historical and political context of the Icelandic crisis, identifying how it was conducive to popular protest. It addresses a classic, but topic in social movement theory, namely, the question of why crises sometimes spur mass protests and uprisings. Social theorists have long noticed that economic crises often precede revolts and mass protests. Two variants of the breakdown tradition are particularly relevant to the present study. These are theories of relative deprivation and quotidian disruption. Relative deprivation theory implies that crises. Thus, relative deprivation theory focuses on the role of individual strain in translating pressures experienced during crises into protest behavior. Crises may do more than cause economic harm: they may also change the political context. In the context of the crisis, their outspoken faith in free-market forces appeared nave and ill-guided, and the enormous cost of the collapse for the state made them vulnerable to criticism.
