10.13 Glossary

Alternative Movement: a social movement focused on changing a single norm.

Birth rate: calculated as the average number of births each year per 1,000 persons. 

Climate: the average weather conditions, including temperature and precipitation over time in a geographic area.

Climate Change: how the average weather changes over time (Dietz et al., 2020).

Climate shocks: extreme weather occurring more frequently and severely as a result of a warmer climate.

Collective behavior: Any coordinated effort involving two or more people.

Content analysis: a research method where the researcher codes images or text for their themes and patterns.

Countermovement: a social movement opposed to the goals of another social movement. 

Death rate: calculated as the average number of deaths per year per 1,000 persons.

Ecological displacement: dislocation of people as the result of climate change or other natural disasters.

Environmental inequality: how groups marginalized by race, class, and other factors face higher risk of harm due to environmental factors.

Environmental justice movement: involves the efforts of social movement activists and academics who are working to address the unequal environmental risks people experience because of racism, classism, and other forms of inequality (Chowkwanyun, 2023). 

Fad: when so many people begin participating in something that it temporarily becomes very popular.

Flashpoint model: an explanation for why riots occur that suggests that a trigger (or flashpoint) sets off a riot.

Framing theory: explains that social movements grow, succeed or both when they appeal with the broader public.

Greenhouse effect: the Earth is warmer than it otherwise would be because greenhouse gases (methane, carbon dioxide) trap the heat from the sun and reflect it on Earth rather than letting it escape to space.

Malthusian theory: Thomas Malthus’ proposition that if population growth were unchecked, the population would outstrip the food supply.

Mob: a group who uses violence or other intimidation tactics to seek justice for some real or perceived harm.

Multifactor theory: explains that social movements that multiple factors influence the emergence and success of a social movement.

Mutual aid: collective behavior where people and communities help one another through a crisis.

Political process theory: explains that social movements appear in a more favorable political context can better mobilize perceptions of relative deprivation (or motivation) and resources  (Staggenborg, 2016; DeFronzo & Gill, 2020).

Reactionary movement: a social movement that resists social change, tries to bring back (real or imagined) social norms or laws from the past, or both.

Redemptive movement: a social movement that tries to change individual attitudes and behaviors.

Reform movement: a social movement that seeks change in norms or policy but does not seek broad structural change.

Relative deprivation theory: explains that social movements appear when the standard of living drops relative to its earlier level when people believed their standard of living should be improving or better than it is (Staggenborg, 2016; DeFronzo & Gill, 2020).

Resource mobilization theory: Explains that social movements appear when a group secures the resources needed to take collective action, it can act (Jenkins, 1983; Staggenborg, 2016; DeFronzo & Gill, 2020).

Revolutionary movement: a social movement that tries to make broad structural changes and replace some or all existing social institutions.

Riot: a form of collective violence involving property destruction.

Social identity model: explains how people act collectively due to their group identity.

Social movement organizations: organizations that devote all of their resources to a specific cause.

Social movements: ongoing and organized efforts that mobilize people to promote or resist real or perceived social change.

Total fertility rate: the “average number of children that would be born per woman if all women lived to the end of their childbearing years and bore children according to a given fertility rate at each age” (Central Intelligence Agency, 2021).

Transnational movements: social movements that are collectively and locally organized that exist in multiple countries.