Title: Social movement theory - Wikipedia
Headings: Social movement theory
Social movement theory
Contents
Classical approaches
Collective behavior theory
Mass society theory
Relative deprivation
Contemporary approaches
Structural approaches
Political opportunity/political process
Resource mobilization
Social movement impact theory
Social-constructivist approaches
New social movements
1990s social-movement studies
The Postcolonial Critique
Relevant concepts
Framing
Rational choice
References

Content: Therefore, there was a need for new theoretical approaches. Because deprivation was not a viable explanation anymore, researchers needed to search for another explanation. The explanations that were developed were different in the United States than in Europe. The more American-centered structural approaches examined how characteristics of the social and political context enable or hinder protests. The more European-centered social-constructivist approaches rejected the notion that class-struggle is central to social movements, and emphasized other indicators of a collective identity, like gender, ethnicity or sexuality. Structural approaches
Political opportunity/political process
Main article: Political opportunity
Certain political contexts should be conducive (or representative) for potential social movement activity. These climates may [dis]favor specific social movements or general social movement activity; the climate may be signaled to potential activists and/or structurally allowing for the possibility of social movement activity (matters of legality); and the political opportunities may be realized through political concessions, social movement participation, or social movement organizational founding.