Social movements and political confrontation: notes on the thought of Sidney Tarrow

Abstract

This essay proposes to discuss the main assumptions of Sidney Tarrow’s thought, as well as its consequent contribution to the field which is inserted from three central elements: a) social movements as expression of the political confrontation; b) the outbreak of social movements; c) dynamics and elements of the political struggle. In this sense, the author’s focus on the political dimension and the flow of political confrontation have enabled the development of a field which approaches social movements as historical inventions resulting from the dynamics of political confrontation, distancing itself from systemic conceptual approaches.