High‐ and Low‐Risk/Cost Activism

Abstract

Lost in the generic concept “social movement” is the extraordinary diversity of types of movements (e.g. revolution, terrorism, religious revivals, peasant insurrections, cults, etc.). Similarly, movement activism comes in a dizzying variety of forms. While the term “movement activist” tends to conjure up images of marchers in the street or maybe even suicide bombers, the concept applies equally well to someone who signs an online petition in support of a movement initiative or makes a $10 donation to the Sierra Club.