Thesis (Ph.D.)--The University of Texas at Austin, 2008. / Adviser: Elizabeth Richmond-Garza. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (M. Phil.)--University of Hong Kong, 2005. / Title proper from title frame. Also available in printed format.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Duke University, 2000. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 240-256).

Thesis (Ph. D. in Sociology)--Vanderbilt University, May 2006. / Title from title screen. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Texas at Austin, 2007. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (B.A.)--Boston University. University Professors Program Senior theses. / PLEASE NOTE: Boston University Libraries did not receive an Authorization To Manage form for this thesis or dissertation. It is therefore not openly accessible, though it may be available by request. If you are the author or principal advisor of this work and would like to request open access for it, please contact us at open-help@bu.edu. Thank you. / 2031-01-01

In recent decades, social movements in general and Social Movement Organisations (SMOs) in particular have been going through processes of professionalisation, adopting market goals and methods, and employing on a large scale. Whilst most literature focuses on the impact of such processes for SMO activism, this research focuses on the impact of such moves for SMO staff. This thesis looks at employment and professionalisation in Israeli peace and anti-occupation SMOs, using Social Movement Theory, labour market literature, and a Weberian approach to conceptualise professionalisation, working conditions, and careers in SMOs. The mixed-methods data collection process included a phone survey of 200 workers in 32 SMOs, administrative data collected from the Israeli Bureau of Associations, 5 in-depth interviews and 2 workshops. The quantitative analysis mainly includes a comparison of SMO workers and representative data on the Israeli population and labour market (using the surveys ISSP 2005, ESS 2010, and the Israeli Central Bureau of Statistics’ Social Survey 2011), and multilevel analysis using variables at both the organisational and the individual levels. The interviews and workshops used participants as partners, ensuring that the analysis is valid, meaningful, and relevant. Findings reveal that the researched SMO workers are highly educated, with an overrepresentation of women and Palestinians. They have a higher proportion of part-time positions, shorter tenure, and lower pay considering their educational levels, compared to the general Israeli labour market. While inequalities between Jews and Palestinians are not maintained in SMOs, inequalities between men and women are. Whilst working conditions are not ideal, SMO workers are motivated more by helping others and by professional interest, and less by practical considerations – although these do have a place in their decisions. They tend to stay within the Social Movement Sector, and develop an activism career – in which the organisational style and goals of SMOs compared to those of other sectors make it hard for them to leave the Social Movement Sector. The conceptualisation of professionalisation as bureaucratisation presented in Social Movement Theory matches actual data, and a professionalisation scale was created. Professionalisation may have negative effects on salary and tenure, and no positive effects were seen. These findings are true for SMOs that already employ workers, and they are interesting given that one consequence of professionalisation is creating more SMO employment. Different activity areas seem to offer different working conditions. This dissertation offers a contribution to SMOs and their workers, by highlighting inequalities and problematic issues regarding working conditions. It also enhances our theoretical understanding of SMO workers’ careers and careers in general, as well as of the possible consequences of professionalisation processes.

This thesis is an ethnographic study of UK environmental social movement mobilisations of the 1990s, detailing the movement's characteristics such as its structure as a fluid series of biodegradable networks. The thesis evidences what action was taken during this period, using primarily qualitative methodologies: semi-structured interviews and Participant Observation (PO). Evidence showing how mobilisation occurred, how activist networks are 'born' and sustained, is given, examining issues such as the diffusion of repertoires over time, and the importance of social networks. The "why" of mobilisation was documented, detailing activists' rationales for action given in interviews and a variety of other media such as email groups and in PO settings. The thesis approached the data from a 'grounded theory' perspective, meaning that appropriate theoretical directions developed during the research process. There were however initial aims: to investigate whether the EDA movement had a 'collective identity' (Melucci 1996), and hypotheses: that activists had complex rationales for taking action, and that there was a symbiosis between the taking of action, the development of movement praxis and collective identity, and the process of further mobilisation. These aims and hypotheses were realised by the research work. Despite many complexities outlined in the research, generally the EDA movement has a collective identity. This is based on a shared commitment to direct action, grassroots democracy, and a radical discourse, which challenges the codes and perceived abuses of power inherent in the dominant paradigm. Social justice, human rights, and environmental sustainability are equally important to EDA activists and seen as interrelated. Through charting the process of action in the 1990's, the thesis locates the 'anti globalisation' mobilisations at the turn of the millennium as evidence of EDA movement capacity building over a decade. The thesis aims to have contributed to Social Movement theory through this ethnographic approach.

Social media's role in formenting protest action in Egypt has often been lauded by proponents of these web 2.0 technologies, to the extent that the collective protest actions that swept the Middle East and North Africa from December 2010 to the present have been referred to as "Twitter Revolutions" in recognition of the pivotal played by Twitter in mobilising citizents.

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