Social movements show symbolic but not causal coherence distinct from general contention

Evidence

Put together, these principles imply that within any given era and region social movements follow some empirical regularities because of mutual influence and modeling. They exhibit symbolic coherence: naming a campaign as a social movement (rather than, say, as an instance of terrorism) influences the reactions of both participants and other political actors as it brings relevant models of action into play. But they do not exhibit causal coherence in the sense of conforming to sui generis laws. Instead, the causal regularities of social movements are those of contentious politics in general. — Charles Tilly, Regimes and Repertoires, 1152

Categorization

• XREF: Mirrors ch6’s many phenomena symbolically unified but lacking causal coherence — here applied to social movements specifically. — connects to: Sustained challenge plus WUNC displays defines the social movement form — Charles Tilly, Regimes and Repertoires, 1128; Comparing politically different struggles requires studying shared causal mechanisms across forms — James Renton, Ben Gidley (eds.), Antisemitism and Islamophobia in…, 1207; Only their joint combination distinguishes social movements from other politics — Charles Tilly, Regimes and Repertoires, 1164 (+4 more)

Broader Connections

• Comparing politically different struggles requires studying shared causal mechanisms across forms #complicates (0.75) — James Renton, Ben Gidley (eds.), Antisemitism and Islamophobia in Europe, 1207