Commentary

Abstract

In musing about this commentary, two possible strategies came to mind—first, to indicate the significance of and prepare a critique on each of the contributions to this issue, or, second, to put forward some relections on the dynamics of the development of the field or fields of collective behavior and social movements as these have occurred to me over time and in reading the contributions. (Throughout this essay I will use the term “collective behavior/social movements” to refer to the enterprise under discussion. To use this term does not prejudge either the desirability of considering the field analytically as one or two or more). The first appeared an easier exercise than the second, but the second seemed more interesting and possibly more instructive, So, in an ambitious moment I decided to undertake the second. In doing so, however, I will refer in passing to all of the contributions.