Cracking Under Pressure

Most academic studies have focused almost exclusively on the emergence of social movements, paying less attention to their declines. But as every activist knows, decline is an important and vital period for any mobilization. This volume broadens and enriches social movement theory through a close investigation of the fate of the squatters’ movement in Amsterdam, which emerged in the late 1970s as a response to the housing shortage of the 1960s, eventually peaking in the early 1980s before falling into a period of prolonged decline. Author Lynn Owens explores this decline, focusing on the subjective experience of the squatters and the culture of decline at large.