This course provides students an introduction to current theoretical and empirical issues in the study of social movements. We will start with a general overview of the field, sketching out the most important theoretical streams and methodological approaches. From there on, we will travel through different time periods and places always on the lookout for commonalities between contemporary social movements, peasant riots, slave revolts, ‚rough music,’ eighteenth and nineteenth century democratic societies, urban uprisings, and revolutionary sects.