What are protest politics and social movement activism today? What are their main features? To what extent can street citizens be seen as a force driving social and political change? Through analyses of original survey data on activists themselves, Marco Giugni and Maria T. Grasso explain the character of contemporary protest politics that we see today - the diverse motivations, social characteristics, values and networks that draw activists to engage politically to tackle the pressing social problems of our time. The study analyzes left-wing protest culture as well as the characteristics of protest politics, from the motivations of street citizens to how they become engaged in demonstrations to the causes they defend and the issues they promote, from their mobilizing structures to their political attitudes and values, as well as other key aspects such as their sense of identity within social movements, their perceived effectiveness, and the role of emotions for protest participation.

'Using a rich database, which covers protesters marching on different issues, in several years, in various countries, Marco Giugni and Maria T. Grasso illuminate the paths of (contentious) participation by Europeans, the social bases for the protest, the interaction between protest and institutional politics, the micro-dynamics of mobilization, the emotional dimension of protests and demonstrators’ motivations.'

Donatella della Porta - Director of the Center on Social Movement Studies (Cosmos) and Dean of the Institute for Humanities, Scuola Normale Superiore, Pisa

'In this unprecedented book, Giugni and Grasso give us the most comprehensive, comparative study of protest participation produced to date. Drawing on surveys from some 15,000 individuals involved in 71 protests in seven countries, the authors paint a rich portrait of the similarities and differences in the characteristics and motivations of those who protest in different movements and in varying national contexts. A must read for all social movement scholars.'

Doug McAdam - co-author of Deeply Divided: Racial Politics and Social Movements in Postwar America

'This is a comprehensive study of the individual participants in street demonstrations. It provides an excellent account of who the ‘street citizens’ are, why they demonstrate and how they engage in politics. Drawing on a variety of research traditions from political science, sociology and social psychology, and based on a unique set of surveys of participants in demonstrations, the study not only confirms much of the received wisdom about protest politics, but also points to some subtle transformations - the ‘pluralization’ of the participants, the blending of economic and cultural issues in demonstrations, and the increasing overlap of conventional and contentious politics.'

Hanspeter Kriesi - Stein Rokkan Chair of Comparative Politics at the European University Institute, Florence

'… well articulated and will be useful as benchmarks for discussion of street-level political activism.'

J. Brigham Source: Choice

‘… [Street Citizens] useful as a broad orientation to protests in Europe.’

Pamela Oliver Source: American Journal of Sociology

‘Street Citizens makes a truly important contribution to a wider literature, from electoral behaviour and political participation to social movements and contentious politics. A book that is highly recommended to everyone - students and scholars alike - who wants to understand the dynamics of individual participation in protest and social movement mobilization.’

Sotirios Karampampas Source: Democratization