Reference Groups and the Theory of Revolution

First published in 1973, this is a reissue of John Urry’s important and influential study of the theory of revolution.

• Part 1 offers a detailed discussion of the concept of the reference group, tracing its development from the symbolic interactionist tradition and then showing how it came to be used in ways which emasculated some of the suppositions of that tradition.
• Part 2 sets out a theory of revolutionary dissent, in which Dr Urry emphasizes the interconnection between analyses on the level of the social structure and the social actor.
• The final section demonstrates the value of this theory by using it to account for the varying patterns of action and revolutionary thought and action in the Dutch East Indies in the first half of this century.