Abstract
This study discusses the development of social-movement research in the German-speaking world over the past two decades. The second part focuses on how different theories of society have conceptualized social movements. It asks whether there have been any new developments since the theory of new social movements lost its hegemony? This question is explored by considering three contributions from Niklas Luhmann, Jürgen Gerhards, and Ulrich Beck. The third part deals with the longterm transformation of social-cleavage structures and their analysis. In the fourth part, the study shifts its attention to the rise of the extreme right and the environmental movement. Most researchers would agree that recent public discourse in German-speaking countries has mostly been shaped by the spread of these two movements.
