Abstract

<jats:title>Abstract</jats:title>
<jats:p>The aim of this chapter is to examine the significance of social factors and value orientations for people's involvement in protest activity and social movements in Western Europe. It uses the standard social variables (gender, age, education, and occupation) alongside the ‘old’ value orientations (left‐right materialism and secular‐religious orientation), the ‘new’ (materialism/post‐materialism), and two additional value orientations – political and social libertarianism. The analysis concludes that, if protest is understood as a critique of government, grassroots activity (at least since the early 1980s) cannot be construed as protest, but more as a form of self‐differentiation of limited political impact.</jats:p>