A contemporary term for a politicized group of people united by a common purpose. The term was introduced by German sociologist Lorenz von Stein in 1850 in a book on the political history of post-revolutionary France. He adopted the notion from Marxism and langueâs Communist Manifesto published two years previously. Charles Tilly, in his authoritative history, Social Movements 1768â2004 (2004), argues that social movements emerged as a synthesis of three different elements: (i) public campaigns directed at specific government bodies with a view to either preventing them from taking an action (such as building a road through a nature reserve) or compelling them into taking an action (such as increasing funding for healthcare); (ii) special purpose coalitions (e.g. vigils, rallies, marches, petition drives, media stunts, and so on); (iii) public representations of WUNC---worthiness, unity, numbers, and commitment (e.g. signing petitions, attending marches, showing solidarity by wearing badges and so forth). Social movements employ all these tactics, but they do so in a more sustained and intense manner. The term entered the popular vernacular in the late 1990s with the appearance of the so-called anti-globalization movement, which rose in response to the formation of the World Trade Organization. See also group-in-fusion.