The Meaning of Contention

Nov 10, 2025

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Abstract: Contention is everywhere nowadays, permeating the fabric of society and constituting an important element of many different social relationships. It is also a central topic across a wide range of social scientific disciplines. Following the most contentious decade in over a century, scholarship on the topic of “contention” is booming. Nonetheless, we still lack a conceptual approach to “contention” as a general academic term beyond the bounds of the study of “contentious politics.” What is the meaning of contention? Drawing on a decade of editorial and research work on contention, this article surveys the profound breadth and variety of academic research on the topic, ranging from politics, psychology, and sociology to material culture, criminology, and beyond. We outline the common conceptual thread across these various areas, where “contention” generally indicates conflictual collective contests concerning competing claims.

Author(s): Benjamin Abrams, Giovanni A. Travaglino, Peter R. Gardner & Brian Callan

Date Published: 01 November 2022

Depositing User: Basiratu Kolawole

DOI: 10.3167/cont.2022.100205

Keywords: Collective action, Collective contention, Contentious politics, Definition of contention & social movements

Page(s): 83–101

Place of publication: New York, USA and Oxford, UK

Publication title: Contention: The Multidisciplinary Journal of Social Protest

Published URL: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/365439600_The_Meaning_of_Contention

Publisher: Berghahn Journals

Subject(s): Social Sciences