Social movements are now around us, having an impact on our everyday lives. The course will provide basic understanding of social movements and contentious politics in Hong Kong, Taiwan and mainland China with a global perspective. Major debates on social movements and popular actions will be introduced, with a particular focus on class, gender, race and ethnicity issues. Current debates on the role of social media in shaping social movements and contentious politics will also be explored. Moving from macro to micro processes, the course will also critically examine how discourse, identity, mobilization, organization, emotion and agency construct various social movements in our societies. Students will be invited to provide participative observation in this course. Films and video teaching materials will be used.