Erik Neveu is Professor of Political Science at Rennes University. He co-authored Introduction aux Cultural Studies (with Armand Mattelart, 2008), the first French textbook supplying a comprehensive presentation of anglophone Cultural Studies; and Bourdieu and the Journalistic Field (with R. Benson, 2004).

Introduction: activists' trajectories in space and time Olivier Fillieule and Erik Neveu; Part I. From Shades of Red (or Blue) to Shades of Grey: The Ageing of Yesterday's Activists Richard Flacks; 1. The diversity of activist outcomes: the role of ideology in shaping trajectories of participation Catherine Corrigall-Brown; 2. Biographical impacts of activism in the French 'May '68' Julie Pagis; 3. Life stories of former French activists of 'May '68':using biographies to investigate the outcomes of social movements Erik Neveu; 4. Women in political activism: the biographical resonances of the '68 student movement in a Latin American context Guadalupe Olivier; Part II. Terrorist Violence, State Repression and Activists' Experiences Jocelyn Viterna; 5. 'Join up', they said! The biographical consequences of engagement in Morocco for the 1970s generation and its children Joseph Hivert and Frédéric Vairel; 6. From militancy to activism: life trajectories of Sikh women combatants Laurent Gayer; 7. 'Married forever', activists forever? What the multi-level and interactionist approaches to the study of 'exit' reveals about disengagement from radical organizations in contemporary Turkey Jordi Tejel; 8. Contextualizing the biographical outcomes of provisional IRA former activists: a structure-agency dynamic Lorenzo Bosi; Part III. Biographical Trajectories in Times of Transition. Social Movement Activists into Politicians? Gilles Dorronsoro; 9. When prophecy succeeds: the political failure of dissidents in the new Czech democracy Magdaléna Hadjiisky; 10. From grassroots activism to the cabinet, round-trip: the puzzling trajectory of a peasant leader in post-Communist Poland Cédric Pellen; 11. Red t-shirt or executive suit? About some biographical consequences of contentious engagement in the workers' party in Recife, Brazil Camille Goirand; Addendum: life history as a tool for sociological inquiry Olivier Fillieule; References; Index.