Four important trends in the study of social movements are discussed: expanding the case base beyond the social reform movements oj Europe and Anglo-America to encompass other regions and types of movement; a theoretical synthesis that integrates protest with institutional politics and focuses on mechanisms and processes rather than causes and effects; a growing focus on events as units of analysis; and increasing integration of social psychological and cultural theories of social construction with structuralist accounts of movements. Taken together, they promise theory that is both broader in scope and better able to address the diversity of social movements.

This article explores the spontaneous and emotional dimensions of social protest and the expressive dimensions of constructing movement identities. It analyzes how a "party mood" that prevailed in a Mexico City social movement organization, the Asamblea de Barrios, created the conditions for the emergence of Superbarrio, a masked crusader for justice who used humor and drama to help the urban poor confront the corruption and mismanagement of the Mexican state. Superbarrio drew on Mexico's culture of wrestling and the wrestling audience's cognitive and emotional responses. He represented an innovation in the movement's action repertories that used the emotional dramaturgy of wrestling for framing purpose. This proved crucial in sustaining effective challenges to the authorities and led to dozens of imitators. This article argues that the public's response to strategic dramaturgy is mediated by the emotions dramatic representations of conflict arouse.

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