Social Movements in Contemporary Political Economy

This chapter seeks to address the following question: To what extent does the retail trading engagement with GameStop of early 2021 resemble a social movement? The chapter provides a presentation of social movement theoretical aspects which appear apt in explaining the GSS, including collective behavior, emotional resonance, and counter-hegemonic entanglement with established financial market organizational participants. I illustrate how the GameStop experience may be represented as a case example of the intersection between digital-financial innovations and anti-capitalist animus toward inequality perceptions in a low-growth environment. This chapter also shows the potential for innovation to facilitate wider financial market participation together with new-found opportunities for economic and social learnings.