Mobilization is a process by which passive individuals become active participants in social life by pursuing popular collective action toward a defined set of claims, interests, or goals (Tilly 1978). Mobilization can take various forms ranging from protests to civil resistance to revolution to armed rebellion. It can also occur in various degrees of organization, from more spontaneous contentious episodes such as riots to direct actions coordinated by social movement organizations.
Chenoweth, Erica. 2015. "Political Mobilization and Institutions." In Routledge Handbook of Comparative Political Institutions, eds. Jennifer Gandhi and Ruben Ruiz-Rufino. New York: Routledge. https://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=A5AGCAAAQBAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PT423&ots=W4PA_ZDdYu&sig=6YpfcdYqtZUNxcVLUUlDH18no74#v=onepage&q&f=false