Revolutions in a society resemble earthquakes. Suddenly—often unexpectedly—there emerges a rupture in the texture of the society that leads to turmoil in economics, the social order, and human states of mind. At all levels of a society under revolution expectations arise that life will never be the same. But how precisely do these social transformations and changes in expectations occur? This is an open question when one looks at the history of societies, particularly because there is often a rift between the expectations that arise and the actual changes that come about through revolutions. The French Revolution of 1789 shattered the whole of Europe and led to transformations of political and social orders—as well as further revolutions in Europe (in 1830 and 1848), Latin America and in Russia (1917). Empires end—those of Holy Roman Empire, the Austro-Hungarian Empire, and the British Empire are good examples—yet they turn into new forms of social organization which sometimes begin to resemble old ones. Our times are not different in this respect, as can be seen in protests and uprisings around the world since 2011. This chapter reviews some of the ways social scientists have approached revolutions and outlines the different contributions to this book.