Social movement activists’ conceptions of political action and counter-accounting through a critical dialogic accounting and accountability lens

2021 ◽  
pp. 102408
Author(s):  
Sendirella George ◽  
Judy Brown ◽  
Jesse Dillard
Keyword(s):  
Social Movement ◽  
Political Action

Herbert Marcuse on Radical Subjectivity and the “New Activism”

2020 ◽  
Vol 23 (2) ◽  
pp. 361-388
Author(s):  
Michael J. Sukhov ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Environmental Economic ◽  
Social Movement ◽  
Political Action ◽  
Theory And Practice ◽  
Political Agency ◽  
Herbert Marcuse ◽  
Transformative Change ◽  
Racial Justice ◽  
Underlying Causes ◽  
Life On Earth

What forms of collective political action conceivably might offer the best prospects for radical, transformative change in the context of a planet currently in crisis, and characterized by intersecting struggles for environmental, economic, social, and racial justice? The concept of radical subjectivity that Herbert Marcuse developed throughout his life and work can provide social movement theorists, organizations and activists with valuable theoretical and practical resources to identify, encourage, and further develop new and emerging forms of political agency and activism, and thereby contribute to the mobilization of contemporary social movements seeking to address these crises and their underlying causes. This concept, when critically reevaluated and appropriated in light of more recent insights about the nature of subjectivity and political agency as well as in the context of these contemporary struggles, can assist in the development of a theory and practice that might be adequate to address the multiple global crises currently confronting humanity and other forms of life on Earth.

The Role of Social Identity in Decisions to Protest

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Burt Klandermans ◽  
J.Van Stekelenburg
Keyword(s):  
Social Identity ◽  
Social Movement ◽  
Collective Identity ◽  
Political Action ◽  
Central Place ◽  
Theoretical Frameworks ◽  
Individual Level ◽  
Identity Processes ◽  
The Social ◽  
The Individual

Social identity processes play a crucial role in the dynamics of protest, whether as antecedents, mediators, moderators, or consequences. Yet, identity did not always feature prominently in the social or political psychology of protest. This has changed—a growing contingent of social and political psychologists is involved now in studies of protest behavior, and in their models the concept of identity occupies a central place. Decades earlier students of social movements had incorporated the concept of collective identity into their theoretical frameworks. The weakness of the social movement literature on identity and contention, though, was that the discussion remained predominantly theoretical. Few seemed to bother about evidence. Basic questions such as how collective identity is formed and becomes salient or politicized were neither phrased nor answered. Perhaps social movement scholars did not bother too much because they tend to study contention when it takes place and when collective identities are already formed and politicized. Collective identity in the social movement literature is a group characteristic in the Durkheimian sense. Someone who sets out to study that type of collective identity may look for such phenomena as the group’s symbols, its rituals, and the beliefs and values its members share. Groups differ in terms of their collective identity. The difference may be qualitative, for example, being an ethnic group rather than a gender group; or quantitative, that is, a difference in the strength of collective identity. Social identity in the social psychological literature is a characteristic of a person. It is that part of a person’s self-image that is derived from the groups he or she is a member of. Social identity supposedly has cognitive, evaluative, and affective components that are measured at the individual level. Individuals differ in terms of social identity, again both qualitatively (the kind of groups they identify with) and quantitatively (the strength of their identification with those groups). The term “collective identity” is used to refer to an identity shared by members of a group or category. Collective identity politicizes when people who share a specific identity take part in political action on behalf of that collective. The politicization of collective identity can take place top-down (organizations mobilize their constituencies) or bottom-up (participants in collective action come to share an identity). In that context causality is an issue. What comes first? Does identification follow participation, or does participation follow identification?

#YoSoy132, Social Media, and Political Organization

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Javier Contreras Alcántara
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
University Students ◽  
Social Movement ◽  
Presidential Election ◽  
Political Action ◽  
Political Organization ◽  
Political Class ◽  
Left Behind ◽  
The Past

During the 2012 presidential election in Mexico, a movement arose that broke with the existing framework of political mobilizations. What began as a protest to call into question the past of one of the candidates became, with the assertion of their status as university students, a student and social movement that urged a discussion on the nature of Mexico’s democracy. The movement, called #YoSoy132 (#IAm132), became active on YouTube, Facebook, and Twitter, uniting young citizens from a generation that was beginning to distance itself from politics. Finally, following a series of debates on the path the country should take and the presidential election, the movement did not strengthen, but instead left behind a generation of young politicized citizens who now adopted new forms of socialization and organization for political action, which applied to further mobilizations. Since then, Mexico witnessed the emergence of new political players which have lifted the unease felt by the current political class.

Theorizing Meaning Construction in Social Movements: Symbolic Structures and Interpretation during the Irish Land War, 1879–1882

1997 ◽  
Vol 15 (3) ◽  
pp. 249-276 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anne E. Kane
Keyword(s):  
Social Movements ◽  
Social Movement ◽  
Political Action ◽  
Movement Analysis ◽  
Meaning Construction ◽  
Cultural Transformation ◽  
Symbolic Systems ◽  
Land War ◽  
Symbolic Meanings ◽  
The Face

Though the process of meaning construction is widely recognized to be a crucial factor in the mobilization, unfolding, and outcomes of social movements, the conditions and mechanisms that allow meaning construction and cultural transformation are often misconceptualized and/or underanalyzed. Following a “tool kit” perspective on culture, dominant social movement theory locates meaning only as it is embodied in concrete social practices. Meaning construction from this perspective is a matter of manipulating static symbols and meaning to achieve goals. I argue instead that meaning is located in the structure of culture, and that the condition and mechanism of meaning construction and transformation are, respectively, the metaphoric nature of symbolic systems, and individual and collective interpretation of those systems in the face of concrete events. This theory is demonstrated by analyzing, through textual anlaysis, meaning construction during the Irish Land War, 1879–1882, showing how diverse social groups constructed new and emergent symbolic meanings and how transformed collective understandings contributed to specific, yet unpredictable, political action and movement outcomes. The theoretical model and empirical case demonstrates that social movement analysis must examine the metaphoric logic of symbolic systems and the interpretive process by which people construct meaning in order to fully explain the role of culture in social movements, the agency of movement participants, and the contingency of the course and outcomes of social movements.

scholarly journals La labor afectiva del duelo: ofrendas, pérdidas y desapariciones en Guerrero

2018 ◽  
Vol 9 (13) ◽  
pp. 103-122
Author(s):  
Anne W. Johnson
Keyword(s):  
Teacher Training ◽  
Social Movement ◽  
Political Action ◽  
Loved One ◽  
Affective Labor ◽  
Grief Process ◽  
The Social ◽  
Teacher Training Students

En este ensayo intento dar pistas para comprender la labor afectiva del duelo en dos contextos. Primero, retomo la construcción de las “ofrendas nuevas” en Teloloapan, Guerrero, como una expresión de luto y manera de manejar la pérdida de un ser querido. A continuación volteo la mirada a la emergencia del movimiento social alrededor de la desaparición forzada de cuarenta y tres normalistas en Iguala, Guerrero, expresión de una violencia en la cual está implicado el Estado mexicano y que, a la vez que enmarca la acción política en la experiencia de dolor y pérdida, demuestra los límites del proceso de duelo. El análisis de ambos casos me permite reflexionar sobre el duelo como una labor afectiva que, en distintas situaciones, produce distintos efectos culturales, psicológicos, sociales y políticos.The affective labor of grieving: ofrendas, loss and disappearance in Guerrero, MexicoAbstractIn this essay, I try to understand the affective labor of grief in two contexts. First, I take up the construction of the “ofrendas nuevas” in Teloloapan, Guerrero as an expression of mourning and a means of managing the loss of a loved one. I then turn to the emergence of the social movement that has grown up around the forced disappearance of 43 teacher-training students in Iguala, Guerrero, an expression of state-complicit violence that demonstrates the limits of the grief process, as it simultaneously frames political action in the experience of pain and loss. The analysis of both cases allows me to reflect on grief as affective labor that produces distinct cultural, psychological, social and political effects.Recibido: 14 de septiembre de 2017Aceptado: 31 de enero de 2018

scholarly journals Predict the next moves of COVID-19: reveal the temperate and tropical countries scenario

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Neaz A. Hasan ◽  
Mohammad Mahfujul Haque
Keyword(s):  
Social Movement ◽  
Political Action ◽  
Weather Condition ◽  
Weather Conditions ◽  
Tropical Countries ◽  
The World ◽  
Lower Temperature ◽  
The Individual ◽  
Almost All ◽  
Official Sources

AbstractThe spread of COVID-19 engulfs almost all the countries and territories of the planet, and infections and fatality are increasing rapidly. The first epi-center of its’ massive spread was in Wuhan, Hubei province, China having a temperate weather, but the spread has got an unprecedented momentum in European temperate countries mainly in Italy and Spain (as of March 30, 2020). However, Malaysia and Singapore and the neighboring tropical countries of China got relatively low spread and fatality that created a research interest on whether there are potential impacts of weather condition on COVID-19 spread. Adopting the SIR (Susceptible Infected Removed) deviated model to predict potential cases and death in the coming days from COVID-19 was done using the secondary and official sources of data. This study shows that COVID-19 spread and fatality tend to be high across the world but compared to tropical countries, it is going to be incredibly high in the temperate countries having lower temperature (7-16°C) and humidity (80-90%) in last March. However, some literature predicted that this might not to be true, rather irrespective of weather conditions there might be a continuous spread and death. Moreover, a large number of asymptotic COVID-19 carrier in both temperate and tropical countries may re-outbreak in the coming winter. Therefore, a comprehensive global program with the leadership of WHO for testing of entire population of the world is required, which will be very useful for the individual states to take proper political action, social movement and medical services.

Introduction

2020 ◽  
pp. 1-24
Author(s):  
Jun Liu
Keyword(s):  
Social Movements ◽  
Collective Action ◽  
Social Movement ◽  
Mobile Communication ◽  
Political Action ◽  
Communication Technologies ◽  
Contentious Politics ◽  
Chinese Society

The introduction assesses and identifies lacunae and challenges in the existing literature on ICTs and contentious collective action. Through a survey of relevant scholarship on social movement and contentious politics, this chapter proposes to explicitly make communication a key element in a tripartite framework of contentious politics and social movements and, further, to regard communication as an intermediary between ICTs and contentious collective action. The introductory chapter further elucidates the embeddedness of mobile communication technologies within Chinese society and, thus, it has become a context for (political) action as well and can therefore have an impact on contentious politics.

Epilogue

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lee Ann Banaszak ◽  
Holly J. McCammon
Keyword(s):  
Social Movement ◽  
Gender Equality ◽  
Gender Inequality ◽  
Presidential Election ◽  
Political Action ◽  
Electoral Politics ◽  
Rich Diversity ◽  
The Rich ◽  
Over Time

The epilogue discusses the volume’s central themes in light of events around the 2016 presidential election. This chapter considers growth in gender equality over the last one hundred years as well as continuing aspects of gender inequality. It examines the degree to which women’s influence has changed over time, particularly their increased presence in politics as well as ongoing efforts to marginalize their roles. The final chapter examines this influence in electoral politics as well as social movement activism, also exploring the ways in which politics continues to be a deeply gendered sphere of action. This epilogue returns to the rich diversity of women’s engagement in political action, reminding readers of the significant insights that can emerge from an intersectional approach to understanding women’s political action. The book concludes with thoughts, which must be speculative at best, of what may lie ahead for the next hundred years of women’s enfranchisement.

scholarly journals Time, Space, and Rationality: Rethinking Political Action through the Example of Montreal's Student Spring

2016 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 16-29
Author(s):  
Julie-Anne Boudreau ◽  
Mathieu Labrie
Keyword(s):  
Social Movement ◽  
Spatial Data ◽  
Political Action ◽  
Political Campaigns ◽  
Political Organizations ◽  
Political Analysis ◽  
Time Space ◽  
Logic Of Action ◽  
City Space ◽  
Political Actions

Because of a changing relationship with time, space, and affect in a more urbanized world, political actions and social movement practices have transcended the modern, state-oriented logic of action. Following this claim, this paper questions a specifically urban way of acting politically. To answer this question, we need to begin by “looking” for politics in the kinds of places that political scientists generally overlook for political analysis. Understanding the urban logic of political action cannot come solely from an observation of political campaigns, ideologies, political organizations, or interviews with social movement leaders. Using the 2012 student strike in Montreal as our focus, we are taking a different analytical angle that focuses more closely on the personal experience of participation, the personal trajectories of the participating students and the effect of this intense mobilization. This research project uses biometric tools, spatial data and qualitative data to investigate political participation and its relation to the city space.

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