From Virtual Public Spheres to Global Justice: A Critical Theory of Internetworked Social Movements

2005 ◽  
Vol 23 (1) ◽  
pp. 42-74 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lauren Langman
Keyword(s):  
Social Movements ◽  
Critical Theory ◽  
Social Movement ◽  
Global Justice ◽  
Social Protest ◽  
The Internet ◽  
Social Movement Theory ◽  
Public Spheres ◽  
Electronic Networks ◽  
Movement Theory

From the early 1990s when the EZLN (the Zapatistas), led by Subcommandte Marcos, first made use of the Internet to the late 1990s with the defeat of the Multilateral Agreement on Trade and Investment and the anti-WTO protests in Seattle, Quebec, and Genoa, it became evident that new, qualitatively different kinds of social protest movements were emergent. These new movements seemed diffuse and unstructured, yet at the same time, they forged unlikely coalitions of labor, environmentalists, feminists, peace, and global social justice activists collectively critical of the adversities of neoliberal globalization and its associated militarism. Moreover, the rapid emergence and worldwide proliferation of these movements, organized and coordinated through the Internet, raised a number of questions that require rethinking social movement theory. Specifically, the electronic networks that made contemporary globalization possible also led to the emergence of “virtual public spheres” and, in turn, “Internetworked Social Movements.” Social movement theory has typically focused on local structures, leadership, recruitment, political opportunities, and strategies from framing issues to orchestrating protests. While this tradition still offers valuable insights, we need to examine unique aspects of globalization that prompt such mobilizations, as well as their democratic methods of participatory organization and clever use of electronic media. Moreover, their emancipatory interests become obscured by the “objective” methods of social science whose “neutrality” belies a tacit assent to the status quo. It will be argued that the Frankfurt School of Critical Theory offers a multi-level, multi-disciplinary approach that considers the role of literacy and media in fostering modernist bourgeois movements as well as anti-modernist fascist movements. This theoretical tradition offers a contemporary framework in which legitimacy crises are discussed and participants arrive at consensual truth claims; in this process, new forms of empowered, activist identities are fostered and negotiated that impel cyberactivism.

The Success and Sustainability of American Nationalist Movements

2018 ◽  
pp. 83-102
Keyword(s):  
Social Movements ◽  
Social Movement ◽  
Case Studies ◽  
Social Movement Theory ◽  
Donald Trump ◽  
Nationalist Movements ◽  
Movement Theory ◽  
Black Lives Matter

This chapter analyzes the viability of the selected case studies in legitimizing or mainstreaming their goals and ideology, as well as paths to success and/or failure. The chapter provides prescriptions for both movements and highlights obstacles that may impede each from achieving stated goals or solidifying political victories (electoral, legislative, or ideologically within the wider society). The phases of social movement theory first promulgated by Herbert Blumer is explained in this chapter as a method of considering future movements. The success of American social movements is traditionally marked by legislative victories or codification of change (which is what Black Lives Matter is seeking), while contemporary movements have been successful at achieving electoral victories (that of Donald Trump); this chapter explores that dichotomy as well.

A Critical Review of Social Movement Theory: Gender and Emotion in Activist Cultures

2020 ◽  
pp. 21-42
Author(s):  
Emma Craddock
Keyword(s):  
Social Movements ◽  
Social Movement ◽  
Theoretical Perspective ◽  
Cultural Dimensions ◽  
Social Movement Theory ◽  
Thick Description ◽  
Movement Theory ◽  
Media Technologies ◽  
Theory Of Practice ◽  
The Public Sphere

This chapter sets up the theoretical context of the book. It begins by establishing the key relevant debates in Social Movement Theory (SMT), including that of new versus old social movements, the influence of new media technologies on social movements and the role of emotions within social movement studies. This chapter identifies the theoretical perspective for studying activist culture, drawing on Bourdieu’s (1992) theory of practice. This will serve as the basis for developing an analysis of the affective and cultural dimensions of social movement activism. It is contended that this approach enables the development of in-depth ‘thick description’ (Geertz, 1973) and an understanding of the interactions between activists as well as between the activist field and the wider social and political context, which is a theme threaded throughout the book. The chapter highlights feminist critiques of mainstream (or ‘malestream’) SMT’s failure to recognise the importance of gender to theorising social movements. This is contextualised by a wider discussion about the gendered exclusions that exist within the public sphere.

scholarly journals Genocide as Contentious Politics

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Aliza Luft
Keyword(s):  
Social Movements ◽  
Collective Action ◽  
Social Movement ◽  
Political Violence ◽  
Contentious Politics ◽  
Social Movement Theory ◽  
Final Version ◽  
Movement Theory ◽  
History Of ◽  
Convergence And Divergence

Preprint, final version in Sociology Compass available at: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/soc4.12304/fullDespite a recent turn towards the study of political violence within the field of contentious politics, scholars have yet to focus their lens on genocide. This is puzzling, as the field of collective action and social movements was originally developed in reaction to fascism (Nazism in particular), while research on collective action and research on genocide has long shown parallel findings and shared insights. This paper reviews the history of this scholarly convergence and divergence, and suggests that recent findings of research on genocide can be improved by the consideration of concepts from social movements and collective action. It then details three theories of the micro-mechanisms that mobilize individuals for contention – framing, diffusion, and networks – and specifies how they refine existing explanations of civilian participation in genocide. In the conclusion, I suggest that a contentious politics approach to genocide would consider it one form of collective action among others, analyzable within the existing framework of collective action and social movement theory.

scholarly journals Staging a “Revolution”: The 2011–12 Electoral Protests in Senegal

2016 ◽  
Vol 59 (3) ◽  
pp. 61-82 ◽  
Author(s):  
Leila Demarest
Keyword(s):  
Social Movements ◽  
Human Resources ◽  
Social Movement ◽  
Resource Mobilization ◽  
Social Movement Theory ◽  
Movement Theory ◽  
The Social ◽  
Strategic Role ◽  
Democratic Revolution ◽  
Opposition Parties

Abstract:This paper advances a resource mobilization perspective on the 2011–12 electoral protests in Senegal based on social movement theory. Motivational explanations, in the form of grievance accounts, have already been used to explain successful protest mobilization in this case. Here the emphasis is placed on organizational efforts and the financial and human resources behind social movements. Using this approach to analyze the rise and fall of the social movement created to protest against President Abdoulaye Wade reveals its strategic role for opposition parties and their leaders. These findings add nuance to the perception of a democratic revolution in Senegal.

The Crisis of the Estado docente and the Critical Education Movement: the Escuelas Obreras Federales Racionalistas in Chile (1921–1926)

2007 ◽  
Vol 39 (4) ◽  
pp. 827-855
Author(s):  
LEONORA REYES-JEDLICKI
Keyword(s):  
Twentieth Century ◽  
Social Movements ◽  
Social Movement ◽  
Cultural Production ◽  
Social Movement Theory ◽  
Critical Education ◽  
Social Question ◽  
Movement Theory ◽  
Education Movement ◽  
The Social

AbstractInspired by recent critical pedagogic and social movement theory, this article explores the cultural production of social movements in Chile at the beginning of the twentieth century. Questioning the belief that the Estado docente was the sole mechanism of social democratisation, it explores the pedagogic proposals developed by workers and their associations during what is referred to as the period of the ‘Social Question’. The article concludes by analyzing the factors which led to the demise of these alternative pedagogic experiments.

scholarly journals Islamic Activism

2005 ◽  
Vol 22 (1) ◽  
pp. 107-109
Author(s):  
Katherine Bullock
Keyword(s):  
Social Movements ◽  
Social Movement ◽  
First Century ◽  
Social Movement Theory ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
Movement Theory ◽  
Charles Tilly ◽  
Normal Human ◽  
Exciting Development ◽  
Islamic Activism

This book, an exciting development in the study of Islamic activism, is destinedto become a landmark text. The reason for this, as Kurzman observesin his conclusion, is as simple as it is strange: The authors treat Islamicactivists as normal human beings who make decisions about activism inways that are similar to decision-making methods used by non-Muslimactivists. Were it not for the persistent notion in both academic and popularcircles that Islamic activists are their own species, one that is motivated byan irrational fanaticism, any such conclusion would be seen as humdrum.Such is the isolation of Islamic studies from theoretical developments inother fields that it was not until the turn of the twenty-first century that scholars began to study Islamic activists from the vantage point of state-of-the artinsights on social movements. For this, Wiktorowicz and the contributors tohis book are pioneers who deserve our appreciation.Islamic Activism is divided into three parts: “Violence and Contention,”“Networks and Alliances,” and “Culture and Framing.” It also features aforeword by Charles Tilly, an introduction by the editor, and a conclusion byCharles Kurzman. Each chapter is a strong contribution based on solidempirical research with Islamic activists from various Muslim societies.Many chapters also provide synopses of social movement theory beforemoving on to a discussion of their particular case study. Due to the profundityof social movement theory, this never becomes repetitive, and a nonspecialistreader will gain an understanding of social movement theory whilelearning more about Islamic social movements. For this reason, both Tillyand Kurzman note that the study of Islamic social movements is not just aone way street – applying theoretical insights in social movement theoryderived from the study of non-Muslims to Islamic activists. Rather, thebroadening and deepening social movement theory itself is accomplishedvia the empirical study of Islamic activists ...

The Return of The Repressed: The Fall and Rise of Emotions in Social Movement Theory

2000 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 65-83 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jeff Goodwin ◽  
James Jasper ◽  
Francesca Polletta
Keyword(s):  
Social Movements ◽  
Social Movement ◽  
Social Life ◽  
Early Years ◽  
Social Movement Theory ◽  
Movement Theory ◽  
Catching Up ◽  
History Of ◽  
The 1960S ◽  
Fertile Area

In recent years sociologists have made great strides in studying the emotions that pervade social life. The study of social movements has lagged behind, even though there are few arenas where emotions are more obvious or important. We hope to understand this lag as well as make some suggestions for catching up. To do this we examine the history of scholarship on social movements, finding that emotions were poorly specified in the early years, ignored entirely in the structural and organizational paradigms that emerged in the 1960s, and still overlooked in the cultural era of the 1980s and 1990s. Despite isolated efforts to understand the emotions of social movements, they remain today a fertile area for inquiry.

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