Toward a Militant Ethnography of Infrastructure: Cybercartographies of Order, Scale, and Scope across the Occupy Movement

2018 ◽  
Vol 48 (4) ◽  
pp. 482-509
Author(s):  
Joan Donovan
Keyword(s):  
Social Movements ◽  
Organizational Change ◽  
Political Participation ◽  
Social Movement ◽  
Knowledge Production ◽  
Research Projects ◽  
Occupy Movement ◽  
Academic Knowledge ◽  
Infrastructure Studies

Taking networked social movements as a fieldsite, I chart how the Occupy Movement transformed as activists turned to building infrastructure as a mode of political participation. Critically, infrastructure is not simply a feature of networked social movements, but forms its core capacities. Integrating insights from militant ethnography with STS research on infrastructure studies, I illustrate how to use these methods to render visible the infrastructure of networked social movements. Because militant research projects and STS scholarship have a dual role of making knowledge about as well as knowledge for participants, examining the epistemological foundations of social movement research requires understanding the researcher’s purpose for participating and, then, operationalizing their knowledge. To illustrate this, I introduce cybercartography, a theory/methods package, for mapping organizational change in order, scale, and scope across networked social movements. As such, cybercartography bridges academic knowledge production with activists’ goals to organize action.

scholarly journals ENTRE O PÚBLICO E O PRIVADO: O PAPEL DA MULHER NOS MOVIMENTOS SOCIAIS E A CONQUISTA DE DIREITOS NO DECORRER DA HISTÓRIA * BETWEEN PUBLIC AND PRIVATE: THE ROLE OF WOMEN IN SOCIAL MOVEMENTS AND THE CONQUEST OF RIGHTS IN THE COURSE OF HISTORY

2015 ◽  
Vol 4 (3) ◽  
pp. 50
Author(s):  
Elizabete David Novaes
Keyword(s):  
Social Movements ◽  
Political Participation ◽  
Social Movement ◽  
Social Role ◽  
Modern Science ◽  
Public And Private ◽  
The Public ◽  
Active Subject ◽  
The Social

<p><strong>Resumo:</strong> O presente artigo busca evidenciar o papel social das mulheres nos movimentos sociais promovidos no decorrer da história. Para cumprir com tal propósito, discute o caráter patriarcal da ciência cartesiana; apresenta uma reflexão acerca da articulação entre o público e privado; elabora uma revisão teórica acerca da historiografia da mulher, ressaltando a ação da mulher em diferentes momentos da história, buscando evidenciá-la como sujeito ativo, capaz de integrar o público e o privado, participando da conquista de direitos. Para enfatizar as articulações existentes entre as dimensões pública e privada, este artigo defende que historicamente a mulher politiza vias não políticas do cotidiano, atuando em movimentos sociais promotores de reivindicações e manifestações sociais, de modo a superar limites ideologicamente traçados pelo viés patriarcal da ciência moderna, de base cartesiana, atuando na luta por direitos e participação política na história.</p><p><strong>Palavras-chave:</strong> gênero; historiografia; público e privado; movimentos sociais; direitos.</p><p><strong>Abstract:</strong> This paper describes evidences of the social role of the women inside different social movements occurred during our history. It began with a discussion the patriarchal character of Cartesian science, presents reflections about the public and private articulation, a theoretical review of the women´s historiography, emphasizing their action at different times in history and trying to emphazise them as active subject which is capable to integrate the public and private, participating of the conquer their rights. To emphasize all the previous articulations between the public and private dimensions, this manuscript argues that historically women politicize daily non-political pathways. Their actuations in social movements promote the demands and social manifestations in order to ideologically overcome the limitations set by the the patriarchal bias of modern science, acting in the the fight (ou struggle) for rights and political participation in history.</p><p><strong>Keywords:</strong> gender, historiography, public and private; social movement; rights.</p>

The Roles of Sufi Teachings in Social Movements: An HRD Perspective

2019 ◽  
Vol 21 (2) ◽  
pp. 205-223
Author(s):  
Nadir N. Budhwani ◽  
Gary N. McLean
Keyword(s):  
Social Movements ◽  
Social Movement ◽  
Human Resource Development ◽  
Collective Learning ◽  
Unconditional Love ◽  
The Social ◽  
Personal Experiences ◽  
Recommendations For Practice

The Problem There is a growing need to explore the role of the centuries-old tradition of Sufism and its teachings which, through social movements, have contributed to, and continue to influence, human resource development (HRD) at various levels—individual, group, organization, community, nation, and international. The Solution To address this need, we present cases of social movements inspired by Sufi teachings in selected parts of the world. We discuss, using literature and personal experiences, links among Sufi teachings, social movements, and HRD, and provide a framework for understanding Sufi teachings within the context of the social movement phenomenon. We end with recommendations for practice and research. The Stakeholders We target broadening the horizons of HRD researchers, practitioners, civil society members, and social movement activists, encouraging them to address long-term changes and collective learning through the quest for unconditional love and liberation, which represent the core of Sufi teachings.

scholarly journals THE RISE OF INEQUALITY: HOW SOCIAL MOVEMENTS SHAPE DISCURSIVE FIELDS*

2016 ◽  
Vol 21 (4) ◽  
pp. 413-429 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sarah Gaby ◽  
Neal Caren
Keyword(s):  
Social Movements ◽  
Social Movement ◽  
Media Coverage ◽  
Limited Attention ◽  
Social Movement Organizations ◽  
Wall Street ◽  
Term Outcome ◽  
Long Term Outcome ◽  
Occupy Movement ◽  
Movement Organizations

Social movement scholars have considered several political and cultural consequences of social movements, but have paid limited attention to whether and how social movements shape discourse. We develop a theory of discursive eruption, referring to the ability of radical movements to initially ignite media coverage but not control the content once other actors— particularly those that can take advantage of journalistic norms—enter the discourse. We hold that one long-term outcome of radical social movements is the ability to alter discursive fields through mechanisms such as increasing the salience and content of movement-based issues. We examine the way movements shape discourse by focusing on newspaper articles about inequality before, during, and after the Occupy Wall Street (OWS) movement. We analyze changes in the salience and content of coverage as well as shifts in actor standing and influence. Using 7,024 articles from eight newspapers, we find that the OWS movement increased media attention to inequality, shifting the focus of the discourse toward movement-based issue areas (e.g., the middle class and minimum wage). Further, we find that compared to the pre-OWS period, the influence of social movement organizations and think tanks rose in discourse on inequality. In addition, the discourse on inequality became more highly politicized as a result of the Occupy movement. These findings highlight the importance of social movements in shaping discourse and indicate that social movement scholars should further consider discursive changes as a consequence of social movements.

From crisis to the everyday: Shouldn't we all be writing economies?

2021 ◽  
pp. 0308518X2110680
Author(s):  
Priti Narayan ◽  
Emily Rosenman
Keyword(s):  
Social Movements ◽  
Economic Geography ◽  
Knowledge Production ◽  
Public Economic ◽  
Everyday Lives ◽  
The Social ◽  
The Everyday ◽  
Embodied Experiences ◽  
Ways Of Thinking

This commentary explores the politics of writing about the economy in a culture, society, and discipline that tends to prioritize masculinist (and white) theories and definitions of economy over embodied experiences of people living their everyday lives. Inspired by Timothy Mitchell's problematization of the economy as an object of analysis, we press further on the seemingly singular unit of “the” economy and who is allowed to define it as such. We are animated by questions of who is considered an expert on the economy and how, or by whom, crises in the economy are recognized. Drawing from our own writing experiences during the pandemic and from social movements we research, we argue for alternate ways of thinking about experiences of and expertise on the economy. In reckoning with how social movements speak to power in a bid to transform economies, we consider the role of economic geography in the economy of writing and knowledge production surrounding “the economy” itself. We make the case for a more public economic geography grounded in the social and economic embeddedness of knowledge production, the material consequences of who gets to define what is economically “important,” and the potential for this expertise to be located anywhere.

Social Movements and the Legal Field: Becoming-Constituent

2019 ◽  
Vol 22 (1) ◽  
pp. 376-393 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xenia Chiaramonte
Keyword(s):  
Social Movements ◽  
Social Movement ◽  
Legal Theory ◽  
Constitutional Change ◽  
Legal Doctrine ◽  
Theoretical Understanding ◽  
Cause Lawyering ◽  
Legal Understanding ◽  
The Relationship

The relationship between social movements and the legal field is controversial and complex. This paper begins by recognizing that the concept of social movement does not belong to legal doctrine and then synthetically reconstruct the relevance of it for a legal understanding. In fact, even if this concept is not formally taken into account by constitutions or by legal codes, a socio-legal approach underscores the need for the comprehension and inclusion of collective phenomena into legal theory. First, the paper explores the way in which ‘social movement’ has been taken up and translated in the legal field through the concept of social change and constitutional change. Second, this research goes through various cases in which social movements use law strategically, from the phenomenon of cause lawyering to the litigation strategy. Finally, it stands for a theoretical understanding of the role of social movements in legal theory as a lively expression of ‘becoming-constituent’.

18. Political Participation

2020 ◽  
pp. 318-335
Author(s):  
Herbert Kitschelt ◽  
Philipp Rehm
Keyword(s):  
Social Networks ◽  
Social Movements ◽  
Political Parties ◽  
Collective Action ◽  
Political Participation ◽  
Interest Groups ◽  
Macro Level ◽  
Micro Level ◽  
Politically Active

This chapter examines four fundamental questions relating to political participation. First, it considers different modes of political participation such as social movements, interest groups, and political parties. Second, it analyses the determinants of political participation, focusing in particular on the paradox of collective action. Third, it explains political participation at the macro-level in order to identify which contextual conditions are conducive to participation and the role of economic affluence in political participation. Finally, the chapter discusses political participation at the micro-level. It shows that both formal associations and informal social networks, configured around family and friendship ties, supplement individual capacities to engage in political participation or compensate for weak capacities, so as to boost an individual’s probability to become politically active.

scholarly journals How Movements Move? Evaluating the Role of Ideology and Leadership in Environmental Movement Dynamics in India with Special Reference to the Narmada Bachao Andolan

2009 ◽  
Vol 4 ◽  
pp. 24-29 ◽  
Author(s):  
Padam Nepal
Keyword(s):  
Social Movements ◽  
Social Movement ◽  
A Priori ◽  
Environmental Movements ◽  
Energy And Environment ◽  
Movement Dynamics ◽  
Structure Framework ◽  
Narmada Bachao Andolan ◽  
Agent Structure

Lawrence Cox (1999) has argued that the established perspectives on social movements operate with an inadequately narrow conception of the ‘object’ that is being studied and thus tends to ‘reify’ “movements” as usual activity against essentially static backgrounds, and in its place, he advocates a concept of social movement as the more or less developed articulation of situated rationalities. Following Cox, therefore, the present study perceives social movements as articulations of situated rationalities by perceiving them as a tactical, dialectical response to the harsh realities of the political system. This would help us capture the essential dynamic and transformative aspects of the movement. Any social movement, and for that matter, environmental movements are characterized by the presence of agencies and structural components, which, however, are not a priori and static. They are rather dynamic and get changed and transformed in the course of the movement. Precisely for this reason, the environmental movements can at best be comprehended by way of locating and analyzing the dynamism and transformations of the movements produced by the dialectical interaction of the various components and parameters of the movement over a span of time. Hence, the present paper aims to evaluate the dynamics and transformations of the environmental movements in India, taking the case of the Narmada Bachao Andolan, and, adopting a strategic relational approach within the agent-structure framework as its framework of analysis. For the present purpose, however, we have taken only two variables, namely, Ideology and Leadership and attempted the analysis of their contributions in producing movement dynamics.Hydro Nepal: Journal of Water, Energy and Environment Issue No. 4, January, 2009 Page 24-29

18. Political participation

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Herbert Kitschelt ◽  
Philipp Rehm
Keyword(s):  
Social Networks ◽  
Social Movements ◽  
Political Parties ◽  
Collective Action ◽  
Political Participation ◽  
Interest Groups ◽  
Macro Level ◽  
Micro Level ◽  
Politically Active

This chapter examines four fundamental questions relating to political participation. First, it considers different modes of political participation such as social movements, interest groups, and political parties. Second, it analyses the determinants of political participation, focusing in particular on the paradox of collective action. Third, it explains political participation at the macro-level in order to identify which contextual conditions are conducive to participation and the role of economic affluence in political participation. Finally, the chapter discusses political participation at the micro-level. It shows that both formal associations and informal social networks, configured around family and friendship ties, supplement individual capacities to engage in political participation or compensate for weak capacities, so as to boost an individual's probability to become politically active.

Social Movement Participation and Climate Change

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
James Goodman
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Social Movements ◽  
Social Movement ◽  
Social Action ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Critical Question ◽  
Change Communication ◽  
Political Relations ◽  
Movement Participation

Climate change is often said to herald the anthropocene, where humans become active participants in the remaking of global geology. The corollary of the wide acceptance of a geological anthropocene is the emergence of a new form of self-aware climate agency. With awareness comes blame, invoking responsibility for action. What kind of social action arises from climate agency has become the critical question of our era. In the context of climate deterioration, the prevalence of inaction is itself an exercise of agency, creating in its path new fields of social struggle. The opening sphere of climate agency has the effect of subsuming other fields, reconfiguring established categories of human justice and ethical well-being. In this respect we can think of climate agency as having a distinctive, even revolutionary logic, which remains emergent, enveloping multiple aspects of social action. From this perspective the question of climate change and social movement participation is centrally important. To what extent is something that we can characterize as “climate agency” emerging through social movement participation? What potential has this phenomenon to develop beyond ideological confinement and delimitation to make wider and transformative claims on society? A genuine social movement, we are taught from history, is indeed a transformative force capable of remaking social and political relations. It remains unclear, but what are the emergent dynamics of climate movement participation that depart from established systemic parameters, to offer such a challenge? How are such developments reconfiguring “climate change communication,” forcing an insurgent element into the polity? Though scholarship addressing these questions on social movement participation and climate change exists, the field undoubtedly remains relatively underdeveloped. This reflects the extent to which inquiry into climate change has been dominated by scientific and economic discourses. It also reflects the difficulty that social science, and specifically political sociology, the “home” of social movement studies, has had in apprehending the scope of the challenge. Climate change can disrupt deeply sedimented assumptions about the relationship between social movements and capitalist modernity, and force a reconsideration of the role of social movements across developmentalist hierarchies. Such rethinking can be theoretically challenging, and force new approaches into view. These possibilities reflect the broader challenges to political culture posed by climate change.

Rural Movements and the Transition to Democracy in Spain

2011 ◽  
Vol 16 (4) ◽  
pp. 455-474 ◽  
Author(s):  
Antonio Herrera ◽  
John Markoff
Keyword(s):  
Social Movements ◽  
Social Movement ◽  
Democratic Transition ◽  
Local Level ◽  
Transition To Democracy ◽  
Dynamic Character ◽  
History Of ◽  
Social Movement Activism

Scholars of Spain's democratic transition vary considerably in the role they attribute to movements. Spanish democratization is widely known for its successful elite negotiations and some describe it as an instance of democratization from above. For others it is a case of social movement activism creating problems for those elites negotiating the democratization process. Among those social movements, the least studied took place in the Spanish countryside. Rural movements played a role well beyond the standard accounts in two important ways. First, they challenged significant obstacles to democratization that elite deals had left in place at the local level. And, second, the local arena had major implications for the national scene. We trace the history of four rural campaigns that were a pivotal component of Spanish democratization. We conclude with some general observations on the role of social movements in imparting a dynamic character to democracy.

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