A Theory of Practice for Social Movements: Environmentalism and Ecological Habitus*

2008 ◽  
Vol 13 (2) ◽  
pp. 205-218 ◽  
Author(s):  
Randolph Haluza-DeLay
Keyword(s):  
Social Movements ◽  
Social Movement ◽  
Incidental Learning ◽  
Social Space ◽  
Social Movement Organizations ◽  
Practical Action ◽  
Sociological Approach ◽  
Theory Of Practice ◽  
The Social ◽  
Movement Organizations

This article draws on Bourdieu's sociological approach to expand social movement theory, while offering sociologically robust direction for movements themselves. In Bourdieu's theory, practical action is produced by the habitus. Generated in its social field, habitus conveys cultural encoding yet in a nondeterministic manner. In a Bourdieusian approach, environmental social movement organizations become the social space in which a logic of practice consistent with movement goals can be "caught" through the informal or incidental learning that occurs as a result of participation with social movement organizations. I compare Bourdieu's theory of practice with Eyerman and Jamison's view of social movements as cognitive praxis. I argue that the environmental movement would be better served by conceptualizing itself as working to create an ecological habitus which would underpin ecological lifestyles and environmental social change

Reinvigorating The Study of Organizational Processes in Social Movements

2005 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 289-308 ◽  
Author(s):  
Debra Minkoff ◽  
John McCarthy
Keyword(s):  
Social Movements ◽  
Social Movement ◽  
Systematic Research ◽  
Social Movement Organizations ◽  
Organizational Analysis ◽  
Organizational Fields ◽  
Organizational Decision Making ◽  
Theoretical Perspectives ◽  
The Social ◽  
Movement Organizations

We draw upon diverse theoretical perspectives in organizational analysis to identify four areas where a more serious interface between this "cognate" field and social movement research promises to deepen our understanding of social movement organizations (SMOs). These areas include conceptualizing social movements as organizational fields, thinking of activists as part of a labor market situated in the social movement sector, analyzing SMOs in terms of entrepreneurship and organizational change, and finally, looking more closely at processes of organizational decision making. We discuss studies by social movement scholars that implicitly or explicitly engage the cognate scholarship with an eye to identifying those areas where systematic research is lacking. We close by sketching some methodological approaches for addressing each of the lacunae we identify.

Reinventing the Concept of Civic Culture

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paul Lichterman
Keyword(s):  
Social Movements ◽  
Collective Action ◽  
Social Movement ◽  
Voluntary Associations ◽  
Civic Culture ◽  
Social Movement Organizations ◽  
Alternative Approach ◽  
Religious Associations ◽  
Movement Organizations

This article proposes a new and better concept of civic culture and shows how it can benefit sociology. It argues that a better concept of civic culture gives us a stronger, comparative, and contextual perspective on voluntary associations—the conventional American empirical referent for “civic”—while also improving our sociologies of religion and social movements. The article first considers the classic perspective on civic culture and its current incarnations in order to show why we need better conceptual groundwork than they have offered. It then introduces the alternative approach, which is rooted in a pragmatist understanding of collective action and both builds on and departs in some ways from newly prominent understandings of culture in sociology. This approach’s virtues are illustrated with ethnographic examples from a variety of volunteer groups, social movement organizations, and religious associations.

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.

Mobilizing in Black Boxes: Social Networks and Participation in Social Movement Organizations

2000 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. 241-257 ◽  
Author(s):  
James Kitts
Keyword(s):  
Social Networks ◽  
Social Movement ◽  
Two Dimensions ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Social Movement Organizations ◽  
Black Boxes ◽  
The Social ◽  
Movement Organizations ◽  
Movement Participation

Recent research has focused on the role of social networks in facilitating participation in protest and social movement organizations. This paper elaborates three currents of microstructural explanation, based on information, identity, and exchange. In assessing these perspectives, it compares their treatment of multivalence, the tendency for social ties to inhibit as well as promote participation. Considering two dimensions of multivalence—the value of the social tie and the direction of social pressure—this paper discusses problems of measurement and interpretation in network analysis of movement participation. A critical review suggests some directions for future research.

Joining the Cocktail Circuit: Social Movement Organizations at the European Union

2004 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 55-71 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christian Lahusen
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
Social Movements ◽  
Social Movement ◽  
Level Structure ◽  
Self Regulation ◽  
Social Movement Organizations ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Single European Act ◽  
Multi Level ◽  
Movement Organizations

Although social movement organizations have established themselves successfully on the European level, there is dispute whether the European Union is conducive or detrimental to movement politics. One view is that the EU's particular opportunity structures and styles of policy making subvert unconventional forms of action and participation, thus transforming social movements into a fragmented field of individual interest groups and lobbies. This article critically assesses this perspective. It traces these processes, showing that they were indeed part and parcel of the gradual Europeanization of social movements during the 1970s and 1980s. It then presents evidence that, in the aftermath of the Single European Act of 1986, the European movement sector began moving towards a more integrated multi-level structure. Data drawn from interviews with Euro-level movement activists and EU functionaries present a picture of this new interorganizational structure and multi-level action forms with reference to the European groups working on environmental protection, and human and social rights. It is argued that the present developments stress sectorial and cross-sectorial networking, self-regulation, and common policy deliberation.

Whose Memories? Whose Victimhood? Contests for the Holocaust Frame in Recent Social Movement Discourse

1998 ◽  
Vol 41 (3) ◽  
pp. 519-540 ◽  
Author(s):  
Arlene Stein
Keyword(s):  
Social Movements ◽  
World War Ii ◽  
Social Movement ◽  
Social Movement Organizations ◽  
World War ◽  
The Holocaust ◽  
Social Movement Framing ◽  
Symbolic Resource ◽  
Gay Movement ◽  
Movement Organizations

Fifty years after the end of World War II, the Holocaust is being utilized as a symbolic resource by US social movements. This article investigates social movement “framing” processes, looking at the use of Holocaust rhetoric and imagery by social movement organizations and actors. I explore how competing movements, the lesbian/gay movement and the Christian right, battle over the same symbolic territory, and how the Holocaust frame is deployed by each. Two forms of symbolic appropriation in relation to the Holocaust are documented: metaphor creation and revisionism.

scholarly journals Sowing seeds of hope in California's fields of resistance to Pharm rice and Frankenfish

2013 ◽  
Vol 20 (1) ◽  
pp. 159 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dustin Mulvaney ◽  
Anna Zivian
Keyword(s):  
Social Movements ◽  
Food Safety ◽  
Social Movement ◽  
Genetically Engineered ◽  
Social Movement Organizations ◽  
Wild Salmon ◽  
Safety Risks ◽  
Genetically Engineered Organisms ◽  
Movement Organizations ◽  
Important Site

California has been an important site of governance on risks from genetically engineered (GE) organisms. This paper reviews California's efforts to govern the ecological and food safety risks from GE salmon and GE pharmaceutical rice. We explain how a political constellation of actors emerged to pursue precautionary policies, and we discuss the prospects for similar policies elsewhere. We find that regulation of particularly risky objects is possible in some places, particularly where social movement organizations are mobilized and the possible consequences are severe, such as with impacts to wild salmon runs or pharmaceutically contaminated foods. But such regulations may only emerge when they are inconsequential to, or aligned with, the market concerns of dominant economic interests.Key Words: genetically engineered organisms, social movements, biosafety, California.

Social Movements in Late 20th-Century Ecuador and Bolivia

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marc Becker
Keyword(s):  
Social Movements ◽  
Social Movement ◽  
Ethnic Groups ◽  
20Th Century ◽  
Farm Workers ◽  
Social Movement Organizations ◽  
Economic Interests ◽  
Late 20Th Century ◽  
Majority Population ◽  
Movement Organizations

Both Ecuador and Bolivia have gained a reputation for powerful social movements that have repeatedly challenged entrenched political and economic interests that have controlled the countries since their independence from Spain almost two hundred years ago. A wealthy and powerful minority of European descendant landowners ruled the countries to the exclusion of the majority population of impoverished Indigenous farm workers. Repeated well-organized challenges to exclusionary rule in the late 20th century shifted policies and opened political spaces for previously marginalized people. Social movement organizations also altered their language to meet new realities, including incorporating identities as ethnic groups and Indigenous nationalities to advance their agenda. Their efforts contributed to a significant leftward shift in political discourse that led to the election of presidents Evo Morales and Rafael Correa.

Coalitions and The Development of The Global Environmental Movement: A Double-Edged Sword

2005 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 235-250 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gillian Murphy
Keyword(s):  
Social Movements ◽  
Social Movement ◽  
Empirical Evidence ◽  
Environmental Movement ◽  
Original Data ◽  
Social Movement Organizations ◽  
Transnational Social Movements ◽  
Global Environmental ◽  
Movement Organizations ◽  
Environmental Social Movement

Censuses reveal an increasing prominence of coalition organizations within transnational social movements. However, the causes and implications of this change are unclear. Using original data on a population of transnational environmental social movement organizations, this research shows that coalition presence is a double-edged sword. While greater numbers of coalitions suggest movement expansion, empirical evidence suggests that this rise makes foundings of new organizations less likely.

The Strategy of Normalization in the South African Lgbt Movement

2010 ◽  
Vol 15 (1) ◽  
pp. 45-62 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ashley Currier
Keyword(s):  
Social Movements ◽  
Social Movement ◽  
South African ◽  
Social Movement Organizations ◽  
The South ◽  
Ethnographic Interview ◽  
Bisexual And Transgender ◽  
Newspaper Data ◽  
Movement Organizations ◽  
Lgbt Movement

The article theorizes and presents normalization as a movement-level strategy available to social movements dealing with an internal threat. By defining themselves against an internal threat's abnormality through a process of normalization, social movement organizations assert how they and the movement operate within socially and politically respectable parameters. Drawing on ethnographic, interview, and newspaper data, I show how mainstream South African lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) movement organizations deployed normalization to marginalize and expel an internal threat, the Gay and Lesbian Alliance, between 1998 and 2006.

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