New (and Networked) Social Movement Literature

2019 ◽  
pp. 23-45
Keyword(s):  
Social Movements ◽  
Life Cycle ◽  
Social Movement ◽  
Social Problems ◽  
International Community ◽  
Social Movement Theory ◽  
Collective Identities ◽  
Movement Theory ◽  
New Social Movement ◽  
Diasporic Communities

This chapter provides a summary of new social movement literature, with a particular focus on the phases that social movements progress through as well as the tools (namely digital) that are being used to establish diaspora (as well as social movement) networks across the international community and provide for mobilization. The chapter particularly focuses on the theories of Herbert Blumer (Life Cycle of Social Problems) and Martin Sökefeld, who writes about mobilization of various diasporic communities using social movement theory. The chapter also focuses on identity theories and the importance of developing of collective identities for effective mobilization of movement communities (diasporic and social movement).

Situating Movements Historically: May 1968, Alain Touraine, and New Social Movement Theory

2008 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
pp. 63-82
Author(s):  
Sarah Waters
Keyword(s):  
Social Movements ◽  
Social Movement ◽  
Social Dynamics ◽  
Relational Model ◽  
Social Movement Theory ◽  
Movement Theory ◽  
Historical Processes ◽  
May 1968 ◽  
New Social Movement ◽  
New Social Movement Theory

Recent literature on social movements has called for a renewal of theory so that it engages more directly with the social and historical dynamics in which movements emerge and crystallize. Too often, some critics argue, movements are treated as static or reified phenomena that are disconnected from their links to space and time. I examine new social movement theory from an historical perspective that emphasizes its connections with concrete social dynamics at a given point in time. Unlike alternative approaches, new social movement (NSM) theory and in particular the work of Alain Touraine, was forged out of a specific episode of social conflict—the May 1968 revolt in France—and was deeply informed by the experience of this conflict. This theory provides a dynamic and relational model in which social and historical processes are treated as major determinants of collective action within society. In fact, what explains the success of NSM theory and its enduring influence over time, is that it reaches beyond an analysis of social movements to provide an overarching theory of society at a given historical juncture. The article suggests that NSM theory provides a fruitful perspective for scholars searching for an approach that take history into account.

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.

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.

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