History, Capitalism, and the Cyber Left

2017 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Social Movements ◽  
Social Justice ◽  
Social Movement ◽  
Political Protest ◽  
The Past ◽  
The World ◽  
Ethnographic Analysis ◽  
Mapping Exercise

This introductory chapter first sets out the book's purpose, which is to describe and analyze the logic that drives left-based social movements. The book maps the underlying logic of a new figure of resistance—a new sociopolitical formation—as it has materialized across the world. It undertakes this mapping exercise through a historical and ethnographic analysis of the Global Social Justice Movement from 1994 to 2006, with a particular focus on the indymedia movement. It argues that historical and sociocultural patterns connect different periods of political protest. Specifically, it argues that the patterns of struggle in a particular period are best understood as developing, in an ideal sense, through a multilateral dialogue between social-movement actors and both the past and present. The chapter then introduces the term Cyber Left, suggesting that that we are on the cusp of a new stage in left-based social movements. This is followed by an overview of the two parts of the book.

Muslim Activism: A Survey across the World

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Walid Jumblatt Abdullah
Keyword(s):  
Social Movements ◽  
Literature Review ◽  
Social Movement ◽  
Field Of Study ◽  
Islamic Studies ◽  
The Social ◽  
The World ◽  
Muslim Scholars

The second chapter is a literature review. The first section tackles the different theological positions Muslim scholars have posited with regard to activism. This is important as we find that some of these stances guide, or are used to justify, the various forms of activism. I further discuss the types of Muslim activists, and the social movement literature, in order to ground the findings of this book within a field of study. The idea is that the book should be relevant beyond Singapore or even Islamic studies, and locating the book within the literature of social movements serves this purpose.

Social Movements in Iran: How Well Does the Dominant Narrative Work?

2020 ◽  
pp. 089692052097679
Author(s):  
Elham Hoominfar
Keyword(s):  
Social Movements ◽  
Social Movement ◽  
Interview Data ◽  
Documentary Analysis ◽  
The World ◽  
Last Stage ◽  
Two Stages ◽  
Environmental Social Movement

In this paper, I apply the typical stages of social movements—emergence, coalescence, and institutionalization—to an Iranian environmental social movement. I show how each of the stages does, or does not, play out in the Iranian case, using interview data and documentary analysis. The first two stages of social movements are achieved in the movement. But, due to a centralized state that uses violence and repression, the movement cannot play on the stage of the dominant narrative’s institutionalization. However, the movement is not in decline. I suggest using the idea of “persistence/resistance” for the last stage rather than institutionalization, as institutionalization may be just a form to assure that social movements will persist. There are other cases like this movement around the world, but there is not a specific argument to challenge the limitations of the dominant narrative. My study helps scholars rethink this narrative according to the context of the countries in their research.

‘Like an ox yoke’: Challenging the intrinsic virtuousness of a grassroots social movement

2011 ◽  
Vol 31 (4) ◽  
pp. 293-311 ◽  
Author(s):  
Donna L. Chollett
Keyword(s):  
Social Movements ◽  
Social Justice ◽  
Latin America ◽  
Social Movement ◽  
Social Exclusion ◽  
Critical Analysis ◽  
Hierarchical Control ◽  
Sugar Mill ◽  
Neoliberal Globalization ◽  
Models Of Democracy

Since the 1980s, neoliberal globalization fostered an upsurge of grassroots social movements in Latin America that sought alternatives to increasing poverty and social exclusion. Social movement scholars often interpret these movements as morally noble models of democracy given their claims to social justice and equity. My research examines the forced seizure of a closed Mexican sugar mill and establishment of a cooperative, worker-run factory by a grassroots movement whose cultural politics aimed at creating more democratic processes. Yet in 2009, after 11 years of success, movement leaders declared the mill bankrupt and shut it down. The façade of unity presented by activists obscured internal divisions and hierarchical control that beleaguered the movement. I argue that a more nuanced and critical analysis that takes into consideration the contradictions and paradoxes that may be present in grassroots struggles reframes essentialist conceptions regarding the intrinsic virtuousness of grassroots social movements.

Organizing Women in Contemporary Russia: Engendering Transition. By Valerie Sperling. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1999. 303p. $59.95 cloth, $22.95 paper.

2001 ◽  
Vol 95 (2) ◽  
pp. 506-507
Author(s):  
Rebecca Kay
Keyword(s):  
Social Movements ◽  
Social Movement ◽  
Explanatory Power ◽  
Cross Cultural ◽  
Cultural Model ◽  
Cambridge University ◽  
Opportunity Structures ◽  
Movement Theory ◽  
The World ◽  
Political Economic

In the introduction, Valerie Sperling notes that "Russia's transition from communism toward capitalism and a more democratic political arrangement has been both good and bad for women, presenting both obstacles and opportunities for organizing" (p. 7). She goes on to produce an engaging and thought-provoking analysis aimed at broadening the scope and explanatory power of social movement theory, which, she argues, has been developed by scholars who focus primarily on social movements in the "contemporary core democracies" (pp. 52-3). In contrast Sperling develops "a cross-cultural model of social movement organizing and development that explores five interrelated opportunity structures: socio-cultural or attitudinal, political, economic, political-historical, and international" (p. 53). In each subse- quent chapter she tackles one of these opportunity structures and offers a number of fascinating insights into the world of post-Soviet social movements, based on the experience of her sample of women's organizations.

The Rise of the Organic Foods Movement as a Transnational Phenomenon

2013 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tomas Larsson
Keyword(s):  
Social Movements ◽  
Social Movement ◽  
International Organizations ◽  
Organic Foods ◽  
The World ◽  
Organic As ◽  
Power And Influence

This article examines the rise of the organic foods movement to a position of power and influence around the world. The movement’s rise is attributed to the efficacy of “organic” as a mobilizing frame for a social movement, as well as to the institutional opportunities offered by states and international organizations. The article also discusses the organic foods movement as a model for other social movements seeking to attain transnational status.

A Son of the Manse with a Missionary Zeal

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
David M. Webber
Keyword(s):  
Political Economy ◽  
Social Justice ◽  
Christian Faith ◽  
Global Poverty ◽  
Missionary Zeal ◽  
The World

This introductory chapter opens by exploring Gordon Brown’s upbringing as ‘a son of the Manse’ and his burning desire for social justice. This chapter reveals a clear lineage between the young socialist tramping the streets of Edinburgh and the man who would end up becoming Britain’s most powerful Chancellor of the Exchequer. Driven by his Christian faith, the influence of his parents, and a deep compassion for the most vulnerable in society, Brown took his mission to change the world very seriously indeed. As this book will go on to show, Brown’s steadfastness to end global poverty would see the former Chancellor and Prime Minster design a model of political economy that not only oriented Britain towards the ‘opportunities’ presented by globalisation, but one that could also be exported to meet the challenges faced by some of the poorest countries in the world.

scholarly journals Global Social Movement(s) at the Crossroads: Some Observations on the Trajectory of the Anti-Corporate Globalization Movement

2004 ◽  
pp. 37-66 ◽  
Author(s):  
Frederick H. Buttel ◽  
Kenneth A. Gould
Keyword(s):  
Social Justice ◽  
Social Movement ◽  
Structural Characteristics ◽  
Environmental Movement ◽  
Washington Consensus ◽  
Social Changes ◽  
Environmental Groups ◽  
The Past ◽  
International Inequality ◽  
Corporate Globalization

This paper examines the major structural characteristics of the anti-corporate globalization movement, its key bases and antecedents, its relationship with other global social movements (GSMs) and the key challenges it faces in the post-9/11 period. We suggest that despite the potential of the anti-corporate globalization movement to usher in major social changes, the movement faces a number of major crossroads in terms of ideology, discursive approach, and overall strategy. We argue that there has been coalescence of a good many GSMs, including the international environmental movement, under the banner of the anti-corporate globalization movement. We focus primarily on the interrelations of these two GSMs, noting that over the past decade there have been trends toward both the “environmentalization” and “de-environmentalization” of the anti-corporate globalization movement. While the defection of many mainstream environmental groups fromthe “Washington consensus” and the resulting environmentalization of the trade and globalization issue were critical to the “Seattle coalition,” there has been a signi?cant decline in the movement’s embrace of environmental claims and discourses, and a corresponding increase in its use of social justice discourses. One implication of our analysis is the hypothesis that while the current vitality of the anti-corporate globalization movement can be gauged by its having adopted an increasingly coherent ideological stance in which international inequality and global corporate dominance are targeted, to be successful the movement will need to coherently ideologically integrate social justice with environmental and sustainability agendas. The amenability of the environmental GSM to such ideological integration will have important rami?cations for the future trajectory of the anti-corporate globalization movement.

Exit-With-Autonomy or Autonomy-Without-Exit? Divergent Political Trajectories in Rojava and the Kurdish Regional Government

2021 ◽  
pp. 089692052110485
Author(s):  
Spencer Louis Potiker
Keyword(s):  
Social Movements ◽  
Social Movement ◽  
World System ◽  
Regional Government ◽  
Political Opportunities ◽  
Parallel Structures ◽  
The Social ◽  
The World ◽  
Alternative Modality ◽  
Set Up

This paper argues that sociological analysis of social movements has undertheorized non/anti-state social movements. It is argued that an alternative modality of resistance to that of movements seeking reform through the state or the capture of state power through revolution is to exit the world-system and set up parallel structures of governance and production. A conjunctural inter-regional comparison is taken up in order to map the inter-scalar and historical causal factors that led to exit-with-autonomy in Syrian Kurdistan (Rojava) and autonomy-without-exit in Iraqi Kurdistan (Kurdish Regional Government). The paper shows that in order to exit the world-system social movement actors in Rojava used strategic loyalty bargains and political voice at specific historical conjunctures in order to maintain their movement and seize on non-state political opportunities. These same non-state political opportunities were not available for the social movement actors hoping to exit the world-system in the Kurdish Regional Government.

Citizen-Driven International Networks and Globalization of Social Movements on Twitter

2016 ◽  
Vol 35 (1) ◽  
pp. 68-83 ◽  
Author(s):  
Qinfeng Zhu
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Social Movements ◽  
Social Movement ◽  
Public Discourse ◽  
National Income ◽  
World System ◽  
World Systems Theory ◽  
International Network ◽  
Global Networks ◽  
The World

Social media offer an avenue for the formation of citizen-driven global networks that are vital to mobilizing international support and curating global public discourse in social movements. This study looks into the global flow of information and communication about Hong Kong's Occupy Central Movement with a focus on the country/territory-level international network that emerged on Twitter. Drawing on the world systems theory and the literature on social movement, it examines whether the globalization of a local social movement via social media is circumscribed by the existing order of the world system (i.e., from the developed core countries/territories to the developing peripheral). It focuses its analysis on the network structure and the predictors of countries/territories’ centrality in the network. Findings of the social network analysis show that the structure of the international network still follows the existing order of the world system to a large extent. It is further supported by the result of the multivariate analysis that national income, a widely used benchmark for determining a country/territory's position in the world economy, is significantly and substantially related to centrality. However, national income does not have the largest predicting power. Instead, a country/territory's level of political grievances is found to be the strongest predictor. In addition, countries/territories with high Internet penetration rates tend to have high-centrality scores, and yet the effect size is smaller than the other predictors.

Introduction

2019 ◽  
pp. 1-23
Author(s):  
Cynthia Miller-Idriss
Keyword(s):  
Social Movements ◽  
World War Ii ◽  
Steady Increase ◽  
Right Wing ◽  
World War ◽  
Far Right ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
The Past ◽  
Commercial Market

This introductory chapter discusses the emergence of the extremist commercial market and how it has coincided with one of the most significant waves of far right popularity in Europe in recent memory. The past several years have witnessed a steady increase in far right wing politics and social movements across Europe. Such protests and violent episodes exist in a context in which far right, nationalist, xenophobic, anti-Semitic, Islamophobic, and racist rhetoric and discourse has risen across Europe. These developments pose significant challenges for countries that have spent decades rebuilding democratic societies in the post-World War II era and have firmly committed to policies and practices that protect pluralistic communities. Academics and policy makers have struggled to understand the diverse causes and dynamics that have made the far right so appealing for so many people—that appear, in other words, to have made the extreme more mainstream.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document