Showing papers on "Social movement published in 1994"

Power in Movement: Social Movements and Contentious Politics

Abstract: Introduction 1 Contentious politics and social movements: Part I The Birth of the Modern Social Movement: 2 Modular collective action 3 Print and association 4 Statebuilding and social movements Part II From Contention to Social Movements: 5 Political opportunities and constraints 6 The repertoire of contention 7 Framing contention 8 Mobilising structures and contentious politics Part III The Dynamics of Movement: 9 Cycles of contention 10 Struggling to reform 11 Transnational contention/conclusion: the future of social movements

Power in Movement: Social Movements, Collective Action and Politics

Abstract: From the French and American Revolutions through the democratic and workers' movements of the nineteenth century to the totalitarian movements of today, social movements exercise a fleeting but powerful influence on politics and society. This study surveys the history of the social movement, puts forward a theory of collective action to explain its surges and declines, and offers an interpretation of the power of movement that emphasizes its effects on personal lives, policy reforms and political culture. While covering cultural, organizational and personal sources of movements' power, the book emphasizes the rise and fall of social movements as part of political struggle and as the outcome of changes in political opportunity structure.

A Social Movement Perspective on Corporate Control

Abstract: Volume: 39 Issue: 1 Start Page: 141 ISSN: 00018392 Subject Terms: Studies Shareholder relations Interest groups Corporate governance Corporate culture Shareholder relations Organizational structure Management Classification Codes: 9190: US 9130: Experimental/theoretical treatment 2500: Organizational behavior 2400: Public relations Geographic Names: US Abstract: A study argues that efficiency-oriented approaches to corporate governance and law are limited in their ability to explain the politics of corporate control and, in particular, the rise of shareholder activism. Politics, like other social action, is embedded in social structures that influence whether, when, and how collective action is accomplished by interest groups. A social movement framework is used to explain the changing capacities of shareholders and managers as members of classes to act on their interests in control at the firm, state, and federal level. This framework is illustrated by showing how activist shareholders increased their influence in corporate governance in the early 1990s.

The Difficult Transition from Clientelism to Citizenship: Lessons from Mexico

Abstract: Electoral competition is necessary but not sufficient for the consolidation of democratic regimes; not all elections are free and fair; nor do they necessarily lead to actual civilian rule or respect for human rights. If there is more to democracy than elections, then there is more to democratization than the transition to elections. But in spite of the rich literature on the emergence of electoral competition, the dynamics of political transitions toward respect for other fundamental democratic rights is still not well understood. Political democracy is defined here in classic procedural terms: free and fair electoral contestation for governing offices based on universal suffrage, guaranteed freedoms of association and expression, accountability through the rule of law, and civilian control of the military. Although analyses of democratization typically acknowledge that these are all necessary criteria, most examine only electoral competition. This study, however, develops a framework for explaining progress toward another necessary condition for democratization respect for associational autonomy, which allows citizens to organize in defense of their own interests and identities without fear of external intervention or punishment.

Social Movement Spillover

Abstract: Social movements are not distinct and self-contained; rather, they grow from and give birth to other movements, work in coalition with other movements, and influence each other indirectly through their effects on the larger cultural and political environment. Building on both political process and collective identity perspectives, this paper uses a case study of the women's movement's impact on U.S. peace movement activity in the 1980s to develop a theory of movement-movement influence. We argue that this influence is shown by: 1) the adoption of feminist ideological frames by the peace movement; 2) the spread of the women's movement's tactical innovations into peace protest; 3) increased presence of women in leadership positions in both the institutionally-oriented and direct action wings of the movement; and 4) the adoption of organizational structures that built on feminist processes designed to avoid hierarchy. Drawing data from both movements at local and national levels, we suggest four mechanisms of transmission between the movements: 1) organizational coalitions; 2) overlapping social movement communities; 3) shared personnel; and 4) broader changes in the external environment. Social movement spillover effects have implications for our understanding of both the continuity and impact of social protest movements.

New Social Movements: From Ideology to Identity

Abstract: Part I: Culture and Identity in Contemporary Social Movements 1. Identities, Grievances, and New Social Movements - Hank Johnston, Enrique Larana, and Joseph R. Gusfield 2. Culture and Social Movements - Doug McAdam 3. The Reflexivity of Social Movements: Collective Behavior and Mass Society Theory Revisited - Joseph R. Gusfield 4. Ideology and Utopia after Socialism - Ralph H. Turner 5. A Strange Kind of Newness: What's "New" in New Social Movements? - Alberto Melucci Part II: Collective Actors in New Social Movements 6. Activist, Authorities, and Media Framing of Drunk Driving - John D. McCarthy 7. Transient Identities? Membership Patterns in the Dutch Peace Movement - Bert Klandermans 8. Identity Fields: Framing Processes and the Social Construction of Movement Identities - Scott A. Hunt, Robert D. Benford, and David A. Snow 9. Continuity and Unity in New Forms of Collective Action: A Comparative Analysis of Student Movements - Enrique Larana 10. Conflict Networks and the Origins of Women's Liberation - Carol Mueller Part III: Collective Action and Identity in Changing Political Contexts 11. New Social Movements and Old Regional Nationalisms - Hank Johnston 12. Greens, Cabbies, and Anti-Communists: Collective Action During Regime Transition in Hungary - Mate Szabo 13. Social Movements in Modern Spain: From the Pre-Civil War Model to Contemporary NSMs - Jose Alvarez-Junco 14. The Party's Over - So What Is to Be Done? - Richard Flacks The Contributors Index

Religion and Globalization

Abstract: Introduction Religion in Global Society PART ONE: THEORY AND CONCEPTS Four Approaches to Globalization Socio-cultural Particularism in a Global Society Systemic Religion in Global Society Religion and Social Movements in Global Society PART TWO: CASE STUDIES: Religion in Global Society: Five Contemporary Cases The New Christian Right in the United States The Liberation Theological Movement in Latin America The Islamic Revolution in Iran Religious Zionism in Israel Religious Environmentalism Conclusion

Nationalism, patriotism, and group loyalty: A social psychological perspective

Abstract: The purpose of this essay is to introduce the reader to a social psychological perspective on the roots of nationalism. At its heart is the description of how individuals develop feelings about and attachments to groups-how they build loyalty to groups. The review explores how such loyalty can lead to hostile reactions to other groups, can become translated into stereotypes that are shared by individuals, can shape the collective behavior of groups, and can help differentiate the multiple groups that define any political environment. At a time when ethnic nationalism seems insurgent and capable of pushing much of the world into chaos and war, there is increased need both to understand and to learn how to cope with the conditions that promote such extreme group loyalty. While each of the social sciences has something to say about nationalism, social psychologists have, over the years, contributed, in often neglected ways, to our knowledge about the roots of nationalism. Specifically, they have explored the factors that arouse feelings of group loyalty when such group loyalty promotes hostility toward other groups; how cross-cutting or multiple loyalties can change the face of nationalism; and how individual group loyalties influence and shape collective behavior. It is the purpose of this article to discuss this literature and show its relevance to what is happening in the postCold War world. Focusing their attention primarily on individuals and small interacting groups, social psychologists have sought basic knowledge about the ways in which people relate to groups and nations. Central to this focus is the role played by feelings of loyalty to groups and the conditions that arouse or reduce attachments. While relying largely on data from laboratory experiments and surveys of college students, the results are relevant to a wide variety of situations and populations. Whether or not the findings have such broad implications depends on the conditions under which we can reasonably draw conclusions from them about the behavior of national aggregates. It may be that the phenomena do, in fact, aggregate directly from the individual to the collective much as votes can be aggregated. Or, we may be able to make a strong analogy between the behavior of individuals and small groups, on the one hand, and that of leaders, social movements, and whole national populations on the other. We will use both approaches and consider some of the implications of such issues as we review the research.

Ecopopulism: Toxic Waste and the Movement for Environmental Justice

Abstract: Environmental crisis and the search for a politics that works. Part 1: policy icon social movement - hazardous waste in three arenas of political action routine regulatory failure - the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act of 1976 "toxic waste" as icon - a new mass issue is born the toxics movement - from "NIMBY-ism" to radical environmental populism. Part 2: reactions - could opposition be neutralized? discourses and policies of disempowerment hazardous waste regulation progresses against the conservative tide. Part 3: results of hazardous waste legislation - summing up the policy failures and successes broader political implications? environmental populism and the reconstitution of progressive politics.

The Politics of Memory: The Human Rights Movement and the Construction of Democracy in Argentina

Abstract: Under the circumstances of the political violence in Argentina in the mid1970s that climaxed in the military coup of 1976 and the ensuing massive violations of human rights, a new social movement emerged. At first almost in hiding and unseen, then becoming steadily more visible, gaining step by step in political relevance and centrality, the human rights movement and the issues it raised gradually came to occupy a significant position in the public arena. Under the military dictatorship (1976-1983) the movement unfolded a varied range of activities: supporting victims and their relatives, spreading the information that was to break the imposed silence about the nature and scope of the violations, launching open protests, organizing and promoting international solidarity. As a result, it was the key actor in the development of societal demands for the defense of human rights. After the transition to democracy in 1983, the tasks of the human rights movement changed, although its basic aim of defending human rights and protesting violations remained. Faced by new institutional and political demands and symbolic and cultural challenges, it gradually lost its central political position, entering a phase of internal debate about its role under a democratic regime and revealing its internal cleavages and heterogeneities. At present it is still searching for a new profile.

Identity talk in the peace and justice movement

Abstract: This article examines identity talk in several peace movement organizations from 1982 to 1991. Identity talk directs attention to how identity discourse concretizes activists' perceptions of social movement dramas, demonstrates personal identity, reconstructs individuals' biographies, imputes group identities, and aligns personal and collective identities. Six types of identity talk are identified and illustrated: associational declarations, disillusionment anecdotes, atrocity tales, personal is political reports, guide narratives, and war stories. These stories revolve around the themes of becoming aware, active, committed, and weary. Suggestions are offered for possible future research.

The Empowerment Tradition in American Social Work: A History

Abstract: Barbara Levy Simon argues that empowerment is only the latest term for a point of view that has been at the heart of social work since the 1890s. She presents the history of this tradition from 1893 to the present and explores the social movements, ideas, and beliefs that have been most influential in shaping its development. The empowerment perspective within social work practice seeks to help clients draw on personal, interpersonal and political strengths that enable them to gain greater control - both individually and collectively - over their environment and to attain their aspirations. Simon argues that the empowerment tradition developed among a diverse group of social work professionals who rejected the paternalistic approach to practice and shared a common commitment to enabling marginalized and impoverished people to help themselves, to claim their share of social, economic and political resources. She demonstrates that in every historical period the empowerment approach to practice included five basic processes: constructing collaborative partnerships with clients; emphasizing the strengths of clients rather than their incapacities; focusing on both individuals and their social and physical environments; recognizing the rights, responsibilities, and needs of clients and client groups; and directing professional energies toward helping historically disempowered groups and their members.

Why Social Movement Sympathizers Don't Participate: Erosion and Nonconversion of Support

Abstract: Social movement organizations face the challenge of converting action preparedness into action participation, and accordingly, they must deal with factors that lead to nonparticipation. We identify two routes to nonparticipation"nonconversion" and "erosion." Nonconversion refers to a movement's failure to transform sympathizers into active participants. Erosion refers to the loss of sympathizers. We provide a theoretical framework for explaining nonconversion and erosion and apply it to a longitudinal study of a mobilization campaign of the Dutch Peace Movement: the People's Petition against cruise missiles. Data came from telephone interviews we conducted among random samples (N = 224) from the populations of four communities before and after the campaign (in May and November 1985). We use binomial logistic regression analyses to test several explanations of nonconversion and erosion. Factors that led to erosion were moderate action preparedness at the beginning of the campaign, declining preparedness during the campaign, and a social environment perceived by participants as becoming less and less supportive. Factors that led to nonconversion were moderate but stable action preparedness combined with the presence of barriers to action and an indifferent social environment. Results are discussed and related to social movement literature.

Latin America's Emerging Local Politics

Abstract: N O net tAW (TITLE 17 U.S. COOfe LATIN AMERICA'S EMERGING LOCAL POLITICS Jonathan Fox Jonathan Fox is associate professor of political science at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. This essay expands on presentations made to the Ford Foundation's Latin America and Caribbean Program (April 1993) and the Inter-American Dialogue (September 1993). D oes local democratization really matter for national politics? For those who value accountable government and civic participation, democracy at the local level is obviously important in and of itself. This essay makes a different point, however—that the degree of democratization of local government affects the prospects for national democratic governance. Most Latin American nations made the delicate transition from authoritarian to elected civilian regimes in the 1980s, but in the 1990s many still have not firmly consolidated their democratic gains. The wave of regime transitions in the 1980s created opportunities for experimentation with more honest and effective styles of governance, but so far most of the new regimes have failed to produce successful results at the national level. Traditional centralized, top-down approaches dominated national governance thoughout the region during the 1980s. Key characteristics included centralized and militarized police powers, appointed rather than elected mayors and governors, and extreme fiscal and bureaucratic centralization. These problems of top-down governance were compounded by systemic defects such as the lack of independent judicial authority and highly opaque, discretionary policy processes. Remarkably, most of these practices could be found across the entire political spectrum, from the moderate civilian governments of Brazil, Mexico, Peru, Venezuela, and Colombia to revolutionary Nicaragua and Cuba on the left and military-dominated E l Salvador, Guatemala, and pre-1989 Chile on the right. The view that policy solutions should necessarily be national is now Journal of Democracy Vol. 5, No. 2 April 1994

The role of accounting in ideological conflict: Lessons from the South African divestment movement

Abstract: Social critiques of accounting have challenged the conventional view of corporate social disclosure as a neutral, technical tool for enhancing corporate social responsibility, and stressed the ideological role accounting plays in legitimating corporate activities. This paper extends the literature on the role of accounting in ideological conflict by examining the ideological role accounting and social disclosure played in the South African divestment debates in the United States during the 1970s and 1980s. The history of the Sullivan Principles and institutional divestment from South Africa provides an empirical context for examining both the potential and limits of accounting's capacity to serve the interests of subordinate groups and social movements.

Success While Others Fail: Social Movement Unionism and the Public Workplace

Abstract: production system and its effects on workers and labor-management relations begin to emerge. It becomes clear thatJapanese production methods indeed pose considerable challenges to the traditional basis of labor's strength. However, it also becomes apparent that there are important differences in the degree of labor's resistance to the imposition of this hegemonic system. In a number of essays, the authors argue that it is the strategies and actions of organized labor that can explain the often considerable differences in outcomes across sites. Specifically, the authors point to the differences in strategies formulated and implemented by the UAW as compared to its Canadian counterpart, the CAW. The authors highlight CAW Local 88's resistance toJapanese production methods at CAMI (the GM-Suzuki joint venture located in Ingersoll, Ontario) that galvanized worker resistance and culminated in a five-week-long work stoppage resulting in the moderation of the lean production system and an increase in labor rights. The authors attribute the Canadian auto union's success to aspects of the Canadian union movement derived from institutions and history "better" than those in the United States. Despite the power of the arguments about the differences between the strategic views of and the actions undertaken by the UAW in the United States and the CAW in Canada, the actual empirical evidence regarding the impact of the CAW's strategy on the nature of the labormanagement accommodation under JPM and the effects of JPM on workers comes only from this single case. Although the CAMI case stands in stark contrast to a number of U.S. lean production cases (especially Saturn and the nonunion transplants), it does not look terribly different from the case of AutoAlliance, where workers are represented by Local 3000 of the UAW. Rather than casting the debate at the level of national unions as the authors in this volume do, I would argue that the debate needs to be refocused at the level of the local union. In my own work looking at workplace restructuring in the steel industry in these two countries (where the same international union represents workers on both sides of the border), the critical variable in explaining differences in outcomes appears to be the capacities possessed by individual local unions. I would argue that the same may be said in the case of the auto industry. A much more compelling story could be told about differences in local union institutions, practices, ideologies, and histories by looking at the CAMI and AutoAlliance cases as compared to the cases of Saturn and NUMMI or other auto assembly plants in both countries where lean production is being imposed in whole or in part on an existing work force and facility. Perhaps the critical question to be asked, with important implications for union strategists, is: why were UAW Local 3000 and CAW Local 88 relatively successful in confronting management to moderate the effects of lean production on their members while other locals of the UAW (and perhaps of the CAW as well), faced with similar pressures, were not? Overall, this book makes a significant contribution to the debate over new forms of work organization in the auto industry. Not only does it provide a rich collection of varied types of evidence, but it also contains a wealth of critical thinking regarding the future of organized labor in this industry. In particular, the authors must be commended for taking seriously the challenge JPM raises for workers and their representatives and for exploring the implications of their possible responses.

Communication Technology and Social Movements: Contributions of Computer Networks to Activism:

Abstract: This paper examines the contribution of computer-assisted communication and computer networks to the formation and functioning of social movements and collective behavior. Although the resources for data in this area are ideally suited to investigate some of the current issues and debates within the field of social movement scholarship, very little research has been directed toward understanding the processes of activist computer use and the results for social movements. I outline key characteristics of computer-mediated communication that have ramifications for social movements and identify potentially fruitful areas for research using the activist computer forum. Keywords: computing, technology, networks, social movements, activism.

Arguments for a New Left: Answering the Free-Market Right

Abstract: Preface. The arguments: A New Left and the Democratization of Knowledge. Part I: An Eastern Challenge to the Western Left:. 1. Encounters in the New Europe. Part II: At The Heart of the Challenge:. 2. Frederick Hayek and the Social--Engineering State. 3. Transformation from Below. 4. TheTheory and Politics of Knowledge. Part III: New Kinds of Knowledge for new Forms of Democracy:. 5. From Social Movement to Self Management: A case Study from the Womena s Movement. 6. From Grass Roots Organizing to New Economic Networks. 7. From Extra--Parliamentary Oppositions to Parties of new Kind. Part IV:Why Movements Matter in the New Europe: . 8. Ending the Cold War. 9. Conclusions: Transforming Governmentality. Bibliography and Further Reading. Directory of International Campaigns, Networks and Newsletters. Index.

Community, movement, organization : the problem of identity convergence in collective action

Abstract: This article integrates resource mobilization and collective identity perspectives to show how understanding the degree of convergence of identities between a movement organization, its broader soc...

Generation at the Crossroads: Apathy and Action on the American Campus

Abstract: Challenging prevailing media stereotypes, Generation at the Crossroads explores the beliefs and choices of the students who came of age in the 1980s and 1990s. For seven years, at over a hundred campuses in thirty states, Paul Loeb asked students about the values they held. He examines their concepts of responsibility, the links they draw between present and future, and how they view themselves in relation to the larger human community in which they live. He brings us a range of voices, from "I'm not that kind of person, " to "I had to take a stand." Loeb looks at how the rest of us can serve young people as better role models, and given them courage and vision to help build a better world. This insightful book explores the culture of withdrawal that dominated American campuses through most of the eighties. He locates its roots in historical ignorance, relentless individualism, mistrust of social movements, and a general isolation from urgent realities. He examines why a steadily increasing minority has begun to take on critical public issues, whether environmental activism, apartheid, hunger and homelessness, affordable education, or racial and sexual equity. Loeb looks at individuals who have overcome precisely the barriers he has described, and how their journeys can become models. The generational choices he explores will shape our common future.

Mexican Popular Movements, Clientelism, and the Process of Democratization

Abstract: The study of new social movements in Latin America has proven irresistibly attractive to many scholars. Examining these movements allows us to explore the formation of new identities, the emergence of new political and social actors, the creation of new political space, and the overall expansion of civil society. While all or any of these phenomena seem sufficiently intriguing to claim our attention in their own right, the most common rationale offered for the study of new movements is their apparent link to the democratization process. Through the last decade, in books, articles, and, above all, doctoral dissertations produced around the globe, scholars have justified their interest in new social movements in terms of the presumed importance of these organizations in the consolidation of democratic institutions. Most theorists writing in this field would agree with Alvarez and Escobar (1991) that these movements have “a democratizing impact on political culture and daily life” and “contribute to the democratization process.” The problem for most analysts is that we do not know enough about how this takes place, that is, the way in which “grassroots democratic practices [are] transferred into the realm of political institutions and the state.” When I look at the gap between the broader theoretical discussions of the question and

States and Anti-Nuclear Movements

Abstract: Contributors examine government reactions to anti-nuclear movements in eight Western European states in terms of access, agenda, policy, and the use of force, in this comparative study approaching the subject from both environmental policy and social movement perspectives. They analyze interactions between anti-nuclear movements and states and trace the impact of these interactions on the shifts in policy goals and managing styles of state decision-makers. An introductory section outlines the social contexts for anti-nuclear movements.

Religion and Political Legitimation

Abstract: Sociologists have always recognized the “double function” of religion in the legitimation of power and privilege and in protest and opposition, but theories of secularization and modernization predicted the declining significance of religion in contemporary public life. We review new approaches to religious activism and legitimation efforts in the United States and in the world-system that stress the interrelatedness of religion and politics. Then we evaluate the contributions of new theories of social movements and culture, Marxism, and feminism to new conceptualizations of the relationships among religious struggles, inequality, and political order today.

Transnational social movement organisations in the global political arena

Abstract: The post-Cold War period has been a time of rapid change in the international system. One major shift is a dramatic increase in the demands placed upon the United Nations. This increased reliance on the UN suggests that there may be a shift in opportunities for this and other international institutions to have a greater effect on the dynamics of global politics than was possible under the bi-polar system of the past. What are the implications of these changes for nongovernmental actors in the global system? We focus on a subset of international non-governmental organisations called transnational social movement organisations (TSMOs), and begin to document their forms and activities in the global arena. In what ways are TSMOs similar to or different from national social movement organisations, and how do TSMOs organise to engage in transnational political efforts? How do TSMOs interact with international institutions? Our analysis consists of detailed, systematic comparisons among seven TSMOs in the human rights, environmental, peace and development issue arenas, including: Amnesty International, Friends of the Earth, Greenpeace, International Fellowship of Reconciliation, Oxfam, Peace Brigades International and War Resisters International. We examine five dimensions of variation: founding and mission; leadership structure; membership; resources; and tactics. This work builds on the earlier work of Dennis Young (1992) and helps to inform future research in this area.

Congress, Social Movements and Public Opinion: Multiple Origins of Women's Rights Legislation:

Abstract: Scholars often characterize congressional response to public opinion as either reflecting opinion and legislating accordingly or manipulating opinion for political ends. When the wider political en...

Something is Happening: The Contemporary Consumer and Psychiatric Survivor Movement in Historical Context

Abstract: Despite three major reform movements over the last 300 years, the mental health system has been remarkably resistant to change. Today, another period of reform is underway, only this time, new players - dissatisfied ex-psychiatric patients - are organising to affect the process of change. This paper discusses characteristics of previous movements and examines their similarity to and difference from the present consumer and psychiatric survivor movement. It appears that the new participants have shaped the rhetoric of reform but it remains to be seen if they can affect the reality.