Social movement

About: Social movement is a research topic. Over the lifetime, 23103 publications have been published within this topic receiving 653076 citations. The topic is also known as: movement & syndical movement.

INTERNET AND SOCIAL MOVEMENT ACTION REPERTOIRES: Opportunities and limitations

Abstract: The Zapatista uprising, which started in 1994, and the ‘Battle of Seattle’ in 1999 are but two iconic examples that are so often used to illustrate how the internet has shaped and is shaping social movements and the tactics they use to pursue their claims. In this article, the authors present the ‘state-of-the-art’ literature on action repertoires of social movements in an internet age. The article builds a strong case in favour of the internet as it has given social movements new and improved opportunities to engage in social and political action. At the same time, a naive internet-optimism is avoided, by pointing out several limitations. There is the ‘classical’ problem of digital divide. In some cases, the internet has made collective action still not easy enough, while in others it has made it perhaps too easy reducing the final political impact of a certain action. In addition, it seems that the new media are loosing their newness quickly, and more fundamentally are unable to create stable ties betwe...

TRANSNATIONAL POLITICS: Contention and Institutions in International Politics

Abstract: ▪ Abstract Recent scholars have broadened the study of transnational relations, once limited to political economy, to include contentious international politics. This is a refreshing trend, but most of them leap directly from globalization or some other such process to transnational social movements and thence to a global civil society. In addition, they have so far failed to distinguish among movements, nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), and transnational networks and do not adequately specify their relations with states and international institutions. In particular, few mechanisms are proposed to link domestic actors to transnational ones and to states and international institutions. This paper argues that mass-based transnational social movements are hard to construct, are difficult to maintain, and have very different relations to states and international institutions than more routinized international NGOs or activist networks. These latter forms may be encouraged both by states and international ...

From Pabst to Pepsi: The Deinstitutionalization of Social Practices and the Creation of Entrepreneurial Opportunities

Abstract: In this paper, we examine the dual role that social movement organizations can play in altering organizational landscapes by undermining existing organizations and creating opportunities for the growth of new types of organizations. Empirically, we investigate the impact of a variety of tactics employed by the Woman's Christian Temperance Union (WCTU), the leading organizational representative of the American temperance movement, on two sets of organizations: breweries and soft drink producers. By delegitimating alcohol consumption, altering attitudes and beliefs about drinking, and promoting temperance legislation, the WCTU contributed to brewery failures. These social changes, in turn, created opportunities for entrepreneurs to found organizations producing new kinds of beverages by creating demand for alternative beverages, providing rationales for entrepreneurial action, and increasing the availability of necessary resources.

La Vía Campesina: the birth and evolution of a transnational social movement

Abstract: The origin and evolution of the transnational peasant movement La Via Campesina is analysed through five evolutionary stages. In the 1980s the withdrawal of the state from rural areas simultaneously weakened corporativist and clientelist control over rural organisations, even as conditions worsened in the countryside. This gave rise to a new generation of more autonomous peasant organisations, who saw the origins of their similar problems as largely coming from beyond the national borders of weakened nation-states. A transnational social movement defending peasant life, La Via Campesina emerged out of these autonomous organisations, first in Latin America, and then at a global scale, during the 1980s and early 1990s (phase 1). Subsequent stages saw leaders of peasant organisations take their place at the table in international debates (1992–1999, phase 2), muscling aside other actors who sought to speak on their behalf; take on a leadership role in global struggles (2000–2003, phase 3); and engage in inte...

Channeling Black Insurgency: Elite Patronage and Professional Social Movement Organizations in the Development of the Black Movement.

Abstract: This paper critically evaluates the theory of patronage and professional social' movement organizations (SMOs) advanced by McCarthy and Zald (1973, 1975, 1977) and the social control theory advanced by their critics (McAdam, 1982; Wilson, 1983; Haines 1984a, 1984b) in interpreting the development of black insurgency. Drawing on time-series analysis of the patronage of private foundations, structural facilitators, and the changing goals, organization and forms of black insurgency between 1953-1980, we find support for the social control theory insofar as: 1) the black movement was an indigenous challenge with professional SMOs playing a secondary role; 2) elite patronage was reactive and directed at moderate classical SMOs and professional SMOs; 3) this patronage professionalized the movement, strengthening the staff in classical SMOs and creating new professional SMOs; and 4) these processes did not generate movement growth and may have accelerated movement decay. Yet, contrary to the social control theory, we also found that: 1) movement decay had multiple sources, professionalization being secondary to partial success and strategic problems; and 2) professionalization may have weakened the challenge but did not transform movement goals or tactics. "Channeling " may be a more apt metaphor than "control" for analyzing the effects of patronage and professionalization on social movement development.