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.

International development and the social sciences : essays on the history and politics of knowledge

Abstract: During the past fifty years, colonial empires around the world have collapsed and vast areas that were once known as 'colonies' have become known as 'less developed countries' or 'the third world'. The idea of development - and the relationship it implies between industrialized, affluent nations and poor, emerging nations - has become the key to a new conceptual framework. Development has also become a vast industry, involving billions of dollars and a worldwide community of experts. These essays - written by scholars in many fields - examine the production, transmission, and implementation of ideas about development within historical, political, and intellectual contexts, emphasizing the changing meanings of development over the past fifty years. The concept of development has come under attack in recent years both from those who see development as the imperialism of knowledge, imposing on the world a modernity that it does not necessarily want, and those who see development efforts as a distortion of the world market. These essays look beyond the polemics and focus on the diverse, contested, and changing meanings of development among social movements, national governments, international agencies, foundations, and scholars.

The Emergence of Hybrid Organizational Forms: Combining Identity-Based Service Provision and Political Action:

Abstract: After the 1960s, women, Blacks, and other ethnic groups mapped political objectives onto a more traditional form of voluntary association, along with investing in direct political protest and advocacy for civil and social rights. One result was the development of a hybrid organizational form that combines advocacy and service provision as its core identity and thus faces distinctive environmental uncertainties and boundary conditions. This article provides a community ecology framework for analyzing the development of the service/advocacy organizational form. The author argues that hybrid forms of organization, by expanding the resource infrastructure and legitimacy available to identitybased organizations, play a critical role in anchoring the continued viability of identitybased service organizations under newly politicized conditions. Data are drawn from a study of national women’s and racial and ethnic minority organizations since 1955.

Learning democracy through food justice movements

Abstract: Over time, the corporate food economy has led to the increased separation of people from the sources of their food and nutrition This paper explores the opportunity for grassroots, food-based organizations, as part of larger food justice movements, to act as valuable sites for countering the tendency to identify and value a person only as a consumer and to serve as places for actively learning democratic citizenship Using The Stop Community Food Centre’s urban agriculture program as a case in point, the paper describes how participation can be a powerful site for transformative adult learning Through participation in this Toronto-based, community organization, people were able to develop strong civic virtues and critical perspectives These, in turn, allowed them to influence policy makers; to increase their level of political efficacy, knowledge, and skill; and to directly challenge anti-democratic forces of control

A History of Thailand

Abstract: In A History of Thailand, Chris Baker and Pasuk Phongpaichit reveal how a world of mandarin nobles and unfree labour evolved into a rural society of smallholder peasants and an urban society populated mainly by migrants from southern China. They trace how a Buddhist cosmography adapted to new ideas of time and space, and a traditional polity was transformed into a new nation-state under a strengthened monarchy. The authors cover the contests between urban nationalists, ambitious generals, communist rebels, business politicians, and social movements to control the nation-state and redefine its purpose. They describe the dramatic changes wrought by a booming economy, globalization, and the evolution of mass society. Finally, they show how Thailand's path is still being contested by those who believe in change from above and those who fight for democracy and liberal values. Drawing on new Thai-language research, this second edition brings the Thai story up to date and includes a new section on the 2006 coup and the restoration of an elected government in 2008.

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.