Civil Society, Resource Mobilization, and New Social Movements Theoretical Implications for the Study of Social Movements in Taiwan

Abstract

This article outlines the contemporary development of approaches to social movements in Taiwan since the rapid political changes of the late 1980s. It maintains that different social movement approaches are not only distinguished by their interpretations but also by the implications they have for social intervention by sociologists. The civil society approach, which emerged in 1987, has become the main argument in providing a sociological understanding of popular movement development since Taiwan's political liberalization. It also helps to rationalize popular resistance against the state's intervention of an "autonomous civil society." The resource mobilization approach focuses on the actual political process, questioning how and why there was such a "wave" of social movements in the late eighties, while rejecting an oversimplified view of state-society division. Partly in resistance to the politicization of social movements since 1989, and partly because of the influence of Alain Touraine and Manuel Castells, there also emerged the popular democracy approach and the new social movement approach. This paper suggests that we need to consider two dimensions for social movement strcdy, the political dimension and the moral dimension, as well as the historical conditions that influence the significance of each of these two dimensions. This article calls, for the careful adoption of "Western" theories and the careful examination of Taiwan's historical specifics when attempting to apply them.