From Utopia Competition to Utopic Contentiousness: Reaffirming the Social in Large-Scale Transitions

Abstract

In recent years a number studies have been produced offering a model of socio-political change, albeit erected on largely economic foundations. These studies, presenting a model of “utopia competition,” suggest that citizens invest economic resources in support of their preferred socio-political utopia, and societal dynamics are comprehended as a co-evolutionary process between competing utopias. The emergence and habituation of socio-political conditions are determined by economic contributions toward the acceptance of ideas about preferred ways to organise political and social arrangements. This paper provides an extension of such models by explicitly incorporating sociological insights, such as the existence of symbolic resources, discourse processes and the role of media in filtering communication, social perceptions of risk and urgency, and citizenry selection amongst alternative repertoires of contention (such as protests, voting, and direct lobbying). In short, we seek to reconfigure the conceptual and analytical scope of socio-political change from that of “competition” to “contention.” A broader notion of “utopic contentiousness” surely accommodates economic mechanisms for facilitating changes to socio-political figurations but, by the same token, does not preclude potential for phenomena such as societal backlash dynamics and rhetorical stalemates which could frustrate change.