Karen Brodkin and the Study of Social Movements

Abstract

■ This article highlights the intellectual contributions of Karen Brodkin in the analysis of gender and social movements through drawing on some of her key concepts and ideas, joining them with others, and applying them to the specific analysis of the pluralistic social movement in Oaxaca which emerged in 2006 and continues to this day. The article’s theoretical inquiry centers on two primary questions that are followed by specific concepts explored in the analysis of the Oaxaca social movement. 1. How does collective action operate in daily life through interlinked networks? What are the leadership styles and models that may be unique to women? (center women, interlinked activist networks, meshworks, and the values and ties of daily life) 2. How do individual and collective political identities develop, shape the politics of particular social movements, and participate in performing ideological work that shifts public political discourses and perceptions? (individual and collective identity development, public political ideologies, and political presence).