Meaning and Structure in Social Movements

Abstract

Abstract The chapters in this book outline a new theoretical approach to social movements, which, in this view, are not self-contained. State structures, dominant cultures, and civil society shape movements, and, in turn, movements can reshape the states, policies, civil societies, and cultures within which they operate. Social movements are neither fixed nor narrowly bounded in space, time, or membership. Instead, they are made up of shifting clusters of organizations, networks, communities, and activist individuals, connected by participation in challenges and collective identities through which participants define the boundaries and significance of their group. Like movements, states and institutions also have structure, engage in action, and construct meaning. Like movements, states are not unified actors but are composed of specific organizations, campaigns, ideologies, factions, and individuals. These are grounded in particular organizational contexts and relationships, alliances, chains of command, and power struggles, and in legitimizing discourses and collective identities. This multilayered view of social movements highlights the interplay between collective identities, political opportunities, and culture and gives us a complex view of movements and their impact. In this chapter, I will lay out such an approach, outlining four basic assumptions. I will then move to a discussion of the state of knowledge about how meaning, structure, and internal and external dynamics interact to shape movement structure, strategies, and meanings.