Movements rising in the west

Abstract

Questions as to what, if anything, is new about contemporary Western transnational social movements (TSMs) have puzzled theorists for more than a decade. These questions are of more than academic interest because the more we know about these movements the better we can participate in them and aid them in achieving their objectives. My purpose here is to critically review three principal arguments regarding the novelty of TSMs: first, that they act in new arenas of conflict; second, that they display new forms of identity and consciousness; and third, that they employ new types of organization and action. Alberto Melucci and other students of contemporary Western transnational social movements argue that TSMs operate in what might be termed new arenas of conflict. Whereas nineteenth‐century movements were embroiled in struggles over the production and distribution of material goods and resources, some sectors of contemporary social movements challenge the administrative logic of complex social and politica...