New Social Movement Theory and Minority Language Television Campaigns

Abstract

New social movement (NSM) theory has been the dominant framework for the analysis of European social movements since the 1970s. The framework has generally focused on movements articulating `new' grievances such as the women's, ecology and peace movements. This article attempts to use this perspective to account for the campaigns of indigenous European linguistic minorities for own-language television services. The analysis suggests that social movement theorists need to return to the work of early NSM advocates such as Alain Touraine and Alberto Melucci, who focused on the transition from an industrial to a post-industrial society. This work helps explain how the goals set by social movements within more traditional cleavages have been transformed and restructured by the transition to post-industrial society.