NEW SOCIAL MOVEMENTS: BETWEEN CIVIL SOCIETY AND COMMUNITARIANISM

Abstract

In an effort to nullify the dehumanizing effects of modern life, New Social Movements (NSMs) tend to snub the principles of civil society and in the process embrace values associated with Rousseau's communitarianism. A crucial precondition for the rise of the latter is the establishment of small and intimate organizations, detached from open and multiple networks. This is an extremely difficult endeavor and few social movements achieve it, since the vast network of only partially overlapping modern institutions dilutes the simplicity and intimacy communitarianism thrives upon. Using ethnographic data from two environmental groups and their efforts to construct communitarian communities, the study suggests that success is based upon the ability of a movement to minimize its links with civil networks. This is more likely to be the result of a religious-like conversion, providing the necessary strength of commitment to the project and readiness to accept personal sacrifices. Tentatively, I conclude that whenever NSMs flirt with communitarian values, they face the dilemma either of withdrawing into a cult environment, or of being systemically incorporated into civil society.