Backlash Movements Research Articles

The long cultural backlash movement: Pro‐regime social justice mobilizations, discourses and policies in Iran (1995–2010)

The long cultural backlash movement: Pro‐regime social justice mobilizations, discourses and policies in Iran (1995–2010)

“No Seat at the Party”: Mobilizing White Masculinity in the Men’s Rights Movement

ABSTRACT I use the men’s rights movement, an anti-feminist backlash movement consisting largely of straight, white men, to examine how high-status group members develop a collective identity leveraged by right-wing movements. Drawing on 31 interviews with men’s rights activists, I find that masculinity, whiteness, and straightness play crucial roles in motivating identification with the movement. Interviewees believe others see them as privileged and thus immoral because of these identities. This clashes with the way they see themselves, threatens their moral sense of self, and evokes negative emotions. In response, they reconstruct themselves – as straight, white men – as victims, thus developing a sense of “we” and a basis for collective action. In an effort to recoup a sense of moral goodness and build community, they also construct a new collective identity as men’s rights activists, which invests them in organized backlash. This paper develops a theory to explain collective identity formation among high-status group members, and illustrates how the identity work straight, white men undertake in the face of culturally legitimate challenges to their privilege can invest them in organized backlash movements.

The performativity of objects

This essay, a revised version of the keynote lecture prepared for Sociologidagarna 18–20 March 2020 in Stockholm, introduces a new, cultural-sociological theory of materiality. Sociology did not metabolize the cultural turn until the 1980s. Even when cultural sociology finally did emerge, moreover, there were powerful pushbacks against it. Neo-Marxism, neo-Pragmatism, neo-institutionalism incorporated this or that cultural concept but resisted the culture turn more broadly, tying meaning to social structure and practice rather than recognizing its autonomy. Cultural sociology has flourished in recent decades, but so have new backlash movements. None has been more persistent than the turn toward the object and its reduction to materiality. Icon theory positions itself again this turn, suggesting that, in society, materiality is invested with imagination and enlivened by performativity. The surface of objects is aesthetically formed, and the meaning of such sensuous experience of outer form is structured by invisibly discursive depth. Durkheim’s sacred and profane must be complemented by Burke’s beautiful and sublime. Informed by background representations, such aesthetic-cum-moral objects are designed by artists and craft-persons; produced by creators with access to material resources; put into the scene by advertisers and PR specialists; and mediated by criticism – before they are embraced or rejected by audiences.

Between Mania and Phobia

The 1980s in the United States are now understood as years of widespread cultural and ideological fracture. Neoliberalism became the nation’s economic mantra, détente was jettisoned in favor of military build-up, and conservative backlash movements surfaced to counter the feminist gains of previous decades. These and other developments materialized out of a multitude of conflicts, a crisis of ideas, words, and practices competing to maintain or rework the nation’s defining structures. This paper argues that technology played a central role in the decade’s discordant years, both materially and ideologically, and that certain works of feminist science fiction—particularly by Lois McMaster Bujold, who is the focus here, but also Sheri S. Tepper, Octavia E. Butler, Joan Slonczewski, and others—imagined new structures and practices embedded within the confines of modern technoculture. By doing so, they avoided a prevailing dichotomy conceptualized by Carol Stabile: either technomania, a headlong, manic rush into all things technological, or technophobia, a retreat from such things into a romanticized and idyllic past. Situated between mania and phobia, these works imagined alternatives to the kind of binary thinking that dominates our political climate, as well as visions of what a radically reformed—but also deeply technological—society could look like.

Theorising backlash politics: Conclusion to a special issue on backlash politics in comparison

This conclusion to a special issue on backlash politics develops a proto-theory of backlash politics. The special issue’s introduction defined backlash politics as a particular form of political contestation with a retrograde objective as well as extraordinary goals or tactics that has reached the threshold level of entering mainstream public discourse. While a sub-category of contentious politics, we argue that backlash politics is distinct and should not be understood as ‘regressive contentious politics’. Drawing from the contributions to this special issue, we discuss the causes of backlash politics, yet we argue that the greatest theoretical advances may come from studying backlash dynamics and how these dynamics contribute to different outcomes. We develop a proto-theory of backlash politics that considers causes for the rise of backlash movements, how frequent companions to backlash politics – emotive politics, nostalgia, taboo breaking, and institution reshaping – intensify backlash dynamics and make it more likely that backlash politics generate consequential outcomes.

The positive side of negative identity: Stigma and deviance in backlash movements

Backlash movements often engage in extraordinary acts of deviance and taboo-breaking. Yet violating mainstream norms is costly, as it provokes public condemnation and stigma. Why do backlash movements transgress mainstream norms? In this essay, I argue that deviance and stigma are central elements of backlash politics and serve important functions for backlash movements. Building off insights from Sociology, I show how ‘secondary deviance’ is commonly embraced in groups that experience status deprivation. I apply these insights to backlash movements in order to illuminate why transgression is so often a part of their repertoire. Violating dominant norms – and provoking mainstream stigma and rebuke – advances the goals of backlash movements by allowing them to cultivate a distinct group identity, instil collective sentiments of status deprivation, and validate the movement’s political claims in popular discourse. In brief, backlash movements engage in certain behaviours not in spite of their deviant status, but because of this status.

Back of the queue: Brexit, status loss, and the politics of backlash

Status anxiety is not a necessary condition for backlash movements, and yet, both are highly complementary. Across political levels, from the community and state to the international system, status anxiety is often cited as a principal grievance and motivator of backlash politics. This article challenges the basic premise behind this framing by arguing that status loss – as a subset of status anxiety – and backlash politics, are essentially co-constitutive phenomena. Status loss can certainly propel backlash movements to form, but claims of status loss and decline are also uniquely exploitable mechanisms for bringing backlash movements into existence. Rather than treat objective status loss as an obvious cause of backlash movements, then, this article switches the focus to how subjective narratives of status loss are constructed, promoted, retrieved, and contested, in order to either advance, or oppose, the cause of backlash entrepreneurs. Doing so illustrates a primary mechanism of backlash politics, but also a primary mechanism of status loss, challenging dominant intrinsic and material premises on the role of status in international relations. This discussion is illustrated through a focus on Britain’s 2016 referendum on the European Union, and the extent to which both Leave and Remain campaigners elevated the rhetoric of status loss in defence of alternative pasts, presents, and futures.

Conceptualising backlash movements: A (patch-worked) perspective from social movement studies

This article discusses the potential contribution to the concept of backlash in social movement studies. If we consider backlash politics as characterised by the convergence of an intensified organisational networking, increased capacity for collective actions and aggressive framing by retrograde actors (including movements), social movement studies might provide (a) theoretical suggestions to embed the analysis in an established sets of concepts and hypotheses on the development of contentious politics, of which backlash politics is a type and (b) empirical knowledge on a specific form of retrograde movements, those related to the radical right. Building upon some established concepts in social movement studies, I will address the identity framing, organisational resources and contextual opportunities for backlash politics.

Theorizing Backlash Politics

This conclusion to a special issue on backlash politics in comparison develops a proto-theory of backlash politics. The special issue’s introduction (posted separately) defined backlash politics as a particular form of political contestation with a retrograde objective as well as extraordinary goals or tactics that has reached the threshold level of entering public discourse. While a sub-category of contentious politics, we argue that backlash politics is distinct and should not be understood as “regressive contentious politics.” Drawing from the contributions to this special issue, we discuss the causes of backlash politics, yet we argue that the greatest theoretical advances may come from studying backlash dynamics, and how these dynamics contribute to different outcomes. We develop a proto-theory of backlash politics that considers causes for the rise of backlash movements, how frequent companions to backlash politics–emotive politics, nostalgia, taboo breaking and institution reshaping–intensify backlash dynamics and make it more likely that backlash politics generate consequential outcomes.

On Backlash: Emotion and the Politicisation of Security

This article explores the role of emotion in the politicisation of security through the concept of backlash: the idea of visceral and reactionary episodes where security claims are adamantly rejected and the subject of ‘security’ becomes intensely controversial. Starting by examining the role of emotion in politicisation, I make the case for viewing emotions as playing a key role in the distribution of certainty in security discourse. Building on this epistemic view of emotion, I review how backlash is understood in other fields before tailoring a definition for security studies centered around four constitutive features: reaction, hostility, emotion, and contagion. The final section focuses on the politicising effects of backlash including the mobilisation of backlash movements, the intensification of controversy, and arena shifting. The discussion concludes by suggesting that the concept of backlash offers a promising research agenda for those inquiring into the politicisation of security.

Globalization and Social Movements

A growing body of scholarship acknowledges the increasing influence of global forces on social institutions and societies on multiple scales. We focus here on the role of globalization processes in shaping collective action and social movements. Three areas of global change and movements are examined: first, long-term global trends and collective action; second, research on national and local challenges to economic globalization, including backlash movements and the types of economic liberalization measures most associated with inducing oppositional movements; and third, the emergence of contemporary transnational social movements. In each of these arenas we address debates on diffusion, intervening mechanisms, and the outcomes of collective mobilization in response to global pressures.

Individuality, Freedom, and Community: Ella Flagg Young's Quest for Teacher Empowerment

After teaching shifted from men's to women's work in the second half of the nineteenth century, women pushed into newly created realms of educational leadership. They earned appointments to principalships and, buoyed by the growing woman's suffrage movement, they began winning elected superintendencies and school board positions. However, fearing that women might overtake men in running the schools, a multifaceted backlash movement emerged to rein in women's advancements. A tightly organized national network of influential male educators sought to centralize power, standardize and mechanize practices, and otherwise push women out of leadership positions while simultaneously making teaching an increasingly servile profession. Ella Flagg Young, Chicago's superintendent of schools who had long advocated for expanding women's public service, staunchly resisted this disempowerment of teachers. Instead, through her leadership, she vividly illustrated how schools might work if freedom, individuality, and community were truly honored.

Protests and Repression in New Democracies

Elected governments sometimes deal with protests by authorizing the police to use less-lethal tools of repression: water cannons, tear gas, rubber bullets, and the like. When these tactics fail to end protests and instead spark larger,backlash movements, some governments reduce the level of violence but others increase it, causing widespread injuries and loss of life. We study three recent cases of governments in new democracies facing backlash movements. Their decision to scale up or scale back police repression reflected the governments’ levels of electoral security. Secure governments with relatively unmovable majorities behind them feel freer to apply harsh measures. Less secure governments, those with volatile electoral support, contemplate that their hold on power might weaken should they inflict very harsh treatment on protesters; they have strong incentives to back down. Our original survey research and interviews with civilian authorities, police officials, and protest organizers in Turkey, Brazil, and Ukraine allow us to evaluate this explanation as well as a number of rival accounts. Our findings imply that elected governments that rest on very stable bases of support may be tempted to deploy tactics more commonly associated with authoritarian politics.

"Stop importing weapons of family destruction!": cyberdiscourses, patriarchal anxieties, and the men's backlash movement in India.

A critical, albeit understudied, dimension of the backlash against women's anti-violence advocacy is the rise of Indian men's rights organizations formed to lobby for changes to, and in some cases, the complete abolition of vital legal protections for women. Utilizing cyber forums, public protests, and print media, these groups disseminate narratives of women wreaking destruction on the Indian family through their alleged misuse of "gender-biased" laws. These activities are significant because they operate as transnational sites of meaning making about the realities of violence against women in India and because they conspire in a distortion of reality that jeopardizes ongoing advocacy efforts.

Interpersonal Violence as Social Construction: The Potentially Undermining Role of Claims Making and Advocacy Statistics

The relationship between empirical research inquiry and advocacy efforts is complex and seldom addressed in the interpersonal violence literature. In this article, we first examine how social conditions come to be seen as social problems, using a social constructionist perspective. Next, we focus specifically on the problem of interpersonal violence as viewed through a social constructionist lens, highlighting the many ways in which advocacy has influenced public perceptions of interpersonal violence as a social problem. Finally, this article considers some of the consequences that may result from exaggerated or misleading claims, especially when they are made by social scientists who are presumably engaged in an objective discussion of a problem. These consequences include generating skepticism toward the social sciences, feeding a backlash movement, and diverting attention away from the most severe forms of interpersonal violence. Contrary to the goals of many advocates, some of these consequences may be detrimental to the very social problems they hope to alleviate.

Resisting the Feminist Threat: Antifeminist Politics in Post-Sandinista Nicaragua

In this article I note that one important result of the last several decades of social upheaval in Nicaragua has been the emergence of active feminist and antifeminist movements. Since there has been significant analysis of feminist organizing, and very little on antifeminist organizing, the focus of this paper is antifeminism. I argue that the emergence of this backlash movement can be explained in terms of both domestic and global politics. From a domestic perspective, the movement can be seen as a reaction against the Sandinista revolution and its aftermath. From a global perspective, it is a response to what antifeminists see as the challenges of globalization such as feminist successes in international development agencies and the loss of sovereignty due to neoliberalism. It is also a response to the opportunities provided by globalization such as the emergence of a global antifeminist movement with strong links to like-minded organizations in other countries. This article analyzes the historical roots of the movement and then considers the worldviews of the participants in the movement.

Enactment of Gender Equality Bylaw in Maebashi City in Face of the Backlash Movement

Enactment of Gender Equality Bylaw in Maebashi City in Face of the Backlash Movement

Fragments on New Media Arts and Science

Fragments on New Media Arts and Science

College Students' Attitudes toward Date Rape and Date Rape Backlash: Implications for Prevention Programs

This study assessed and analyzed undergraduate college students' acceptance of the set of rape myth beliefs expounded by the date rape backlash movement. A 20-item Attitudes Toward Date Rape Scale (ATDRS) was designed to assess favorable and unfavorable attitudes toward backlash movement principles, with emphasis on victim credibility/motivation, gender responsibility for rape prevention, exaggeration of date rape statistics, and rape prevention education bias. Data were collected from 1,143 students on one midsize and two large midwestern universities. Statistical analyses determined that gender, an adversarial attitude toward sexual relationships, political and sex role views, perception of false accusation vulnerability, academic honorary membership, Greek affiliation, and knowledge of a date rape victim or man accused of date rape were significantly correlated with date rape backlash beliefs/rape myth beliefs. These findings highlight the need for sexual assault prevention programming that openly addresses sexual assault research and education controversies.

Spreadbands drive parallel robots

Describes the design principles of spreadband devices, made up of tapes such as are commonly employed in tape measures; and shows how they can be controlled and applied to parallel robots. A grooved mandrel contains the coiled tape and permits a very low friction and zero backlash movement to be obtained. The curvature of the tape provides compression and bending stiffness, and multiple tapes can be combined to create low mass rigid structures with very large working envelopes and very small retracted sizes.