Character Of Social Movements Research Articles

Hybrid social movements in Africa

This essay identifies patterns in the organisation and character of social movements in Africa, drawing upon examples from sub-Saharan Africa and finding connections with the 2011 ‘Arab Spring’ uprisings. It pays attention to historicising social movements, global linkages and the problem of sustaining change. Rather than defining social movements in an a priori manner, or generalising from definitions derived from the western societies, it explores their concrete meanings in Africa. Thus it aims to avoid both the ‘false negative’ of overlooking genuine African social movements and the ‘false positive’ of labelling movements in a misleading manner. It identifies constraints upon collective action in Africa, exploring the political dynamics which undermine the formation of durable and organised movements and limit their capacity to represent popular concerns.

Globalizing Resistance: The Battle of Seattle and the Future of Social Movements

The massive protests at the Third Ministerial Meeting of the World Trade Organization in November 1999 resulted from broad and accelerating changes in global social and political relations. Many protesting groups had been involved in previous struggles for global economic justice that shaped their identities and strategies in Seattle. This study examines the participants, activities, and political context of the "Battle of Seattle." It explores the transnational activist linkages and suggests that a division of labor was present whereby groups with local and national ties took on mobilization roles while groups with routinized transnational ties provided information and frames for the struggle. An examination of the tactics used in Seattle suggests that national protest "repertoires" have been adapted for use in global political arenas. There is also some evidence of protest innovation in response to global political integration and technology. While this study encompasses only a single protest episode, it suggests that increasing globalization and transnational protests have enduring effects on the organization and character of social movements.

Paving the Way: The Rise of Direct Action against Road-Building and the Changing Character of British Environmentalism

Sustained protests against the building of new roads in Britain since 1992 signal the emergence of a new social movement dimension in British environmentalism. The growth of direct action has occurred outside the existing environmental pressure groups and this more radical green politics has undermined the view that the British state was able to prevent confrontational environmental protest. Small numbers of protesters have been able to make a major impact on the political agenda through a combination of technical ingenuity, tactical astuteness and determination. Models of political opportunity structures have become dominant in explaining the emergence and character of social movements but because they lay too much emphasis on the calculation of costs and benefits by movement actors they are of little help in analysis of this case. Rather, the case of the anti-roads movement suggests that further attention needs to be paid to the identities of the movement's founders in explaining their actions and lends credibility to the (much criticized) claim that new social movements are qualitatively new.

Irish Transnational Social Movements, Deterritorialized Migrants, and the State System: The Last One Hundred and Forty Years

According to scholars who study transnational social movements of "deterritorialized migrants," such movements are: (1) a new phenomena of the modern global age, (2) a response to a modern communications revolution, and (3) a result of the weakening of modern states that contributes to the further decline of the national state system. This article examines the history of Irish conspiratorial brotherhoods over the last one hundred and forty years. It indicates the continuity between contemporary and past transnational movements. Recent social movement globalization studies underestimate the importance of past advances in communications technology and of close personal networks, particularly for social movements subject to repression. Finally, this article argues that the transnational character of social movements poses no inherent challenge to the state system. If transnational political outcomes that transcend the nation-state are more possible today than in the past, it is more due to reconfigured state systems than to the character of transnational social movements.

Pathology: A Study of Social Movements within a Profession

disciplines the necessity of coping with rapidly changing conditions in their work life, changes which are dramatic even within one generation. A middleaged pathologist interviewed for this study reflected the sentiments of his peers when he remarked of the present shape of the specialty, I wouldn't know it anymore. We can expect that specialization and rapid change will increasingly characterize professions, insofar as they are based upon an expanding body of scientific knowledge and the sources of change from a more complex social organization of professional endeavor multiply. Yet, so far the sociology of occupations and professions has not been systematically concerned with processes of specialization and change in occupations. A previous paper presented the beginnings of a process or approach to the study of professions.' Its aim was to develop a theoretical framework which would focus more pointedly upon diversity and change in occupations, and provide some initial formulations of the main processes involved. The present study attempts to specify further the social processes involved in the development of professional groups. Briefly, the model with which we began posits the existence of a number of emergent groups within a profession. There are many identities, many values, and many interests to be found within the same profession, which tend to become patterned and shared. Coalitions develop and organize, both in opposition to older entrenched groups and for the furtherance of their own interests. We called these coalitions segments. We suggested, further, that segments tend to take on the character of social movements. They develop distinctive identities, a sense of the past, and goals for the future; they organize activities and tactics which will secure an insti-

Professions in Process

A process approach to professions focuses upon diversity and conflict of interest within a profession and their implications for change. The model posits the existence of a number of groups, called segments, within a profession, which tend to take on the character of social movements. Segments develop distinctive identities and a sense of the past and goals for the future, and they organize activities which will secure an institutional position and implement their distinctive missions. In the competition and conflict of segments in movement the organization of the profession shifts.