Role Of Social Movements Research Articles

Reassessing ayahuasca regulation in Brazil: strategic framing and cumulative gains

Background In the early twentieth century, ayahuasca gained popularity in northern Brazil, causing political tension due to moral hostility. However, over the course of the century, despite the proscription of DMT and the intensification of the ‘War on Drugs’, three phases of cumulative political gains eventually led to the full regulation of ayahuasca, in 2010. How was this achieved? Methods This paper provides a comprehensive reassessment of the existing literature on ayahuasca in Brazil, utilizing social movement theory. Emphasis is placed on framing methods, or how movements strategically present their aims to particular audiences, in order to effect political change. Results First, ayahuasca churches constructed a religious frame that emphasized their Christian pedigree. Second, when harassment intensified, ayahuasca was reframed as a charitable endeavour. Finally, in the transition to democracy, the religions added a scientific frame, collaborating with the state to review scientific evidence and establish policy parameters for regulation. Conclusion Framing ayahuasca as Christian and focusing on charity and science were neither straightforward nor unproblematic, but did allow ayahuasca groups to successfully avoid persecution, establish relationships with powerful actors, and eventually achieve full regulation. This case study provides unique insights into the role of social movements in successful drug policy reform, especially how movements can strategically adapt to and influence prevailing moral codes, resulting in concrete political victories.

Social Movements and Policy Entrenchment

A vast scholarship shows that social movements can play pivotal roles in bringing about policies that benefit marginalized groups. However, the role of social movements in entrenching those policies—ensuring they take root—remains insufficiently studied. We set a research agenda for the study of how social movements shape policy entrenchment by calling attention to three commonly used strategies—occupying state bureaucracies, engaging in pressure and persuasion tactics, and building alliances with political parties—and analyzing the relationships among them. We illustrate these strategies through short case studies of social movements that achieved significant change benefitting marginalized groups in Latin America: the health movement in Brazil, the unemployed workers’ movements in Argentina, and peasant and indigenous movements in Bolivia.

Social movements and the 2030 Agenda: the correlation between the progressist agendas and the Sustainable Development Goals

Since World War II, as of the Declaration of Human Rights, several social movements have undergone restructuring, encompassing multiple agendas that have solidified as catalysts for broad social and political changes. The social movements also played an important role in defining the current global agendas, such as the 2030 Agenda. To highlight the protagonism of social movements in the current Sustainability Agenda, this research presents progressist movements that emerged from the late 1940s, establishing a correlation with the 17 Sustainable Development Goals of the 2030 Agenda. A narrative literature review was conducted, integrating definitions, concepts, and guidelines of the social movements. The results demonstrate the considerable role of social movements in reshaping the civilizational process that led to significant societal advancements across various fronts, including gender relations, racial, labor, and environmental issues.

Decoupling in the USA and China

The research explores the concept of economic and ideological decoupling between the United States and China, focusing on the increasing self-reliance of both nations and the impact on global trade. It delves into institutional theory, examining how organizations adapt to new norms and regulations in response to geopolitical tensions. The paper analyzes the historical evolution of US-China relations, the role of social movements in institutional change, and the effects of decoupling on organizations. The study highlights the challenges and opportunities arising from this decoupling, emphasizing the need for adaptive strategies and cooperation to mitigate global risks.

Mobilising for change: the role of social movements in advancing climate justice

ABSTRACT Social movements play a key role in advancing climate justice. This article analyses three case studies and examines the role these movements play in implementing climate justice by mobilising communities, raising awareness, and advocating for policy change. It discusses how grassroots activism challenges power structures and drives change, highlighting three examples of movements in Commonwealth countries: Seed Mob in Australia, the Karachi Bachao Tehreek campaign in Pakistan, and RuralRevive in Namibia. By mobilising diverse stakeholders and leveraging media and technology, social movements advocate for systemic transformation and community resilience. However, they face constraints in driving transformative change. This paper advocates for greater recognition of their role in shaping climate justice discourse and practice while acknowledging their limitations.

Ambivalent effects of anger in Chinese feminists’ refusal to patriarchal marriage and family

ABSTRACT Studies have shown that emotions play an important role in the emergence, unfolding, and demise of social movements. Many studies argue that anger is one of the most propelling emotions promoting movement participation, while others demonstrate the ambivalence of anger within social movements. Previous studies have suggested that the context in which emotions play a role in social movements remains underexplored. This study focuses on the self-organized feminist online space, where the political and private dimensions overlap, and contextualizes anger among online feminists who question the inferior position of women in patriarchal marriage, the family, and women’s low social status in contemporary China. Based on previous literature on emotions in social movements and methods of emotion discourse analysis, this study aims to deliberate (1) the subversive feature when anger is directed to the structure and opponents and (2) anger misaligned with other emotions in that its subversive power is suppressed. The findings revealed that anger represents subversive power when feminists oppose the source of injustice and confront their opponents’ denigration without fear. However, frustration, grievance, and pain come to the forefront when anger is suppressed in affective relationships. Additionally, when feminists successfully cope with emotional conflicts and emphasize the empowering side of their anti-marriage stance, their feminist identities are reinforced.

Impact of Social Movements on Renewable Energy Policy in Indonesia: Study of Solar Power Plants

Anthropogenic-induced warming has altered the climate of the Earth, causing significant impacts on urban areas such as compromised water supplies and detrimental health effects. This paper employs a case study approach to analyse the causal relationship between energy consumption and social activities. Such an approach is well-suited to unraveling complex cause-and-effect relationships or pathways. System mapping is a method used in case study research to analyse cause-and-effect relationships in complex systems, such as energy systems. The primary literature was searched utilising the reverse snowball technique, with a focus on renewable energy, particularly solar power. Its importance is highlighted in global efforts to reduce dependence on fossil fuels and mitigate the effects of climate change. Indonesia has extensive solar potential and is preparing to utilise solar energy as a clean power source. Nonetheless, effective policy implementation necessitates more than governmental intention; active participation from social movements is required. Two prominent movements - the Solar Electricity Initiative Movement and the Million Solar Roof National Movement - are significant driving forces in this pursuit. The Role of Social Movements in Environmental Policy Transition to Renewable Energy Sources. Social Movements are instrumental in promoting renewable energy policies through public awareness campaigns, advocacy, and concrete actions. They are essential in accelerating policy changes and facilitating a transition towards clean energy. In light of the challenges posed by climate change, the hard work of social movements has become increasingly significant in achieving Indonesia's goal of becoming a sustainable country that does not rely on fossil fuels.

Social conflicts over the use of water resources in Chile: the role of social movements and business power

ABSTRACT This paper explores conflicts in contemporary Chile between local communities and economic elites over water resources usage, developing a frameworkthat seeks to bridge the gap between the literature on social movements and the scholarly work on business politics. It examines two similar cases. The first case deals with the conflict between large avocado producers and the rural community of Petorca, Central Chile, which has meant water deprivation for the aggrieved community. In the second case, the local community of Aysén, in Chilean Patagonia, successfully challenged business interests by halting a mega-hydroelectric project. We found that local communities can prevail when at least three conditions are met. First, the formation of a broad contingent coalition. Second, the elaboration of collective action frames to mobilise new constituencies. Third, the capacity to forge alliances with elite actors, which enhances the movement’s potential to engage in collective action.

Occupation of vacant buildings in central districts by social movements as a means to deal with climate change in an inclusive way: the cases of cities São Paulo and Natal

People’s organized struggles for housing challenge Brazil’s exclusionary urbanization. Occupations of vacant buildings by social movements have been pressing municipalities to guarantee the right to the city. Climate change accentuates the risks associated with exclusionary urbanization, and responses to its impacts demand mitigation and adaptation measures that support transformations tackling inequalities and vulnerabilities. This paper highlights the dimensions of inequality, as well as the role of social movements in setting an agenda on climate justice while reducing vulnerability and creating housing alternatives in vacant central buildings of São Paulo and Natal. To this end, we conducted a review of relevant literature along with participatory action-research on insurgent practices of housing social movements in both cities.

The formation of volunteer movements in Russia: development problems and dynamics

The research is determined by the fact that the role of social movements in the modern world is increasing due to the deterioration of the socio-economic and political situations. Today, the global economic crisis has a negative impact on the condition of the most vulnerable segments of the population. The global community sees the potential in volunteer organizations to provide assistance where it is urgently needed: from healthcare to emergency response. The problem of the research is that volunteering turned out to be a new phenomenon that requires legal and public support for Russia in the post-Soviet period. In the research the methods of sociocultural analysis were used based on scientific literature and regulatory sources, statistical data on the work of volunteer organizations in Russia, both at federal and regional levels. The key conclusion is the need for public recognition and financial incentives for non-profit public organizations involved in volunteering. The state must regulate the legal framework for the activities of NPOs, develop and adopt a unified set of legal norms for application at the federal and regional levels of government. At the same time, it cannot be denied that volunteer movements are already playing one of the cool roles in the formation of patriotism, socially oriented consciousness and the education of the younger generation.

Synchronous Chanting in Indonesian Social Movement Repertoires: A Tool for Emoting and for Manipulating Emoters

AbstractChanting has been in existence since time immemorial and is thought to emerge as a way to convey information about visceral and affective states. Chanting synchronously allows participants to synchronize their actions and affective states for it requires them to actively and coordinatively participate in it. This phenomenon can be observed in various social rituals across times and cultures all around the world, including in social movement repertoires, such as demonstrations and street protests. Since emotions play a pivotal role in social movements, gaining insights into how chanting can be used as a “tool” for emoting and evoking emotions in such contexts is useful. For this purpose, the lens of situated cognition and affectivity is used to analyze how activists' interactions during occurrences of synchronous chanting facilitate distributed emotions among the participating chanters. Looking at cases of social movements in Indonesia, a multi-ethnic nation-state, which has its own demonstration culture embedded in its sociocultural-historical context, it is argued that synchronous chanting as an emoting tool is coupled to Indonesian activists of various groups. Some of these chants even date back to more than two decades ago, beginning when Indonesian youth fought against the despotic regime of President Suharto and his New Order, to hundreds of years ago when the founding fathers fought against colonialism. Based on the said framework, the analysis concludes that synchronous chanting can be used as a tool for not only emoting but also manipulating people.

Accounting and Accountability in Competing Worlds: An Overview

ABSTRACT For this special issue we invited authors to consider the practice of accounting and the mobilisation of accountability in the contested spaces where worlds and values coexist in pluralist societies. We consider how accounting, as a technical practice, privileges market or economic interests and reflect on the implications for accountability to non-economic actors. Despite the limitations of accounting as merely technical, there is potential for accounting in a broader sphere to be enabling. This overview considers studies that have harnessed interdisciplinary approaches to identify the challenges for social and environmental accounting practice. In doing so, we acknowledge that achieving a normative ideal of accountability in pluralist societies requires a consensus understanding of the ‘common good’, the role of social movements in promoting an emancipatory civil society while recognising the problematic nature of politically mediated discourse.

Addressing Housing Inequalities in Post-Conflict Belfast A Transformative Justice Approach

Belfast is a deeply divided and fragmented city not just politically, socially, and economically but physically. It is a city shaped by its history, its experiences of violent conflict and its post-conflict transition. A collage of so-called peace walls and interface areas segregate neighbourhoods across the city creating some of the most socially and economically deprived areas where inequalities are significantly exacerbated by the tension and sectarianism that segregation reinforces. Despite the peace process, historical and new inequalities in the provision and allocation of social housing affect many vulnerable individuals and communities resulting in unequal access to adequate housing; overcrowding; housing stress; homelessness; higher waiting lists and longer waiting times. The challenge of navigating housing in a politically and physically divided city has resulted in failed opportunities to shape policies and procedures to address existing, persistent, and new housing inequalities.
 Addressing the legacy of violence and human rights violations is central to building sustainable peace in transitioning societies. If we acknowledge that socio-economic inequalities are not only a consequence of violent conflict but also a root cause, then we must also acknowledge that correcting these inequalities is an essential component of post-conflict policy. Transitional justice often overlooks violations of socio-economic rights and the impact of these on victims and wider society. A growing body of literature suggests transformative justice expands the traditional ‘toolkit’ to include measures, not typically employed in transitional justice, to confront violations of socio-economic rights, address the needs of victims and assist in societal transformation more effectively. Under a transformative justice approach, my research explores how affirmative action and the role of social movements, such as the Right to the City, could be used to address housing inequalities in post-conflict Belfast. In doing so we could look to the future as well as deal with the past.

Reconsidering social movement impact on democracy: the case of Spain’s 15-M movement

ABSTRACT Social movement impact on democracy has primarily been treated in two ways in the literature: the role of social movements in promoting democratization in the form of regime change; and a more recent literature on the ways social movements initiate democratic innovation in governing institutions and norm diffusion in already existing democracy. In this article, we argue that to fully understand social movement impact on democracy, we need to look beyond these two main approaches, as important as they are. Using the emblematic case of Spain’s 15-M pro-democracy movement to illustrate our conceptual proposal, we draw on existing literature to argue that social movements can impact democracy in several key arenas currently not sufficiently considered in the literature. We provide examples of democratic impact emerging from the experimentation around the central problematic of ‘real democracy’ in the ‘occupied squares’ to highlight several ways social movements’ democratic impact might be explored. We develop the concepts of hybridity and democratic laboratory to analyze these impacts and discuss their relation to contemporary theorizing about democracy and movement outcomes. We argue that adopting this broader approach to the democratic impact of social movements leads to a more nuanced understanding of movement outcomes and ‘success’.

Protests as Sites of Learning: A Case Study of the Sri Lankan Tamil and Anishinaabe Demonstrations in Canada

Social movements, in Canada and around the world, offer a rich window to study social actors as they struggle for power and justice. Relatively less explored in the academic literature is the role of social movements as a site of learning. In this article, the authors synthesize several theoretical frameworks for social movement learning and apply them to extensive fieldwork, in 2009, during Sri Lankan Tamil protests in Toronto and during Indigenous land and water defence in Beausoleil First Nation. They argue that such movements can serve as a powerful educational environment and explore how learning takes place by understanding the sources and sharing of knowledge, how the social identities of participants are consequential for learning, and the underlying social, economic, and political forces that shape movements and their emergence. Ultimately, the authors claim that understanding the learning that takes place in social movements in Canada helps us understand broader political struggles and discourse in the Canadian context and beyond, including critical new forms of solidarity.

Indigenous and Local Knowledge’s Role in Social Movement’s Struggles Against Threats to Community-Based Natural Resource Management Systems: Insights from a Qualitative Meta-analysis

Despite the international consensus about the benefits of community-based natural resource management (CBNRM) for sustainable resource governance, Indigenous peoples and local communities continue to face threats to their self-governance stemming from shortsighted government regulations, marginalization, and other global political economy forces. To contribute to scholarship on the impact of social movements on CBNRM organization and robustness, in this article we focus on the role that Indigenous and local knowledge (ILK) plays in the social movement’s struggles against threats to their CBNRM system. Specifically, we present the results from a qualitative meta-analysis of 20 cases extracted from a previous literature review (Villamayor-Tomas & García-López 2018). Through our analyses we explore the extent to which different ILK dimensions are a) part of the baseline CBNRM system; b) impacted by the threats to the CBNRM system; c) mobilized by social movements in their struggle to defend the CBNRM system; and d) affected by the outcomes of the social movement’s struggle. Our results show that ILK is affected by threats to CBNRM both directly (e.g., via the erosion of ILK-based institutions that govern the CBNRM system) and indirectly (e.g., via the erosion of the natural environments in which ILK develops). We also highlight that social movements mobilize different ILK dimensions depending on the socio-political context, the locally perceived nature of threats, and the perceived importance of certain ILK dimensions for community cohesion and collective action strengthening. Finally, we reflect on how, although conceptualizing ILK dimensions and CBNRM system separately and formalizing their linkages might offer new research opportunities, ILK systems are holistic knowledge commons that are hard to disentangle from the physical commons in the context of CBNRM systems.

Considering the Symbiotic Relationship Between Religion, Digital Media, and Social Movement Leadership – A Systematic Review Using PRISMA

The study of leadership has been long explicitly debated, specifically in social movements. While the discussion of social movement leadership has increasingly made its presence in digital media studies, it falls short of understanding religious socio-political action and in the nexus of religion. Moreover, the role of religion has continually been confined in the contexts of conflict, terrorism, and extremism. Based on the said argument, this article develops a systematic review of religion, digital media, and social movement leadership. The present paper follows the PRISMA systematic review protocol as a guideline for data collection and reporting. Data of articles were obtained from the Scopus database between 2010 and 2021. Findings indicate that religion is used both as an explanatory component to either rationalise conflict or to empower social movements. Religion plays a significant role in social movements that are mediated through digital media. Relevant studies have increasingly examined religion concerning online practices and in the context of social movements. The paper highlights that religiously embedded social movements can be examined using social movement and digital media perspectives. Nonetheless, it must extend the religious analytical lens to thoroughly comprehend the religious components, particularly when it involves religious social movement actors. Keywords: Religion, digital media, social movement leadership, socio-political, PRISMA.

Creative Dissent in India: Knowledge Swaraj and the People’s Health Movement

There is an increasing interest among STS scholars to go beyond public understanding of science to look at the role of social movements in shaping alternate science and exploring the role of scientific dissent and the reconfiguration of the relations between scientists and citizens. The increasing popularity of citizen science that seeks to reengage the public in science needs to be situated within broader social movements that have argued for more conversations on science and democracy. This paper explores the idea of scientific dissent in India within a rich and vibrant tradition of People’s Science Movement(s). We suggest that the dominance of the technoscientific elite has been countered in part through creative dissent by citizens and scientists working together in envisioning knowledge futures. Specifically, a citizen’s manifesto—Knowledge Swaraj, is examined for its potential to present a frame for science in civil society rooted around the principles of plurality, sustainability, and justice that could reclaim the citizen’s autonomy or ‘self-rule’. Through the case study of the knowledge created by the People’s Health Movement (PHM) in India from 1976–1990, we show how creative dissent has enabled multiple conversations about science, medicine, and democracy that both critique dominant state and market narratives and presents an alternative through dissenting scientists.

Wirtschaft—Reformation—Revolution, I: Vergleichende, soziohistorische Strukturgitteranalysen, and II: Wyclifs Sozialethik, der Aufstand von 1381 und Übergänge zur Moderne. Studien zur historischen Gesellschaftswissenschaft und zur Gesellschaftsgeschichte, by Norbert Fabian

This massive two-volume book is unusual in every way. It is the author’s 2019 Bochum University Ph.D. dissertation, and seeks nothing less than to craft a ‘pluralistically oriented, historical-theoretical approach thereby [combining] critical dialectical theory with historicised, functional-structural theory’ (author’s own English abstract, no pagination). Further, this new approach is heralded as having a deep impact on not only the writing of history but also on the general understanding of historical theory and, not least, its didactic implications. That is a huge claim indeed. As a case-study to support his claims, Fabian analyses the ‘transformational’ society or ‘mixed economy’ of late medieval England—more precisely, the beginning of the Lollard movement, the uprising of 1381 and its aftermath. The basic claim of this study concerns the regional and ‘meso-economic’ beginnings of larger transformations of societies, be that the transition from feudalism to capitalism or from agricultural to industrialised economies. That is certainly plausible, though nothing new. An interesting twist Fabian brings into this narrative, however, is the role of social movements which—at least on the surface—do not discuss poverty, hunger or other aspects of moral economies. In the Lollards he sees such a movement. Rather than presenting new historical findings, however, Fabian has produced a meta-study interested in historical sociology and patterns of historical progress, and thus he devotes the first volume of more than 500 pages solely to theoretical discussions; only in the second volume (another 700-plus pages) does he apply these ideas to his reading of contemporary sources and historical literature. Furthermore, his reading of Wyclif is explicitly inspired by ‘[p]aradigms of 20th-century socio-critical theology’ (author’s own English abstract, no pagination), which might add to its application in terms of democratisation and world societies, but remains rather vague in its impact on historical interpretation.

Evaluating the Role of Social Movements in the Middle-to-Late Woodland Transformation on the Northern Gulf Coast of Florida

Evaluating the Role of Social Movements in the Middle-to-Late Woodland Transformation on the Northern Gulf Coast of Florida