The aim of this chapter is to discuss the problems & peculiarities of comparative politics as a method for the analysis of social movements. After a discussion of what comparative politics is, I present the principle methodological strategies & describe the underlying logic of the comparative method. Important issues include the formation of concepts, the number of cases, the use of time, & the choice of similar or different contexts. I conclude with a discussion of different perspectives in the field. Throughout, research on social movements will be the center of attention, providing illustrations of the main problems (& solutions) in the field. Adapted from the source document.
In: Pettinicchio, David. 2017. "Elites, Policy and Social Movements," in Barbara Wejnert and Paolo Parigi (eds.) Research in Political Sociology volume 24, Emerald Publishing Group Limited.
Along with the other sectors of the banking industry over the last two decades, the savings and credit cooperatives have been affected by deep currents which are radically changing their form and structure. In Quebec, the Desjardins movement is at present involved in a fundamental reform of the organizational structures which have characterized its growth since the period between the two world wars. This article deals with the major transformations which the Desjardins movement experienced, from the creation of the first caisse populaire in 1900 to the situation existing at the end of the twentieth century. Using an approach at the junction of history and sociology, it considers the Desjardins movement as one of the components of what Alain Touraine calls a 'social development movement'. We aim to show that the present changes affecting the savings and credit cooperation fall within the long‐term historical trends, while at the same time reflecting new phenomena. We shall point out the most significant aspects of these new developments.
The aim of this chapter is to discuss the problems & peculiarities of comparative politics as a method for the analysis of social movements. After a discussion of what comparative politics is, I present the principle methodological strategies & describe the underlying logic of the comparative method. Important issues include the formation of concepts, the number of cases, the use of time, & the choice of similar or different contexts. I conclude with a discussion of different perspectives in the field. Throughout, research on social movements will be the center of attention, providing illustrations of the main problems (& solutions) in the field. Adapted from the source document.
We propose the logic of communitive action to analyze digitally networked social movements. Through an examination of Taiwan's Sunflower Movement and Hong Kong's Umbrella Movement, we offer an explanatory framework of community consciousness that elucidates a new type of leadership, and discuss crowdsourcing as a supplement to the theory of social movements in the digital age.
Other People's Struggles is the first attempt in over forty years to explain the place of "conscience constituents" in social movements. Conscience constituents are people who participate in a movement but do not stand to benefit if it succeeds. Why do such people participate when they do not stand to benefit? Why are they sometimes present and sometimes absent in social movements? Why and when is their participation welcome to those who do stand to benefit, and why and when is it not? The work proposes an original theory to answer these questions, crossing discipline boundaries to draw on the findings of social psychology, philosophy, and normative political theory, in search of explanations of why people act altruistically and what it means to others when they do so. The theory is illustrated by examples from British history, including the antislavery movement, the women's suffrage and liberation movements, labor and socialist movements, anticolonial movements, antipoverty movements, and movements for global justice. Other People's Struggles also contributes to new debates concerning the rights and wrongs of "speaking for others." Debates concerning the limits of solidarity—who can be an "ally" and on what terms—have become very topical in contemporary politics, especially in identity politics and in the new "populist" movements. The book provides a theoretical and empirical account of how these questions have been addressed in the past and how they might be framed today.
A review essay on books by T. Mertes (Ed), A Movement of Movements: Is Another World Really Possible? (London & New York: Verso, 2004); (2) B. J. Silver, Forces of Labor: Workers' Movements and Globalization since 1870 (Cambridge:Cambridge U Press, 2003); & (3) C. Tilly, Social Movements, 1768-2004 (Boulder, CO: Paradigm, 2004). 12 References.
Purpose A social movement scene is "a network of people who share a set of subcultural or countercultural beliefs, values, norms, and convictions as well as a network of physical spaces where members of that group are known to congregate" (Leach and Haunss 2009, p. 260, emphasis in the original). The purpose of this paper is to further develop theories of social movement scenes by examining the spatial dimensions of proximity, centrality, visibility, and accessibility, arguing that different scene configurations are shaped by gentrification processes.
Design/methodology/approach This is an ethnographic study based on research conducted in Sweden over a five year period (2007-2012), including several summer research trips and a sustained fieldwork period of 14 months. Using snowball sampling, the author conducted semi-structured interviews with 38 activists involved in autonomous movement scenes. The author interviewed both men (n=26) and women (n=12) who ranged in age from 18 to 37, with most interviewees in their late 20s and early 30s.
Findings Findings suggest that neighborhoods in the early stages of gentrification are most conducive to strong scenes. The author's findings suggest that, while some of these conditions are locally specific, there were common structural conditions in each city, such as changes in the commercial landscape and housing tenure.
Originality/value This paper contributes to the specificity of the concept of a social movement scene by presenting three spatial dimensions of scenes: centrality (relative to the Central Business District), concentration (clustering of scene places in one area of the city), and visibility (a visible presence communicated by signs and symbols). A second contribution of this paper is to offer a set of hypotheses about the urban conditions under which social movement scenes thrive (or fizzle).
This article analyzes the Tekel Resistance during December, 2009-March, 2010 in Ankara-Turkey through social movements theory. This opposition action has a unique meaning across Turkish social struggle because of its distinction in structural and cultural bases. While it had mobilized the workers and their families as an organizational opposition, it turned into a grass-root resistance against government and the union leadership. This study focuses on the collective action of Tekel workers in terms of social movements literature and whether this action has a social movement character. The Tekel resistance as a grass-root movement against both the government and the unioun is discussed in the context of "contentious politics" and "new social movements" and the events of the 78-days resistance are matched with the concepts of these two approaches. I would argue that while it as an unusual experiment creates a social movement base and ensures new networks, it is not exactly a social movement according to the two different approaches of social movements.
