The new social movements: A theoretical approach
Abstract
Melucci, A. (1980). The new social movements: A theoretical approach. Social science information, 19(2), 199-226.
In advanced capitalist societies, social movements have challenged the optimistic models which foresaw a gradual modernization taking place without rupture in the existing political and social systems. In explaining social movements, however, we can no longer be satisfied with analyses which are confined either to the logic of capitalist development or to dysfunctions in the system’s integrative mechanisms. The current debate reveals the necessity of sociology of collective action which is capable of linking actors and system, class relations and incidents of conflict. The theoretical question raised by the analysis of the social movements found in advanced capitalist societies is that of determining if we are now confronted with a new series of class conflicts. Beyond the interest one might take in the novelty of the forms and aims of the collective action under discussion, the central problem of a sociology of social movements remains the definition of the conditions under which a class movement can appear. In the present essay I shall not attempt to provide a satisfactory answer to this general question. Instead, I shall try to advance a few steps in the study of these problems by combining theoretical reflection with some empirical observations on the new social movements.
Abstract
Melucci, A. (1980). The new social movements: A theoretical approach. Social science information, 19(2), 199-226.
In advanced capitalist societies, social movements have challenged the optimistic models which foresaw a gradual modernization taking place without rupture in the existing political and social systems. In explaining social movements, however, we can no longer be satisfied with analyses which are confined either to the logic of capitalist development or to dysfunctions in the system’s integrative mechanisms. The current debate reveals the necessity of sociology of collective action which is capable of linking actors and system, class relations and incidents of conflict. The theoretical question raised by the analysis of the social movements found in advanced capitalist societies is that of determining if we are now confronted with a new series of class conflicts. Beyond the interest one might take in the novelty of the forms and aims of the collective action under discussion, the central problem of a sociology of social movements remains the definition of the conditions under which a class movement can appear. In the present essay I shall not attempt to provide a satisfactory answer to this general question. Instead, I shall try to advance a few steps in the study of these problems by combining theoretical reflection with some empirical observations on the new social movements.