Youth,activism, and social movements

There has been considerable debate over the extent and role of young people's political participation. Whether considering popular hand‐wringing over concerns about declines in young people's institutional political participation or dismissals of young people's use of online activism, many frame youth engagement through a “youth deficit” model that assumes that adults need to politically socialize young people. However, others argue that young people are politically active and actively involved in their own political socialization, which is evident when examining youth participation in protest, participatory politics, and other forms of noninstitutionalized political participation. Moreover, social movement scholars have long documented the importance of youth to major social movements. In this article, we bring far flung literatures about youth activism together to review work on campus activism; young people's political socialization, their involvement in social movement organizations, their choice of tactics; and the context in which youth activism takes place. This context includes the growth of movement societies, the rise of fan activism, and pervasive Internet use. We argue that social movement scholars have already created important concepts (e.g., biographical availability) and questions (e.g., biographical consequences of activism) from studying young people and urge additional future research.     

From democratic participation to civic resistance: the loss of institutional trust as an outcome of activism in the refugee solidarity movement

Adding to the literature on non‐institutional political action and trust, this article argues that the loss of institutional trust is not only a cause but also an outcome of political activism. Studying the Danish refugee solidarity movement in a mixed‐methods research design including survey and qualitative interview data, the article shows that three kinds of activism – political activism, humanitarian activity, and civil disobedience – relate differently to the loss of trust in the institutions of the Parliament, the legal system, and the police. Political activism primarily affects a loss of trust in the Parliament due to low external efficacy and a closed political opportunity structure. Civil disobedience affects a loss of trust in the legal system and the police due to a perceived lack of procedural justice. Humanitarian activity does not affect a loss of institutional trust because it does not imply interaction with the institutions to the same extent as the other kinds of activism. The consequence of losing trust in the political institutions is not an abandonment of democratic values, nor political apathy, but rather a change in civic engagement from a mode of democratically legitimizing participation in the institutions to a mode of contending and questioning the legitimacy of the political institutions. This finding indicates that in turn loss of institutional trust may cause an increase in extra‐institutional political action which is consistent with the commonly assumed causality in the literature. This leads to a final integrating argument for conceptualizing activism and loss of institutional trust as reinforcing factors in a process where, in line with the main finding of this study, activism may cause a loss of institutional trust which, in turn, may cause additional activism, as argued in the existing literature.     

Between rebellion and uprising intersecting networks and discursive strategies in rebel controlled Syria

ABSTRACT

In the article I explore how, at the individual level, participation in multiple networks opens up questions regarding the classification of social activism. The central contention is that as mobilization networks increasingly intersect, explicit discursive designations of activism (being ‘political’ or ‘nonpolitical, social’) by individual activists becomes more prevalent. I substantiate this argument with an in-depth exploration of the Syrian uprising. I show that as two distinct networks─one that emerged around nonviolent activism, another that emerged around a violent uprising─increasingly intersected, activists began to use specific discursive strategies. On the one side, a strategy emerged that emphasized the nonpolitical nature of mobilization, distancing activism discursively from intersecting networks. On the other side, a strategy emerged of politicizing collective identities, thereby bridging discursively various mobilization networks. The article thereby adds to existing studies on the intersection between network structure and individual activism. The analysis builds on more than a hundred primary sources from various rebel groups and relevant local actors in addition to thirty interviews with relevant players among activist, rebel and public services organizations.     

Media advocates,Latino citizens and niche cable The limits of ‘no limits’ TV

In Shot in America, Chon Noriega calls for the study of media activism’s work ‘within the system’ of state institutions and for analysis of the relationships between media activism, the television industry and government policies. This article uses a cultural policy studies focus to answer this call and map the deregulated terrain upon which media advocacy groups must now operate. Liberal governance demands that media advocates find means other than state-directed appeals to advance their agendas. As such, this essay examines the efforts of several Latino advocacy groups to garner viewer support for a Latino-themed cable television show, Resurrection Boulevard, and to use the series as a vehicle for increased Latino participation in the television industry. This article focuses on the issue of access for Latinos to professional positions that affect television programming, and it presents tools for advocacy efforts within political spheres to achieve more socially equitable access to media technologies. First, the paper traces the regulatory history of the broadcasting and cable television industries to show how the federal government narrowly conceives of ‘the public interest’ as a specifically consumerist one. The article then analyses the structures that led to cable television’s ‘narrowcasting’ format, such as Showtime’s ‘No Limits’ programming, and argues that liberalism has created a context wherein several media advocates normalise the ‘citizen-consumer’ model. Having established this groundwork, the author then conducts a case study of the economic and social forces that shape Resurrection Boulevard, which is written, produced and acted by Latinos. Through this study, the author maintains that advocacy groups’ consumer-based appeals to Latinos as ‘citizen-consumers’ fail to serve as effective instruments for achieving increased minority representation in the television industry.     

Political activation and social movements: Addressing non-participation in Aotearoa New Zealand

The decline of participation in traditional civic political processes, like voting in elections and writing to elected representatives, continues to deepen in contemporary liberal democracies. However, civics comprise only one avenue for political participation. Social movements also play a key role in influencing political affairs by exerting pressure on established institutions from outside rather than within. ‘Political activation’ is key to understanding and addressing non-participation in both movement and civic settings alike, yet activation in movement settings, like non-participation more generally, remains under-researched. This article seeks to address this imbalance by exploring ways of using political activation theory to synthesise research on the fields of political participation and non-participation, in both civic and social movement contexts. After reviewing the literature on activation, which favours political participation in civic settings, I then juxtapose this existing scholarship with a case study focused more on non-participation and social movements as they are understood by movement organisers in Aotearoa New Zealand. In so doing, I demonstrate how civics, social movements, participation and non-participation can be better understood together to advance scholarship on why people do or do not engage with politics.     

Residents' Efforts at Neighborhood Stabilization: Facing the Challenges of Inner-City Neighborhoods

This paper examines the response of residents in one inner-city, racially, and economically diverse neighborhood to a sudden increase in crime, drugs and disorder. Rather than withdrawing, residents in this neighborhood responded by organizing a major collective effort to develop a stabilization plan for the neighborhood. Factors useful in understanding this atypical response include a citywide structure that encourages citizen participation, the city government's commitment to the neighborhood, a history of neighborhood activism, and residents' commitment to the neighborhood. A social movement perspective that examines the nature of successful social movement organizations, the political context of movement activities, and micromovement processes is useful in analyzing cases of neighborhood activism.     

Political Activism of Palestinian Youth: Exploring Individual,Parental, and Ecological Factors

The growing literature on youth and political conflict has not included an adequate focus on youth activism. To address this deficit, this study used youth‐ and parent‐reported data (N = 6,718) from the 1994–1995 Palestinian Family Study to test an ecological model of family influence (parents' activism, expectations for their adolescents' activism, support, psychological control), youth characteristics (self‐evaluation), and elements of the broader social ecology (socioeconomic status, religiosity, and region of residence) predicting Palestinian 9th graders' political activism during the first intifada (1987–1993). Parental activism was the strongest predictor of youth activism, both directly and via parental expectations for activism. Classic parenting behaviors were not systematically useful in understanding activism; neither were socioeconomic status or religiosity. The model applied equally well for sons and daughters, with the exception that maternal activism contributed uniquely to daughters' activism beyond the significant effect of fathers' activism.     

The Grillini in Italy: New Horizons for Internet-based Mobilization and Participation

This article looks at the case of the Grillini movement and its emergence on the Italian political scene, and discusses its contribution to the growing literature on the increasing opportunities offered by the Internet for social movement participation and mobilization. My findings are that the movement is successful in both mobilizing and promoting open debate and participation because of its policies and its use of multiple, and fairly open platforms for participation and horizontal decision-making. The Grillini have been able to conciliate the characteristics of newly emerging, Internet-based, ‘internetworked movements’ as well as the more conventional use of the Internet on behalf of well-established social and political movements. They have been able to do so by articulating issues and mobilizing on a national scale, with an increasingly large bureaucratic elite, while retaining a vibrant, partly online- and partly offline-based public sphere and decentralized organizational forms. My conclusion is that the Grillini movement, with its peculiar structure and commitment to participation and inclusion, is a crucial example of how the Internet can be used to aggregate new political issues and foster continuous debate while consolidating a growing electorally driven organization, which is still mostly held accountable by the movement's public sphere.     

Applying Protest Event Analysis to Architecture and Design

This article reports on interdisciplinary research where insights into ‘design activism’ (particularly architecture, product and landscape design) were sought through the use of methods from social movement studies. In recent years, there has been an increasing interest in the notion of architecture and design as activism, sometimes also called social design, public interest design or design for social innovation. An increasing interest in activism on the part of designers is matched by an increasing interest from geographers and sociologists in the spatial and material aspects of social movements, political resistance and other power relations. Yet, the area where social movements and various repertoires of social and political action intersect with design has not been well explored by any of these disciplines. While the design literature tends to view design activism narrowly and often apolitically, social movement literature, in its discussions of materiality and spatiality, typically skirts the contributions of ‘design’. Exploring this disciplinary gap, this article reports on the empirical research that applies to design the method of protest event analysis from social movement studies. The research uncovers a ‘designerly’ repertoire of action—a set of tactics that designers use in acts of resistance—and allows for an initial bridging of the gap between design and social scientific approaches.     

Demonstrating in the internet age: a test of Castells’ theory

ABSTRACT

Some social movements researchers argue that the Internet globalises protest and equalises cross-national inequalities in opportunities for activism. Critics warn against such techno-optimism, highlighting continued individual-level inequalities and country-level variation in protest participation. In this paper, we operationalise Manuel Castells’ theory of social movement development to test the extent to which contemporary demonstrators share the characteristics of global activists. We also examine how country-level economic and political institutions affect levels of protest and moderate the relationship between individual-level predictors and activism. We find support for Castells’ contention that use of online media is a significant predictor of protest. However, we also find that having a sense of global connectedness does not significantly affect one’s likelihood of engaging in demonstrations. Protest participation continues to be stratified by traditional markers of social privilege including education and gender. Moreover, national political and economic contexts have independent effects on protest and moderate how individual-level political and economic grievances affect civic engagement.     

Education,Civic Patriotism,and Democratic Citizenship: Unpacking the Education Effect on Political Involvement1

Previous research argues that political involvement not only reflects instrumental concern with political outcomes, but also involves normative motivations such as commitment to collective ideals. Consistent with this view, Americans with a strong sense of “patriotism” have been found to exhibit higher rates of participation than those with weaker attachment to their country ( Huddy and Khatib, 2007 ). However, citizens with high levels of formal education seem to be an exception. Despite scoring lower on conventional measures of “patriotism,” well‐educated Americans are among the most politically active segments of the population. In this article, it is hypothesized that formal education fosters an alternative, civic form of patriotism that conventional measures are unlikely to capture. Rather than reflecting attachment to a particular nation, civic patriotism is rooted in values and beliefs associated with democratic citizenship. Using data from the 2004 General Social Survey, it is found that civic patriotism helps mediate the education effect on two types of political engagement: grass‐roots activism and voting in elections.     

Longitudinal Links Between Discrimination and Civic Development Among Latino and Asian Adolescents

The transition from adolescence to adulthood is formative for civic development. Unfortunately, many adolescents from Latino and Asian backgrounds experience discrimination, which can alienate them from civic life. This study employed cross‐lagged structural equation modeling to test the bidirectional links between perceived discrimination and civic beliefs and activism among Latino and Asian late adolescents (N = 400, M_age = 17.34, 61% female). Civic beliefs (i.e., believing that the government is unresponsive) and civic activism (i.e., protesting and expressing political opinions) in high school predicted increased perceptions of discrimination over time. Perceiving high levels of discrimination in high school predicted a decrease in the belief that society is fair over time.     

Union Professors: Framing Processes,Mobilizing Structures,and Participation in Faculty Unions*

This study traces the development of union loyalties among community college professors. Assuming that activism is motivated by contextual and ideological factors, the paper analyzes the ways that social networks, collegiate workplaces, and framing practices transform political bystanders into committed union members. Using data from a study of junior college professors in Kentucky (N = 329), the study finds that union participation is strongly linked to a distrust of campus administrators and having pro‐union friends and colleagues. Likewise, perceptions of union efficacy, a liberal identity as well the professor’s education level predicted the actual joining of their campus’ faculty union.     

Predictors of Feminist Activism among Social Work Students in the United States

While social workers advocate against domestic violence, sexual harassment, and restrictive reproductive practices, there have been virtually no studies on the reasons behind their feminist activism. To address this oversight, this study documented the extent of feminist activism among American undergraduate social work students (n = 159). When moving to explanatory analysis, our data suggest that feminist activism was related to greater educational attainment, knowing activist peers, recognizing heterosexism, and internalizing a commitment to social justice. Moreover, electoral activism was tied to the rejection of traditional gender norms in the family and perceptions of social movement tactics were crucial to protesting for women's rights.     

‘Anger is Why We're All Here’: Mobilizing and Managing Emotions in a Professional Activist Organization

The emotions involved in social activism are central factors in the recruitment to, motivation for, and sustainability of social movements. But this perspective on the role of emotions within social movements contrasts with studies of emotions within mainstream organizations where employees are called on to manage their own emotions and those of others. Thus, while much social movement research focuses on how activists actively cultivate emotional expression, these ideas rarely intersect with the organizational research that examines how a diminished quality of working life may result from the need for employees to modify, suppress or emphasize emotions. Using in-depth interviews with activists at Amnesty International, this article bridges this theoretical divide by examining emotional labour and emotional regulation among paid activists in a professional social movement organization. I explore the ways in which employees struggle with the emotional component of their work and the implications of these emotions for the quality of their working life, the stability of such organizations and the maintenance of social movements.     

Constructing “Social Change” through Philanthropy: Boundary Framing and the Articulation of Vocabularies of Motives for Social Movement Participation*

I embrace Mills's (1940) conception of motives to offer new insight into an old question: why do people join social movements? I draw upon ethnographic research at the Crossroads Fund, a “social change” foundation, to illustrate that actors simultaneously articulate two vocabularies of motives for movement participation: an instrumental vocabulary about dire, yet solvable, problems and an expressive vocabulary about collective identity. This interpretive work is done during boundary framing, which refers to efforts by movements to create in-group/out-group distinctions. I argue that the goal-directed actions movements take to advance social change are shaped by participants' identity claims. Moreover, it is significant that Crossroads constructs its actions and identity as social movement activism, rather than philanthropy. This definitional work suggests that analyzing the category social movements is problematic unless researchers study how activists attempt to situate themselves within this category. Hence, methodologically attending to organizations' constructions of movement status can theoretically inform research which essentially takes social movements as a given, in exploring their structural components.     

The family and family sociology in Japan

The purpose of this article is to give an overview of the history and current status of family sociology in Japan. A brief history of the Japanese family, which was institutionalized by the Meiji government in the latter half of the nineteenth century, will be offered. The institutional family is referred to as ie in Japanese. Before the end of the Second World War, Japanese scholars were unable to discuss the ie institution freely as a sociological issue. Objective analysis of the family as a social group began in earnest after the war, when the ie institution was abolished as part of the process of amending the civil law. In the postwar period, a time of great economic activity, the family developed from the traditional patrilineal stem-family system into the conjugal or nuclear family system. Today, however, influenced by the feminist movement and other changes in the goals and expectations of the younger generation, family sociology is beginning to concern itself with the family not simply as a group, but as a lifestyle in which the aspirations of the various family members can be effectively realized.     

Blurring the Lines Between Civil Society,Volunteering and Social Movements. A Reflection on Redrawing Boundaries Inspired by the Spanish Case

Citizen participation is manifested through various concepts, such as activism, social movements, volunteering or civil society. The different ways of understanding popular engagement are often separated by delimitations that define them, particularly volunteering and civic action, as two highly differentiated forms of participation in the distinct academic disciplines: political science, volunteering studies, social movement studies or civil society theory. This article considers whether this basic theoretical differentiation can be problematised in the Spanish political context by exploring four paradigmatic cases of popular engagement, using qualitative case study methodology, specifically, a historic case from the 1990s and three more recent cases. It is hoped that the results of the study—which differentiates between organisational hybridity and fuzziness—will encourage reflection on the traditional boundaries between different forms of popular engagement.     

Brewing Coffee Party Activism in Tea Party Territory: Faith and Politics in Rural America

Abstract

How do people remain politically active in hostile or seemingly hopeless contexts? We apply Jack Barbalet’s theory of “confidence” as a necessary precursor to “action” to understand how members of a liberal, local “Coffee Party” movement confront powerful political and religious opposition in a conservative, rural, midwestern city. Barbalet’s grounding of “confidence” in “acceptance and recognition” in social relationships improves upon the popular “political efficacy” concept because it is not contingent on successful outcomes. We find that as members of the Coffee Party develop confidence to speak up and “go their own way,” their faith and political participation become more meaningful, which helps to explain how people remain in congregations despite disagreements with co-congregants, seek new congregations late in life when their activism results in expulsion, and remain politically active despite powerful opposition. Our findings contribute significantly to recent research on the interaction between politics and religion.     

COLLECTIVE MOBILIZATION AND IDENTITY FROM THE UNDERGROUND: The Deployment of "Oppositional Capital" in the Harm Reduction Movement

Within social movement literature, the concept of collective identity is used to discuss the process through which political activists create in-group cohesion and distinguish themselves from society at large. Newer approaches to collective identity focus on the negotiation of boundaries as social movement agents interact with social structural forces. However, in their adoption of a perspective that holds identity as a process, these social movement studies neglect the more tangible cultural elements that actors manipulate when they express collective identity. This research project adopts a subcultural perspective in the Birmingham tradition to address the question of how social movement actors reapporpriate symbolic expressions of identity and what meaning systems they draw from that enable them to redefine "stigmatization" as "status" This article offers the concept of "oppositional capital" as a general framework for analyzing the symbolic work that social movement actors perform in their expressions of collective identity. For the purposes of analysis, the primary elements of oppositional symbolic expressions are divided into the four categories of distinction, antagonism, political activism, and popular cultural aesthetics. This article applies the concept of oppositional capital to representations of collective identity of a radical branch of political activism within the social movement of harm reduction. Specifically, it analyzes the zine, Junkphood to describe how actors within this social movement cohort are able to present their collective identity as part of an alternative status system by drawing from an economy of signs that are generally recognized as oppositional.