The Limits of Black Politics in the Post–Civil Rights Era

Pluralist theorists have long contended that to exercise power and influence in the American political system, blacks should come together like any other organized interest group, form coalitions with other like-minded people (white liberals), and advocate for policy reforms. Beginning during the “Black Power” era, the goal of putting black faces in high places to help address black concerns became a driving force in black politics. The deteriorating social and economic status of many in the black community, however, has not been prevented by either the political incorporation of more than 11,000 black elected officials or even the election of the nation’s first black president. This article will show how the inherent limitations of the pluralist interest-group strategy and a growing white backlash fueled by an awareness of changing demographics in the country has spawned an economic and political crisis in black America.     

Toward a Viable Progressive Third Party in 2020 and Beyond1

Creating a strong, influential third party has been an abiding aspiration on the American left, and were this goal to be achieved, it could be a great boon to subordinate groups in the United States. Yet widespread doubts persist, even among progressives that this is desirable, and especially that it is possible. Here, I briefly review compelling reasons for thinking otherwise; I then consider in some depth the potential for starting to build a viable left third party leading up to and after the pivotal 2020 election. In doing so, I go beyond the existing literature on third parties, which has yet to reflect systematically on progressive third party prospects in this period. Specifically, I assess how the emerging political environment may shape left third-party building, and I evaluate ongoing and developing attempts by key groups engaged in that effort. I find a distinct tension between conditions encouraging progressives to reform versus abandon the Democratic Party, and I identify one alternative party-building tendency that seems most able to exploit the latter impulse due to its already established electoral viability. Last, I highlight relevant questions that remain for activists hoping to create an effective national left third party.     

Critical Reflections on the March for Science

Using MacKendrick (2017) as a springboard, this essay explores the March for Science as an example of social mobilization. I lay out some concerns regarding the use of this tactic as a response to attacks on science and suggest some ways sociology could contribute to the development of more efficacious actions to address the denigration of scientific knowledge.     

动员式治理中的政府组织传播：南京个案

政府组织传播与社会动员具有内在联系,政府组织推行其政策、主张的过程是一种动员式治理行为,是通过组织间和组织外传播与动员对象进行的有效互动。其中,组织间传播是一种基于人情投资的资源动员,而组织外传播则主要通过人际传播起作用。政府组织在面对面的人际动员实践中既存在“培养典型”等传统群众运动的路径依赖,也利用了情感等多种因素,此外还引入了国家正式权力进行惩戒动员。     

抗战时期中国共产党青年动员工作的开展

抗日战争时期,为了切实把社会各阶层青年纳入到中国共产党的战时轨道,中国共产党在根据地、国统区、沦陷区展开了全面的青年动员工作。在根据地,中国共产党成立青年动员工作领导机构,建设、发展和巩固根据地;在国统区,发动了广大青年推动和支持国民政府坚决抗战,争取民主,促进抗日青年统一战线;在日占区,秘密发展抗日青年组织,动员青年与日本法西斯和汪伪政权展开英勇机智地斗争,为抗战的胜利作出了突出贡献。     

Innovating the provision of welfare services through collective action: the case of Italian social cooperatives

Social cooperatives are the most widespread social enterprise type in Italy. Their evolution has stimulated the development of diverse interpretative frameworks of social enterprise determinants: the mainstream one is that social cooperatives are the outcome of contracting out policies. Through a critical investigation of social cooperatives’ emergence, integration into public policies, and reaction to the financial crisis, the authors refocus attention to one of the key modes of creation of social enterprises that has not gained the attention it deserves: the bottom-up dynamic. The analysis carried out sheds light on the contribution of citizens’ mobilization to institutional change and confirms that social enterprises can also emerge in an unprepared and hostile ideological, economic and political context.     

Unobtrusively Stretching Law: Legal Education,Activism, and Reclaiming Title IX

We often understate the work that activists put into crafting movement tools. This article examines the space between legal texts and movement resources in a study of early activism surrounding Title IX. Though often hailed as a feminist law, the Title IX statute and regulations lay out a narrow set of individual rights and incorporate several conservative principles. In an analysis of early social movement mobilization surrounding Title IX by the Connecticut Women's Educational and Legal Fund (CWEALF), we identify a distinctive legal framing technique tied to the often overlooked practice of lay legal education. In a legal education campaign that targeted schools, CWEALF placed Title IX's actual requirements alongside broader feminist ideas about gender socialization and civic responsibility to imply that the law mandated substantially greater reforms, a tactic we call unobtrusively stretching law. This article contributes to research on social movements and legal mobilization by illustrating how legal education can serve as part of the tool-making kit for social movements as they struggle to transform legislative compromises into movement resources.     

从社会动员能力看当前国家同农民的关系

在所有能够影响农村社会政局稳定的关系当中,国家同农民的关系是最重要的但又是最难处理的关系。政策的制定、制度的安排,稍有不当,就会影响国家同农民的关系,进而影响国家在农村的社会动员能力。目前,农村中国家同农民的关系处于相对紧张状态,其原因恰在于涉及到农民权益的政策和制度方面存在着欠缺。改善国家同农民的关系,必须规范政府的行为。     

Social movement in stages: a reply to Shultziner and Goldberg

This paper is a reply to Doron Shultziner and Sarah Goldberg's article The Stages of Mass Mobilization: Separate Phenomena and Distinct Causal Mechanisms. The article recognizes the theoretical contribution of the study, in particular the re‐introduction of the largely neglected stage approach in social movement studies. It then raises two major concerns related to how the authors narrow their approach to single episodes of mass mobilization and how definitively they distinguish movement stages.     

论政党能力:特征和途径

一个强有力的政党一定是为政治行动而组织起来的具有团结一致性和内聚力的集团,一定是以人民大众为号召对象,并且能够通过有效的组织与群众联系在一起,对群众实现了充分动员的集团。政党的本质说到底是组织群众支持的工具。一切为了群众,一切依靠群众,密切联系群众而不脱离群众才是政党力量之源泉。