Commitment and agency in social movements

Any movement that hopes to sustain commitment over a period of time must make the construction of a collective identity one of its most central tasks. Social relationships that embody values of participation and community in their concrete practices contribute to empowering people. But such arguments need additional specification before their theoretical potential can be realized. I have taken the coincidence of this talk with the anniversary of the first teach-in against the war in Vietnam and the assassination of Archbishop Romero in El Salvador as a directive for examining these two cases—with an eye toward learning more about how identity building and social relationships in social movement practice foster long-term commitment and agency.An earlier version, titled Democratic Participation in Social Movements, was presented as a presidential address to the Eastern Sociological Society, March 24, 1990.