N e. 1 Sacta
Movements From Ideology to Identity
New Social Movements
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N e. 1 Sacta
Movements From Ideology to Identity
New Social Movements
Copyrighted Material
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New Social Movements From Ideology to Identity Edited by Enrique Laraiia, Hank Johnston, and Joseph R. Gusfield
Tem ple U niversity Press
Philadelphia Copyrighted Material
Templ e Uni versit y Press, Philadelphi a 19122 Co pyri ght © 1994 by Templ e Uni versity . All right s reserved Published 1994 Print ed in the United States of Am erica Th e paper used in this public ation meets the minimum requirements of Am erican N ation al Stand ard for Informati on Sciences - Perm anen ce of Paper for Print ed Libra ry M aterials, ANSI Z39.48-1984 @ Libr ary of Cong ress C atalogin g-in -P ubli cation D ata New social movem ents : from ideology to identity / Enrique Lara fia, Hank Johnston , and Joseph R. Gusfield. p. em . Includ es index. ISBN 1-56639-186-5 (alk. paper). - ISBN 1-56639-187-3 (alk . paper: pbk .) 1. Social movements. 2. Social history -1 945- 3. Social psychology . I. Lar afia, Enrique . II. John ston, Hank . III. Gusfield, Joseph R. , 1923HN17 .5.N4 855 1994 303.48'4 -d c20 93-37 495
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Contents
Part 1
Cultur e and Identit y in Contemp or ary Social Movements Chapter I
Ident ities, Gr ievances, and New Social Movements
3
Hank john ston , Enrique Larana, and josep h R. Gusfield
Chapter 2
Culture and Social Movements
36
Doug McAdam
Chapter 3
The Reflexivity of Social Movements: Collective Behavior and Mass Society Theory Revisited
58
joseph R. Gusfield
Chapter 4
Ideology and Utopia after Socialism
79
Ralph H. Turne r
Chapte r 5
A Strange Kind of Newness: What' s "New" in New Social Movements?
101
Alberto Melucci
Part II
Collective A ctors in N ew Social Movements Chapter 6
Acti vists, Authorities , and Media Framing of Drun k D riving
133
john D. McCarthy
Chapter 7
Transient Identities?Membership Patt erns in t he Dutch Peace Movement
168
Bert K1andermans
Chapter 8
Identity Fields: Framing Processes and the Social Construct ion of Movement Identities
185
Scott A. Hunt , Robert D. Benford , and David A. Snow
Chapter 9
Co ntinuity and Unity in New Forms of Collective Action : A Comparative Analysis of Student Movements
209
Enrique Larafia
Chapter 10
Conflict Networks and the Or igins of Women 's Liberation Carol Mueller
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234
C ontents VI
Part III
Collective A ction and Identity in Changing Polit ical Contexts Chapter II
New Social Movements and Old Regional Natio nalisms
267
Hank Johnston
Chapter 12
Greens, Cabbies, and Anti -Communi sts: Co llective Action during Regime Transition in Hungary
287
Hate SzabO
Chapter 13
Social Movements in Modern Spain: From t he Pre-C ivil War Model to Co ntempora ry N SMs
304
Jose Alvarez-Junco
Chapter 14
The Party 's O ver-So
W hat Is to Be Don e?
330
Richard Flacks
The Contri buto rs
353
Index
357
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Part I
Culture and Identityin Contemporary Social Movements
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Chapter I
Identities, Grievances, and New Social Movements Hank Johnston Enrique Larafia Joseph R. Gusfield
In th e last two decad es, the em ergen ce of new forms of collectiv e action in advan ced industrial so cieti es stimulat ed a provoc ative and inno vative reconceptualization of the meaning of social mov em ents. Its relevanc e has been highlighted by th e proc ess of delegitimization of major political parti es in Europe at the en d of th e 1980s, as shown in recent electoral results th at have demonstrat ed con siderable support for new or nontraditional parti es in German y, Austria , Italy, and France . In both Europe an d North Ameri ca, mo vem ents have arisen that str etch the explanator y capacities of old er th eoretical perspectiv es. Peace movements , student movem ents , the ant inuclear energy protests, minority nationalism , gay rights, women' s rights, animal rights, alternative medicine , fund am entalist religious movements, and New Ag e and ecolog y mov em ents are but a sampling of the phenomena that have en gaged th e puzzled attention of sociologists , historians , and political scientists. What is significant for sociologists in such developm ents is the inability of these movements to be clearly und erstood within th e European or American traditions of analysis . Th ey constitut e th e anomali es of Kuhnian "normal science." For much of this century sociological studies of so cial movements have be en dominated first by theories of ideol og y and later by theories of organization and rationality . Especially in Western Europe, but also in the United Stat es, sociologists have focused on the systems of ideas that movements have espoused. These have often been described in general terms, such as socialism, capitalism , conservatism, communism , fascism. The probl em of the analyst has often be en that of understanding th e econo m ic or class base of the movement or at least som e set of discr ete int er ests and sentiments, such as social status, that characterize a group in th e social structure. The movement could then be seen as a response Copyrighted Material
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to a felt sense of injusti ce that th e ideology specified a.~d t~at pro vid ed th e basis for mobilization . Partisanship and rnobilization involv ed a commitm ent to the ideas and goals of th e movement and its progr am . Th e basic probl em of m an y analy sts was to und erstand the process of m ovement formation by anal ysis of th e so cial structure th at gave rise to th e ideol og y and the probl ems to w hi ch it was addr essed. Th e focus was directed to ward groups that occupied spe cific places in the soci al structur e from which deri ved objective int erests and demands. Th e ninet eenth-c entur y em ph asis on labor and capit al fit well into thi s gen eral par adi gm , from w hi ch it was also deri ved . Labor movem ents and th e rise of new political parties have long been the ideal-t ypical images of social mov em ents and mobilization ; through th em , th e revolutionary actions of communism and fascism wer e furth er exam ine d. Marxist -orient ed scholars , as well as some oth ers , have emphasized the class origins and inter ests of movem ents and the ideological programs accompanying them . This em ph asis on elements of ideology, commitment, and partisan ship led to the dominance of ideas as ideologies in understanding th e eme rgen ce of social movements and collectiv e action . It furth ered a focus on th e strains and conflicts in social structur e as the sourc es of mov em ent formation , dissent, and prot est activity . What it ignor ed w as th e importance of organization and the cons equ ences of org anizing into group associations . It assumed that th e exist en ce of potential conflicts and strains would automaticall y generat e associations of people to correct them. An interest in the organizational aspects of mo vements tapped an existing vein of th eoretical and empirical inter ests . Since Max Weber and Ernst Troeltsch ther e had been a k een inter est in charisma and routinization through the functional and strategic considerations of organizational ex pansion . A seri es of studies of religious organizations focus ed on the pathos associ ated w ith loss of an original mis sion as sects becam e churc hes. Oth ers , influenced by Weber 's writings on bur eau cratic organization, h ave em phasized the internal chang es within the mov em ent as an organization . In more recent years, guid ed in part by con ceptions of rational choice , sociologists have gon e well beyond Web erian insights into a focus on how collectiv e action dep end ed on the ability Copyrighted Material
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of associations to mobilize resources and to conduct the organiz ation on the basis of planned and rational action. As a corrective to the dominance of ideas and structural strain in the older theories, the resource mobilization persp ective was a welcome addition and substitution. Sociologists , especially Charles Tilly and John McCarthy and Mayer Zald, pointed out that there was always strain in the society and that mobilization required both resources and a rational orientation to action. Th e actor in movements and in protest action was not und er the sway of sentiments, emotions , and ideologies that guided his or her action, but rather should be understood in terms of the logic of costs and benefits as well as opportunities for action . When dealing with existent organized groups , as in labor unions or in the civil rights movement, the emphasis on organization could ignore the already existing ideologies . By treating the activities of collectiv e actors as tactics and strategy , the analyst could examine move ments and countermovements as engaged in a rational game to achieve specific interests, much like pluralist competition among interest groups in political analysis. This broad canvas , theoretically spanning finer conceptual and empirical issues that have been debated for more than a century, nevertheless constitutes the painted backdrop for two funda mental questions about new social movements. Why did they create a theoretical problem for the sociologist? And what was lacking in either of the general perspectives outlined above? Such movements had certainly occurred in the past. Earlier this century, witness the Young Movements of Europe (Young Germany, Young Italy, etc .) and the temperance movements in the United States or suffrage movements and student movements on both sides of the Atlantic . In many ways, the student movements of the 1960s, by raising issues that were more than just "problems of interpretation," heralded the first challenges to these classic paradigms (Flacks 1967; Larafia 1982; Katsiaficas 1987). The concept "new social movements" is a double-edged sword. On one side, it has contributed to the knowledge of contemporary movements by focusing attention to the meaning of morphological changes in their structure and action and by relating those changes with structural transformations in society as a whole . These changes are the source of these movements' " novelty" when compared with the model of collective action based in Copyrighted Material
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class conflict that prevailed in Europe since the industrial revolution (Melucci 1989, see also Chapter 5). On the other side, there is a tendency to "ontologize" new social movements (Melucci 1989). This means using the term broadly, as if it captures the "essence" of all new forms of collective action. There is also a tendency to give the concept more explanatory power than is empirically war ranted, which no doubt derives from its popularization. The con cept, however, refers to an approach rather than a theory; it is not a set of general propositions that have been verified empirically but just an attempt to identify certain common characteristics in contemporary social movements and develop analytical tools to study them (Melucci 1989; Laraiia 1993b) . The bundle of new social movements mentioned earlier were difficult to conceptualize with either the imagery of the ideological movements of the past or the rationally organized interest group. Conceived as such, the analysis of new social movements (NSMs) can be advanced by cross-cultural research and by contrasting them with movements of the past that originated in class conflict . To this end, a good starting place is the specification of the fundamental characteristics of NSMs . By no means do all current movements display the following characteristics of new social movements, nor can all current movements be designated new. In many cases, their appearance among current movements leads us to conceptualize them along dimensions of differences from earlier cases of collective action and social movements. First, NSMs do not bear a clear relation to structural roles of the participants . There is a tendency for the social base of new social movements to transcend class structure . The background of participants find their most frequent structural roots in rather diffuse social statuses such as youth, gender, sexual orientation, or professions that do not correspond with structural explanations (Klandermans and Oegema 1987). This has been striking in two especially strong movements: the Greens in Europe and the ecological movement in America. It is evident also in such other movements as the anti-nuclear energy movement in Europe and America or the animal and children's rights movements in the United States. Second, the ideological characteristics of NSMs stand in sharp contrast to the working-class movement and to the Marxist Copyrighted Material
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conception of ideology as a unifying and totalizing element for collective action . Especially in Europe but also in the United States, movements were characteristicall y perceived in accordance with overarching ideologies : conservative or liberal ; right or left; capitalist or socialist. Marxist thought , always more dominant in Europe than in America, provided the paradigm for perceptions of action, either bourgeois or proletarian. The new social movements are more difficult to characterize in such terms . They exhibit a pluralism of ideas and values, and they tend to have pragmatic orientations and search for institutional reforms that enlarge the systems of members ' participation in decision making (Offe 1985; Cohen 1985; Larafia 1992, 1993a). These movements have an important political meaning in Western societies : They imply a "democratization dynamic" of everyday life and the expansion of civil versus political dimensions of society (Larafia 1993b). Third , NSMs often involve the emergence of new or formerly weak dimensions of identity . The grievances and mobilizing factors tend to focus on cultural and symbolic issues that are linked with issues of identity rather than on economic grievances that characterized the working-class movement (Melucci 1985, 1989). They are associated with a set of beliefs, symbols, values, and meanings related to sentiments of belonging to a differentiated social group; with the members' image of themselves; and with new , socially constructed attributions about the meaning of everyday life. This is especially relevant to the ethnic, separatist, and nationalistic movements within existing states. The Catalan and Basque movements in Spain, the Asian and Hispanic movements in the United States , the ethnic movements in the former Soviet Union and even Palestinian nationalism are all examples of new identities emerging in the modern world . The women 's movement and the gay rights movement also exemplify this trend . All of these new identities are formed as both private and public ones or old ones remade along new lines. Fourth, the relation between the individual and the collective is blurred. Closely related to the above point , many contemporary movements are "acted out" in individual actions rather than through or among mobilized groups. The "hippie " movement is the most striking instance, but it is equally true of aspects of other movements where the collective and the individual are blurred, for example, in the gay rights and the women 's movements. AnCopyrighted Material
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other way of thinking about th e sam e phenomena is that in and through mov ements that have no clear class or structural base, the movement becomes th e focus for th e individual's definition of him self or her self, and action within th e mov em ent is a complex mix of the collectiv e and individual confirmations of identity . The student movements and various countercultural groups of the 1960s were among th e earliest exam ples of this aspect of collec tive action . Fifth , NSMs often involv e personal and intim ate aspects of human life. Mov ements focusing on gay rights or abortion , health mov ements such as alternati ve m edicine or antismoking , N ew Age and self-transformation movement s, and th e wom en 's movement all includ e effort s to chang e sexual and bodily behavior. They ext end into arenas of daily life: what we eat, wear , and enjo y ; how we make love, cop e with personal problems , or plan or shun careers . Sixth, another common featur e of NSMs is th e use of radical mobilization tactics of disruption and resistanc e that differ from thos e practiced by the working -class mov em ent . New so cial movements employ new mobilization patt erns characterized by nonviolence and civil disob edienc e that , while oft en challenging dominant norms of conduct through dramatic displa y , draw equally on strategies influenced by Gandhi , Thoreau , and Kropot kin that were successfully used in the past (Larafia 1979; McAdam 1988; Morris 1984; Klandermans and Tarrow 1988). Seventh, the organization and proliferation of new social movement groups are related to the credibility crisis of the con ventional channels for participation in Western democracies . This is especially true with regard to th e traditional mass parties from which NSMs tend to have a considerable degr ee of autonom y and even disdain . This crisis is a motivational factor for colle ctive action in search of alternativ e forms of participation and decision making relating to issue s of collectiv e inter est (Whal en and Hacks 1989; Melucci 1989). Finally, in contrast to cadr e-l ed and centralized bur eaucr acies of tradit ional mass parties , new social mo vem ent organizations tend to be segmented , diffus e, and decentraliz ed . While there is ~onsiderable variation acco rdin g to mov em ent typ e, th e tendency IS toward considerable autonomy of local sections , wh ere collective forms of debat e and decision making oft en limit linka ges with Copyrighted Material
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regional and national organizations . This has been called the "selfreferential element" of the new movements, and it constitutes another sharp distinction with the hierarchical, centralized organization of the working-class movement and the role of the party organization in the Leninist model. These characteristics of new social movements are not independent oflinks with the past. Nor is there an absence of continuity with the old, although that varies with each movement. The women's movement has its roots in the suffrage movement of the late nineteenth century in America. New Age movements can trace connections to earlier spiritualist teachings and Eastern philosophies; and contemporary health movements have roots in various quasi-medical orientations that proliferated earlier in this century. Even movements with old histories have emerged in new forms with more diffuse goals and different modes of mobilization and conversion. It is both the newness of expression and extension as well as the magnitude and saliency of such movements that constitutes the basis for needing revised frameworks of understanding. The theoretical roots of social movement scholarship provide a backdrop to the contemporary discussion of new forms of social movements. Are the new movements as new as they seem? What social and cultural changes have led to the emergence of such movements? Are the ideologies of the past 150 years, with their general programs of reform and revolution , no longer operative in these movements? Has the fulcrum of social movement action shifted from a concern for large-scale societal change to narrower, more self-oriented goals of claiming and realizing new individual and group identities? As Alberto Melucci, one of the contributors to this book, has written elsewhere concerning the influence of a changed social structure on movements, "The freedom to have which characterized . .. industrial society has been replaced by the freedom to be" (Melucci 1989, 177-78). This volume was conceived as an effort to provide some provisional answers to these questions. Many of its chapters share basic assumptions of the social constructionist approach and synthesize the classic and modern perspectives in order to better explain contemporary social movements in Western societies. Social constructionist insights into the way that meanings and collective beliefs arise as central to movement emergence help explain th e naCopyrighted Material
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ture of new grievances and from whence they came. This first chapter joins the theoretical debate .by focus~ng on three of the themes mentioned above, all of which recur III the chapters that follow: the role of identity in social movements, the place of ideology and its relation to collective identity, and issues arising from ideational and structural continuity in contemporary forms of mo bilization. Our goals are to identify the key issues, to point out provocative junctures of theory and research, and to reassess where this new conceptual apparatus might take us . Dimensions of Identity in Social Movement Theory
About twenty-five years ago several Amer ican sociologists noted the growing popularity of social movements concerned with the identity of their members. Ralph Turner (1969; see also Chapter 4) observed that personal identity and personal transformation were increasingly themes of diffusely organized social movement organizations . Orrin Klapp (1969) also discussed the collective search for identity as a response to the impoverishment of interaction in modern society. He argued that modern, rationalized, social relations no longer provided reliable reference points from which to construct one's identity . The movements he observed - "identity seeking movements," such as religious and self-help groups, and less organized , trendy, collective behaviors -were attempts to reclaim a self robbed of its identity. The new social movement perspective holds that the collective search for identity is a central aspect of movement formation. Mobilization factors tend to focus on cultural and symbolic issues that are associated with sentiments of belonging to a differentiated social group where members can feel powerful; they are likely to have subcultural orientations that challenge the dominant system. New social movements are said to arise "in defense of identity." They grow around relationships that are voluntarily conceived to empower members to "name themselves. "What individuals are claiming collectively is the right to realize their own identity: the possibility of disposing of their personal creativity, their affective life, and their biological and interpersonal existence " (Melucci 1980,218) . Copyrighted Material
Identities, Grie vances, and Ne w Social Mo vements II
Both approaches seem to assume that the pursuit of collective identity flows from an intrinsic need for an integrated and continuous social self, a self that is thwarted and assaulted in modern society. The link between the "morphological social changes " described by Melucci and identity-seeking behaviors seems to result from four factors that are characteristic of postmodernism: material affluence, information overload , confusion over the wide horizon of available cultural alternatives, and system inadequacies in providing institutionally based and culturally normative alternatives for self-identification (see Inglehart 1990, 347). The issues that NSM groups advocate reflect the expanded horizons of personal choice and point out cracks in the system, often in the form of newly defined global concerns. Individuals seek out new collectivities and produce "new social spaces" where novel life-styles and social identities can be experienced and defmed. Much as Klapp's explanation of the collective search for identity implicitly criticized modern society, NSM research points out the need for system adjustments via movement formation and the cultural challenges that new movements pose (Habermas 1981, 36-37). NSM thinking and research so far has produced important insights about the nature of these groups, but to date these insights have not taken the form of an overall theory. The four factors mentioned above are often left implicit; how they interrelate in the formation of new groups has not been developed. A cynosure of the new social movement perspective that needs further elabora tion is the linkage between the broad structural changes that are said to characterize postindustrial society and identity problems for individuals . This task can begin with a systematic approach to the concept of identity itself . An understanding of who one is, in all its complexity, is fundamental to the formulation of goals, plans , assessments, accounts, and attributions that constitute making one's daily way . That it is so fundamental may explain why, from the new social movements approach, there is a tendency to refer to the concept of identity in a taken -for-granted way. There has been much written in sociology about various aspects of identity, and in the last decade, psychological research has increasingly examined the relationship between individual and group identity (Tajfel 1978; Tajfel and Turner 1985; Turner 1985; Turner et al. 1987). From this vast literature, three distinct dimensions of identity stand out as central for participation in social movements: Copyrighted Material
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indi vidual iden tity, collective identit y , and publi c id entity. A mor e theor etical appro ach requires clear conc eptu alizati on s about how the y are related. Individual Identity
For most sociologists , the term individual identity is inh erently contradi ctory. Apart from the "hard wiring " of gender and kinship- whi ch we are onl y beginning to und erstand-who a person is and what he or sh e becom es are thoroug hly social pro cesses . Yet , in several w ays indi vidual identit y is imp ortant in und erstandin g social m ovem ent part icipation . It relates to the w holly personal traits th at, although constru cted through th e int eraction of biological inh erit ance and social life, are internaliz ed and import ed to social mov ement participation as idiosyncratic biographies . Psychologists studying group formation (Tajfel 1978, 1981; Turn er et al. 1987) clearly separat e individual identity from its social aspects deriv ed from group membership , but a sociology of social mov em ents must recognize that indi vidual identiti es are brou ght to m ovement participation and chang ed in th e proc ess. The degr ee to which th ey are change d can be used as a means to classify mo vem ents-from totalizin g cu lts of personal transformation , wh ere the individual identit y is tak en over by the group , to checkbook quasi-mo vem ents lik e Gr eenp eace and Ross Perot's United We Stand America , where individual identification may not extend beyond a bump er stick er. Stephen Reicher has noted a parallel continuum regarding th e degr ee to which group-based , sociall y constructed aspects of identit y com e to dominate the " im ported" indi vidual aspect s (see Turn er et al. 1987, 169-20 2). The field of social mov ements ha s appropriated symboli c interactionist approach es to social roles and social location (Str yker 1980) as the con ceptual foundation for thinking about individual identity . The social self of a movem ent adh erent is made up of several social identities that are, in part , shaped as th ey are acted out, but also that corr espond to institutional and organizational roles that proscribe norm ative beha viors (Merton 1957). Th ese insights have influenced subs equent res ear ch in social psycholog y on rol e strain, role chang e, and rol e conflict. Anoth er line of research has been dir ected at op er ationalizin g an d m easuring indi vidu al id entit y in its various dim ensions . A fund amental Copyrighted Material
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problem is that most people can describe "who they are" in only limited terms . The verbal articulation of identity is often limited to counseling psychology or self-help psychologizing of a popular nature . Outside these contexts , and outside life-cycle influences that bring identity issues to the foreground , expression of individual identity in all its facets is not usually necessary. In the ebb and flow of everyday life, identity only becomes an issue when one 's status quo is threatened. In most sociological fields that touch on identity issues social movements, deviance, family studies , health and medicine-discussions of individual identity are based on the basic framework described above. Erving Goffman's insights into the managed and situational nature of self-image (1959, 1967) have important implications for a sociological approach to individual identity, as does recent work on the relation between self-concept and spoken discourse (Perinbanayagam 1991), but these ideas have proven difficult to reconcile with positivistic research strategies . Recently, feminist research has broken new ground in specifying male-female differences in thinking about oneself and others that derive from biology and culturally defined gender influences. One of the problems with this key concept is also a source of strength: its interdisciplinary nature in both sociology and psychology. One aspect of a psychological focus emphasizes pathological and unconscious forces and the developmental progress toward adulthood. The work of Erik Erikson (1958, 1968) has focused on the meaning of psychosocial identity as a subjective sense of" continuity and being oneself," and as a fundamental step in personal development. This subjective sense does not arise in isolation but requires the existence of a community. Sociologists and social psychologists have pointed out that personal identity emerges through the mirror of social interaction, that is, by playing different roles and by interpreting how others see us. Although the degree to which a core identity is established and functions as an integrating concept will vary, the basic insight of Meadian social psychology also holds true: Individual identity is quintessentially social and its core-if it can be apprehended at all by a reflective self-is relativized according to interactive situations. If identity is difficult to grasp because so much of its content is locked away in the black box of mental life, then it is more difficult to specify because the contents are shifted and rearranged accordCopyrighted Material
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ing to social context . The concept provides a tool to analyze a concrete set of facts and problems where the individual and the social realms intersect; this reinforces the need to integrate the biological and sociological models of human behavior. The dichotomy of a core identity versus a malleable one -or individual versus social identity , to use Tajfel 's terms (1981) should be an important focus in future social movement research. A key question is the extent to which NSMs are disproportion ately represented by a coming-of-age generation for whom ques tions of identity are paramount due to developmental psychologi cal factors. In the thre e NSM groups studied by Melucci and his colleagues in Altri Codici (1984), in addition to the one that was characterized by Giovanni Lodi and Marco Grazioli (1984) as a "youth movement," all seem to be composed largely of people between the ages of eighteen and twenty-eight . More than in other stages in one's life cycle , search for identity is a youthful activity. Erikson 's (1968) fifth developmental stage occurs in late adolescence, when a process of solidification of a mature identity occurs through reconciliation of ascribed roles and new or emergent adult roles . He also pointed out that there is a intrinsic link between identity and ideology . An individual's identity becomes consistent when it is built in a common ideological orientation that renders it meaningful and gives it coherence . To take one example , in interviews with leftist and nationalist militants in Barcelona, Hank Johnston (1991) found that many spoke vividly of psychological dissonance that arose from recon ciling a traditional , often religious, and middle-class upbringing with newfound Marxism. Identity reconciliation was the substance of interaction with dense interpersonal networks of young student and working-class militants . It forged a solidarity in these groups that imparted a resilience against state repression. It also provided for a unique flexibility and breadth that served to bridge different oppositional groups during mass mobilization. Sustained by intense discussions among friends, these networks were the functional equivalent of "new social spaces" discussed by Melucci. It is our guess that among different social movements , the emphasis on identity quest results from th e intersection of several factors, one of which is the coming of age of a cohort in an economic and social milieu that frees them from immediate material concerns and disposes them to intense introspection about Copyrighted Material
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who they are. Although research on new social movements recognizes that these factors are related to participation, identity search and temporariness of involvement are treated as something new, deriving from system changes in postindustrial society (Lodi and Grazioli 1984). To the extent that we are dealing primarily with youth movements, or at least movements that bear the imprint of a large youthful membership, then identity search cannot be explained exclusively by postindustrial changes. Collective Identity
The concept of collective identity has recently been thrust into the foreground of social movement theory. Aldon Morris's and Carol Mueller's book, Frontiersin SocialMovement Theory (1992), contains several chapters that either deal directly with this concept or have sections that discuss it. Taken together, these treatments point out the multifaceted and interrelated nature of the concept; the paradoxical result is that the theoretical spotlight simultaneously reveals many more angles, corners, niches, and shadows. Let us see if we can clarify the ways of talking about collective identity, and in particular point out the relationship between several closely related concepts like group boundaries, group membership, solidarity, and the organization of everyday life. The concept of collective identity refers to the (often implicitly) agreed upon definition of membership, boundaries, and activities for the group. According to Melucci (forthcoming), "Collective identity is an interactive and shared definition produced by several individuals (or groups at a more complex level) and concerned with the orientations of action and the field of opportunities and constraints in which the actions take place." It is built through shared definitions of the situation by its members, and it is a result of a process of negotiation and "laborious adjustment" of different elements relating to the ends and means of collective action and its relation to the environment. By this process of interaction, negotiation and conflict over the definition of the situation, and the movement's reference frame, members construct the collective "we. " This social constructionist definition has three dimensions that make collective identity an especially difficult concept to pin down empirically. First, it is predicated on a continual interpene Copyrighted Material
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trati on of-and mutu al influ en ce between-th e indi vidual identit y of th e participant and th e collecti ve identit y of th e gro up. Second , by th e very natur e of th e ph enom ena we study , th e coll ective identity of social mov em ents is a " m oving tar get ," w ith diff er ent definition s pr edomin atin g at different point s in a m ovem ent career. Third , distin ct pr ocesses in identit y crea tio n and m aint en an ce are operati ve in different ph ases of th e m ovem ent . In th e mid st of all thi s change and flux , this conce pt is often employ ed as if it w as froz en in tim e and space, neglectin g its proc ess-based natur e and shifting boundari es. A related pr obl em refers to th e " facticity " of collective identit y and th e w ay it serve s as a predicate of behavior. A frequent usage, altho ug h one that seems to occur m or e as a rh etor ical device tha n a consc io us ana lytical positi on , is to speak of collecti ve identit y as some thing th at stands above and beyond th e indi vidual social actors an d takes on a life of its own . Sugg estive of Herbert Blum er 's early con cep tualization of esprit de corps (1955) and other early collective behavior th eori sts th at em phasized gro up consciousness, this is a definition that dir ects attention away from ind ividu al con tributions and attach es it to a m ovem ent orga nization defined in th e agg rega te as a collective actor. In thi s usage, both " collective id entit y " an d "so cial mo vem ent " can be spok en of w ithout referen ce to th e processes th at con stitut e th em . Rath er , like Emil e Durkheim 's conscience collective, collective identit y is th e reposit or y of m ovem ent values and norm s th at define m ovem ent beh avior from some epistemolo gical point beyond th e indi vidu al parti cip ant . It is a "soc ial fact " that dictates prohibiti on s and appro p riate behavior s. Yet ther e is a grain of insight th at can be w innowe d fr om th e Durkh eimian position . We have in mind th e notion th at an identit y is both cognitivel y real-that is, based on lived ex pe rience and kno wl edge sto red in m emor y- and id ealized in Goff ma n's sense of ideal noti on s of how a rol e beh avior sho uld be. To share a collective identit y m ean s not onl y to have had a part in cons titu ting it but also, in som e instan ces, "o beyi ng" its norm ative pr o scriptions . Clearl y, thi s is an aspec t of collective identit y th at m eets Durkh eims extern al and constrainin g crit eri a for social facts ' an d from thi s perspective, to part ake in a collective ide ntity m eans also doin g (and not doin g) certain thin gs. Th e key insig h t is th at nor m ative and valua tiona l eleme nts of ex terna l socia l relation s are closely associated w ith how on e think s abo ut ones elf; th ese eleCopyrighted Material
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ments guide and channel behavior within-and without-the group . In this sense, doing (appropriate movement-related behaviors) and being (identity) are inextricably linked . This closely follows Stephen Reichter 's treatment of identity and crowd behavior (see Turner et al. 1987, 169-202) . He suggests that th e mor e the individual identifies with the group, the more likel y emergent group norms will constrain and shape behavior. The power of emergent norms works through the mechanism of collectiv e identity and the intrinsic human tendency to affirm group identification (see Tajfel and Turner 1985). Bearing this in mind, we can turn to the more common, constructionist usage that has been drawn on by NSM thinking . The constructionist view has been emphasized in current analyses of radical feminist , gay, and lesbian groups (Margolis 1985; Marshall 1991), as well as attempts to explain ethnic politics and nationalism (johnston 1985; See 1986; Nagel and Olzak 1982; Anderson 1991). Characteristic of this approach, Melucci asserts that "collective identity is a product of conscious action and the outcome of self-reflection more than a set of given or 'stru ctur al' characteristics . [It] tends to coincide with conscious processes of 'organization' and it is experienced not so much as a situation as an action" (1992, 10-11). By stressing the "process-based, selfreflexive and constructed manner in which collective actors tend to define themselves today" (10), contemporary approaches to collective identity acknowledge a strong symbolic interactionist influence. This tradition points to interaction among social movement participants as the locus of research on identity processes. In Europe , one tendency has been to explore this avenue of investigation through "intervention research" (Touraine 1981; Melucci 1984). In North America , research has followed an identity-focused agenda via traditional interactionist issues: self-presentation , dramaturgical analysis, conversions , and gender and gender interaction. Regardless of research strategy, the global point is that collective actors define themselves in a social context, and any constructionist view of identity must make reference to both the interactive situations where identity is formed and shaped and to the other people who join in the task. This raises inevitable questions about the relation betw een group membership and collective identity. Debra Friedman and Doug McAdam (1992, 169) have discussed how individual attachCopyrighted Material
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ments to preexisting groups and int erp ersonal networ ks fre que ntly function as sourc es of collective identit y wh en th ese attach me n ts are hi ghly valued. Th e assum ption of value d gro u p attac h me n ts allows th e authors to recast collecti ve ident ity as a selective in centive, to use Mancur Olson 's (1965) term , as a w ay of reconcilin g a microstructuralist focu s with rational choice mod els. C ollective identit y becomes a valued com mo dity th at is worth th e co m m itm ent of tim e, resourc es th e "c apital" of indi vidu al aut on om y and the risk of pr esentati on of self becaus e the group from which it is derived is also valued . Th e issue goes to th e cor e of social mov em ent formation , and ther e are several answers , whic h, tak en to geth er , can help the stud ent of social movem ent s think m or e syst em atically about th e creation of collectiv e identiti es. First , foll owing the arg ume n t of Friedman and McAdam , on e can consider or ganiz ation al strat egy . In th eir analysis, th e orga nization " prov ides an id ent ity " and "sh apes it for con sumpti on. " Thi s mi ght be called a " strategic constru ctionist persp ective," to coin a term , th at sugges ts, for som e movem ents , th ere are leaders, committ ees, or caba ls th at plot th e best collective identit y for th e m ovem ent , mu ch lik e mar keting executives strat egizin g th e best way to pr esent a pr odu ct . It is a " top down " appr oach to collective identit y that seems to be mor e useful in som e m ovem ent s than others. Thi s app roach would be especially useful in later stages of mo vem ent developm ent w hen social mo vem ent organization s are establishe d an d likel y to be thinking of these strat egic terms . At earlier stages, ho wever , w hen issues are being articulat ed and gro ups coalesce around issu es, it makes sense that a mor e "bottom up " appro ach is, if not th e entir e answ er , then at least deserving of a plac e in th e th eor etical equation. These issues are expand ed in the next two sections . Public Identity
Whil e the two pr evious dim ens ions of identit y involve self-ass essm ents - eithe r b y an indi vidu al or by th e group -th e conc ept of publi c identit y captur es th e influ ences that th e extern al public have on th e w ay social mo vem ent adhe rents think about them selves. Both indi vidual id entit y an d collective identity are affect ed by int eraction w ith nonm emb ers and by definitions imposed on mov em ents b y state agenci es, co un termov em ents , and , especially in th e contemporar y mo vem ent enviCopyrighted Material
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ronment, the media. There are different courses and different channels by which public definitions can influence movement identities, and it makes sense that, depending on the source, there can be different effects . On the one hand , there is a long tradition of research on how impersonal influences affect movement identities . State repression can intensify we-them distinctions and fortify group identification and commitment (Trotsky 1957; Smelser 1962; Brinton 1965; Hierich 1971), especially in radical political movements (Knutson 1981; della Porta and Tarrow 1986; della Porta 1992; Perez- Agote 1986). Particularly important in today's movement environment are the information media and the role of the media in shaping a movement's image (Gam son 1988; Gitlin 1980). Enrique Laraiia (see Chapter 9) observes how a split in the internal and external images of a movement can result from journalists' tendency to focus on professionalized movement representatives and visible aspects of movement activities . Another element of media identity is the process of influencing the assignment of meaning through framing activities by leaders. This occurred in the Basque and Catalan movements in Spain and in Spanish student mobilizations during the 1980s. On the other hand, a neglected aspect of research on public identity is personal influence and social impact. By this we refer to concrete interaction between members of a movement and nonmembers . Research in social psychology has demonstrated that the more intimate, local , and personally relevant an informational input, the greater the influence it has on opinion (Latane 1981). If media images of a movement can influence personal or collective identity , their influence carries more weight if it comes via people who are close to and who are valued by the movement participant . With the exception of totalizing groups such as cults and radical cells, the collective aspect of identity formation tends to be at best a part-time endeavor; and what others (especially primary relations) think about the movement can carry great weight in a developing collective identity . An individual's social life will include others outside the movement group . This is even more relevant for movement participants who are deeply associated in community life, especially in the early phases of the movem ent when the demands on time and resources characteristic of the increasing Copyrighted Material
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20 pace of mobilization are just beginning . Th en th e relati on between the public identit y and th e em erg ent collecti ve id entit y is critical. As a movement mobiliz es, committ ed m emb er s will progressively exclude extraneou s ties in favor of mo vem ent-based interaction . Boundary maint en ance, a term used in ecolog ical th eor y to und erstand the creation of resourc e nich es, is anoth er way of thinking about increasingl y ex clusionary behavior. Verta Taylor and N ancy Whitti er (1992) discuss ho w radical feminist s engage in a species of boundar y maint enan ce by building alternati ve lo ci of affiliation called " fem ini st count erinstitutions " to affirm their collective identity . Th ere is a tim e-budgeting dimension to th ese action s in that the larger proportion of daily acti vitie s that movement-relat ed roles occup y in a social actor 's overall identit y-that is, th e sum total of his or her roles-the sharper th e boundari es, the clearer th e we-they distinctions, and the stronger th e collectiv e identity. Boundaries can be thought of as activities and definitions that reinforce collective definitions through we-they distinctions , which are often marked by differences in physical app earance , dress, speech , demeanor , and oth er behaviors. There is variation in the panorama of movements regarding th e sharpness of boundar y distin ctions . Taylor and Whitti er review the efforts at exclusion among lesbian feminist groups , while other mo vem ents are less exclusionary and even may wax inclusi ve in later stages of th eir careers , w ith negati ve effects on collective identit y and commitment (Zald and Ash 1966; Gerlach and Hine 1970). It mak es sense that th e str ength of boundar y maint enanc e (which is an acti vit y) and we-the y distinctions (which is a cognition) are related to collectiv e identit y in terms of th e relationship between tim e and effor t dedicated to movement activities. We know a great deal about the so cial proc esses b y which collectiv e identity gath ers str ength, but our thinking about th e topic has not been able to explain starting mechanisms , that is, the initial kick that moves potential participants to choos e on e set of social ties above others . This brings us to the third approa ch to the issue of emergent collective identiti es, and to what we see as a forgott en theoretical issue: the relation between what a social mov ement is about-its substanc e in the form of grievanc es, demands , and a program for chang e-and th e way its collective identit y can be codified in an ideolog y .
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21 Ideology, Grievances, and Collective Identity
"Old movements" coalesced around shared grievances and perceptions of injustice . Programs for amelioration of these grievances and attribution of cause constituted the ideological base for mobilization. In the movement conte xt , the link between ideology and gri evances was strong, as it was conceptually in early theories of social movements. Ideology as a codification of wrongs and injustices was seen as a necessary process for mobilization to occur (Smelser 1962). In deprivation theories , the link between grievance s and action was fundam ental to explanatory logic, but typically it was left implicit. Research in the symbolic interactionist tradition emphasized the definition of a situation as unjust and warranting action; the specification of collective solutions was understood as key to mobilization processes . William Gamson, Bruce Firem an , and Steven Rytina's research into the em ergen ce of injustic e frames offers decisive insights into the earliest mechanisms by which grievances become articulated (1982; see also Gamson 1992). In the 1960s, several observers-Daniel Bell , Ralph Turner, Joseph Gusfield, Orrin Klapp , among others-noted that an increasing number of movements and conflicts articulated grievances that were not based on economic and class interests . These movements were based on less "objective" elements such as identity, status, humanism, and spirituality. In a sense, the link between mobilization and grievances became less compelling. While not without their own ideological base and in varying degrees among different groups, these movements were less characterized by the extensive ideological articulation usually found in socialist and communist organizations . Shortly thereafter, the link between grievances and mobilization was further deemphasized as factors relating to resources, organization, and strategy gained theoretical predominance in the field . The year 1990 brought the collapse of Marxist-L eninist states, and with it the debilitation of the most highly developed oppositional ideologies of the twentieth century. Richard Flacks (see Chapter 14) points out that there is much more to the Left 's vision than the way it was distorted by the communist parti es of the socialist bloc. He argues that the grand tradition of the Left has both been an integral part of how generations of activists have Copyrighted Material
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22 thought about themselves and a transcend ent view of ~ha~ soci~ty could be. This tradition was internalized into one 's so cial id ent ity; it was lived in one's daily contacts and through th e content of that interaction . Although ideology , gri evanc es, and coll ectiv e id entity are analyticall y separate, there is a stron g relationship betw een them , one that has been muted in the past but ha s been brought into the theoretical foreground by NSM research . The traditional th eori es of soci al mo vements did not em ph asize the link betw een grievances and identity as relevant to explaining movement formation , but it makes sense th at the link was ther e. For laboring m en and wom en , for peasant s, and for anarchist militants , th e substance of grievances, and th eir int erpr etation by ideologi es, was em bedded in ever yd ay life. E. P. Th ompson 's (1963) stud y of th e em ergence of th e Engl ish workin g class shows that identity as a tradesman perm eated every day life and that there wer e many instances wh en the collective identity deriving from a shared sense of injustic e was particularl y stro n g. In his stud y of prot ests of weavers in Rouen , France , William Redd y (1977) shows how stru ctural ch ang es outsid e village so ciety thr eatened th e way of life for seven teenth-century weavers. Th e forms of protest weavers instig ated wer e closely linked w ith the defense of their traditional social status es. Similarl y , anarchist groups in nineteenth -century Spain first or ganized athenaeums wher e workers gathered at th e end of the day to socialize, discuss issu es, and take courses . Famil y activities such as picnics and choral gro ups were also organized (Esenw ein 1989). In West Vir ginia , th e identit y of a united mine work er 's or ganiz er in the 1930s was closely linked to th e injustices he and his com patriots faced in th e min es, in the company towns, in company stores , and in seeing the ravages of poverty on their children . Although non e of the militants would have characterized th eir invol vem ent in terms of a qu est for identit y, through the newl y ground len ses of NSM conc epts , th e degr ee to which close friends and every day acti vit ies wer e link ed with the mov ement becomes apparent . Colle ctive identit y an d grievances are not the same, but their clos e association lies in th e fact th at the organization of how social m ovement adherents think about themselv es is structured in import ant ways by how shar ed wron gs are exp erien ced , int erpr eted , and rework ed in th e con text of group interaction . Th ese observations are strikingl y sim ilar to recent work in Copyrighted Material
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feminist theory and the women's movement about the politicization of everyday life. Because gender stereotyping and discrimination perm eates most modern social relations , th ere is a fundam ental injustice embedded at the level of quotidian interaction . An important aspect of the feminist program has been to creat e new social spaces, ones that are equally quotidian, where women can respond to, and in the extreme, withdraw from , gender discrimination and interaction with men in order to nurture their own identities (Taylor and Whittier 1992). These kinds of groups , which are characteristic of the women 's movement , are often considered prototypical of NSM organizations . To understand how movements are distributed on the axis of grievances and identity , we suggest that the following reckoning is helpful. First, all movements , to some degree, are linked with issues of individual and collective identity via the way that focal grievances affect everyday life. In th e United States , mobilizations in response to economic crisis and rising unemployment during the 1930s, often led by communist activists , followed the classic pattern of European workers' movements (Piven and Cloward 1971, 62). People participated massively in collective action because they were hungry and without jobs. Th ese were matters that went to the core of their existence and collective identity was not the focus of action. Yet, in the United States , status movements are closely linked with identity issues (Gusfield 1963; Zurcher and Kirkpatrick 1976; Luker 1984). Here the grievances are actuated by perceived threats to how one defines oneself , such as the way that the popularization of abortion threatens, for some women, traditional conceptions of motherhood. Status movements take action about "other people 's business " because that business often poses a threat to' how the mobilizing group defines itself. They might be seen as precursors of NSMs if we accept that identity issues become a basic mobilizing factor. New social movements display a paradoxical relationship between identity and grievances . First, the very nature of grievances for NSMs merges them closely with the concept of identity . For movements about gender or sexual identity, for example , the collective grievances are ine xtricably linked with issues of identity quest in the group context. The support and identity-affirming functions of feminist and gay rights groups are well known. Second, where grievances have a more important place in group forCopyrighted Material
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mation, such as in ecological groups, the NSM perspective tells us that identity quest co-occurs as a displaced (or unconscious) but nevertheless fundamental raison d'etre of group formation. Third, for some NSM groups, such fundamental grievances as threats to the ozone level, nuclear proliferation, or saving whales are so distant from everyday life that they can only remain immediate through their ongoing social construction and reassertion in the group context . Indeed, one might speculate that in those instances when the goals of NSM groups are particularly global and distant from achievement, it is the intensely personal orientations and the close melding of the group with everyday life that provide the sustaining lifeblood of cohesion. In rational choice terms , identity defense and affirmation provide the necessary counterbalancing selective incentives where the more practical payoffs of the movement are small . Continuity in New Social Movements
An important focus of recent research has been the informal organizational networks as the platform from which movement formation occurs. Joseph Gusfield (1981) emphasizes the role of "carry-ons and carryovers" from one movement to another; Adrian Aveni (1977), Mark Granovetter (1983), and Doug McAdam (1982, 1988) all argue for the importance of preexisting networks of relations in collective action; and Aldon Morris (1984) looks at the role of established social organizations- "movement halfway houses" -in the growth of the civil rights movement. In a similar vein, Leila Rupp and Verta Taylor (1987) discuss "abeyance structures" during the recumbent periods of the women's movement in a hostile political climate . In the even more hostile setting of the authoritarian state, Hank Johnston examines the role of" oppositional subcultures " in several nationalist mobilizations (1991, 1992, 1993; see also PerezAgote 1990). These subcultures are comprised of well developed but, for the most part, private social networks that are built up in response to repression and the stilted discourse of public life in closed societies. The theoretical import of this work on the "microstructural" factors prior to mobilization is that the temporal frame of analysis gets pushed back in order to focus on premobilization phases as Copyrighted Material
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partial explanations of the shape and course social movements take. This shift also tends to lay bare the role of cultural content since continuity arises not only through persistanc e of organizations but also through the shared meanings and beliefs of mov ement members . Its significanc e for current research on social movements might contribute to overcoming its structuralist bias and to framing research within the persp ective of a " in terpretative sociology" (see McAdam, Chapter 2; Gamson 1988). This " epistemological reframing " would permit a deeper approach to the study of social movement formation that draws on the latent , nonvisible, cognitive dimensions instead of visible and political aspects (Melucci 1989; see also Larafia , Chapter 9). Consideration of the historical preconditions of mobilization is of cours e nothing new-seeking causes in itself implies temporal priority-but the search for a movement's origins has , in the past , focused either on intellectual currents or preexisting resources rather than on the non visible networks that function in everyday life as premobilization structures . Prior to this research, the analysis of social movements had taken a more "volcanic" approach: It is attracted to an event when it erupts through the surface of social life, and it focuses on the flow of human, organizational, and resource-related magma. Taylor (1989, 761) points out that NSM research tends to succumb to this tendency as well. Her research with Rupp (1987) chronicles how organizational and cultural continuities can shape highly noninstitutionalized NSM forms of organization. Their study reviews how the intense commitment, rich and variegated culture, and strong activist networks facilitated the resurgent women's movement in the mid 1960s. Although their emphasis is on continuity in repertoires of contention, there are several points where one sees continuities in the shape of everyday organization within the retrenched movement, especially the solidarity , cohesiveness, and commitment within the abeyance networks they describe. These characteristics were important sources of personal support in the difficult postwar years of the women's movement and suggest that in periods of quiescence factors related to personal and collective identity may be at work to establish links of continuity (Taylor 1989; see also Larafia, Chapter 9). One is led to speculate the degree to which the prior organization stimulated smaller support Copyrighted Material
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groups that , in contrast to lobb yin g o rga n izations, cha racterize th e newn ess of contem porary femini sm. In a similar vein, th e roots of th e N ew Left in th e Unite d States have been tr aced by several resear cher s (Wh alen and Hacks 1984; Wood 1974; Isserm an 1987) w ho have point ed out strong continuiti es with th e Old Left . Takin g the women 's mo vem ent and th e New Left to geth er , th e po int is that w hile even ts of gr eater or lesser m agnitud e punctu ate histor y , the re is an im po rtant thr ead of org anizational and cultur al con tinuity for m an y NSM s in th e Unit ed Stat es insofar as th e focu s of ana lys is shifts to every day activ ities. O n th e other hand , research in th e Europ ean tradit ion has stressed th e spec ial signifi can ce of grea t hist ori cal events and th e path-b reakin g influen ce of ideas and per son s. From this per spective, as analysts of new social m ovem ent s in Eur op e sifted thr ou gh th e soil of postm od erni sm , th ey have lo cated th e first sprouts of new social mo vem ents am on g th e relati vely recent mobilizations of students an d th e N ew Left in the late 1960s (Ha berm as 1981; Kr iesi 1992). Th e fact th at th e N SM per spective ha s gen erat ed w ider enthusi asm in Eur op e th an in th e Uni ted States pr ovide s ev iden ce abo ut th e natur e of th eor y cons truc tion and its patt ern s of diffusion in sociology . As we point ed out earlier, th e Eur op ean tr adition of social m ovem ent resear ch, reflectin g the influ enc e of M arxist th ou ght , em phasized struc tura l bac kgro un ds of class to a greater extent th an th e Am eri can studies. In th e Unit ed States, th e situation ha s been historically different and ther e ha s ne ver been a stro ng part y repr esentin g th e working class . Flacks (see Ch apt er 14) attribut es thi s fact to th e peculi ar cha rac teristics of th e Am erican labor force , espe cially its multi ethnic chara cter , w hi ch is th e result of w aves of immi grati on . Instead of th e unifi cati on of th e peopl e sharing th e tr adition of th e Left , th ere has been a frag me ntation of th e working class in ethni c groups and tr ad e uni ons based on ethni c solidarit y . Th e grow th of a unifi ed wo rking - class part y was pr event ed by a system w he re th e com pe tition between ethnic gro ups created ob stacl es to class solidarit y . Th e abse nce of str on g leftist parti es and soci alist uni on s in th e Unit ed States atom ized working - class orga nization int o lo cal mani festatio ns an d decentraliz ed civ il society to a greater ex ten t th an in Eur op e. If we search for cultur al factor s, th ere is a lon g tr aditi on of indi vidu alism and self-help/ self-im prove me nt moveme n ts in th e Copyrighted Material
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United States (Meyer 1975). These have roots in the broader cultural templates discussed over 150 years ago by Alexis de Tocqu eville in Democracy in America and more recently by Bellah et al. (1985) . In the words of de Tocqueville, the American propensity to "self-interest properly understood" fomented a wide array of interest groups and voluntary associations that exercised influ ence at local levels of government early in the nation's history. These local forms of participation continued to charact eriz e American society throughout the nineteenth and twenti eth centuries . In Europe, despite wid e variations betw een countries , there were two social forces that shaped civil participation differently : the institutional church and the Left. While Europ ean society today is more secularized than th e United States, the Catholic church and other religious groups played important roles in th e development of social movement organizations, especially in som e countri es like Belgium, Italy, and Spain. The church in Europe enjoy ed a quasimonopoly on the kinds of transcendental qu estions that sects and cults in th e United Stat es have regularly taken up . Th ese observ ations must be taken as generalizations that gloss many factors, but they stress that the utility of th e NSM perspective is intimately related to the cultural and intellectual soil in which it germinat es. A final point regarding continuity in NSM groups is oft en overlook ed, but it is central to cultural and organizational continuity over long periods . We have in mind the relations betwe en generational cohorts alluded to earlier (see Braungart and Braungart 1984). Int ergenerational relations are a key asp ect of how continuity in culture, ideology, and organizational form is achi eved (Mannheim 1952) . Thi s is not to imply a one-way relation from the wizen ed older generation to th e young. Rather , in man y mov ements there are opportunities for reciprocity wher e th e older memb ers mitigat e the radic alism of youth , and youthful m emb ers open new horizons to the older gene ration (john ston 1991). Th ese are proc esses that are not examin ed in depth by new social m ovement research , despit e methodological strategies, for exa m ple, participant obs erv ation and "int erv enti on , " that would seem to lend them selves to such questions (Touraine 1981; Melucci 1984). To the extent that th e qu est for id entit y is a youthful activ ity, th eoretical conc ern with int erg enerational relati ons will becom e m or e relevant for th e stu dy of cont emporar y m ovem ent s. Whitti er 's (1993) tr eatm ent of gene ratio nal relations in the wo me n's m oveCopyrighted Material
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28 ment may signal the beginning of a shift in inter est in this area of research. Conclusions
This chapter opens with a review of European and North Am erican traditions in social movem ent scholarship and two questions about new social movements : Why have they posed such a challenge to traditional theori es? And , What was it about the traditional theories that proved to be inadequate ? From the NSM persp ectiv e, the answer to the first question centers on the link between structural change characteristic of postindustrial society and movements that emphasize identity in the context of a wide variety of grievances and forms of organization embedded in the everyday life of participants . The answ er to the second question is that traditions of the past, perhaps color ed by their particular ideological lenses , did not grasp the everyday and identity dim ensions of th e " old movements " th ey sought to explain . The heart of this chapter focuses on the idea that a more systematic approach to NSMs requires stronger conceptual development regarding identity , especially if th e linkages between the social actor and structural changes characteristic of postmodern society are to be specified. Identity has two central dimensionsindividual and collective- both of which are shaped by a thirdpublic identity. Both individual and collective identity are characterized by a dualistic epistem ology in which continuity and change coexist as alternative approaches . Individual identity is composed of both its fixed aspects, which are "imported" by each participant to social movement groups , and by its fundamentally malleable quality, which is shaped in the course of interaction within the collectivity . Similarly, collective identity can be conceptualized at any point in time as a fixed content of meanings , frames of interpretation , and normative and valuational proscriptions that exercise influence over individual social actors . On the other hand , collective identity is also an emergent quality of group interaction , which is strengthened by group solidarity and boundar y maintenance activities and shaped by public images of th e group via interaction with nonmemb ers . Part of the task we face is to refin e both conceptual and Copyrighted Material
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29 methodological tools . Research strategies must permit the complexity of identity to unfold in the data-gathering process . This issue is echoed in Bert Klandermans 's call for longitudinal research of movement activists (1992, 53-75 , see also Chapter 7). Batt eries of questions focused wholly on identity issu es will be required for meaningful comparisons over time. But the complexity of identity is such that fixed choice questions can access only som e dim ensions of the concept . More often than not, the raw data of identity is expressed in halting and fragmented accounts, platitudes, and monologues - sometimes spontaneous, sometimes rehears ed - of "who we are" and "who I am ." Moreover, aspects of identity can change in the course of data-gathering itself. In some instances , different aspects of identity are invoked for different behaviors being observed , or for different phases-and even respons es-in the interview process. A woman may discuss issues of th e environmental movement as an activist, as a mother, as a manager, as a spouse, or as a Latina. Sociological intervention, discourse analysis, informal interviewing, and qualitative research strat egies , such as those suggested by Scott Hunt , Robert Benford , and David Snow (see Chapter 8) would be very helpful. Our examination of continuity and change in individual and collective identities suggests further research. First, in examining the "imported" qualities of individual identity, we note a potential correlation between identity quest and youthful composition of NSM groups. The degree to which there is a mix between young adults , for whom identity questions are important, and older members is an important dimension on which NSM groups might be distributed. The processes of intergenerational relations , reflected in the cohort composition of new social movements , while traced in several studies of the New Left and the women 's movements, has not been pursued elsewhere . Second, we note that the emphasis of "identity quest" will differ among NSMs and, given the centrality of the concept, it makes sense that this is a dimension on which NSM groups should be categorized. Comparisons require reliabl e measures of both individual and collective identity orientations that, by freezing concepts that are also inherently malleable and emergent , violat e the dual natur e of identity concepts . Neverthel ess, ther e is mu ch to be gain ed by intermovement and cross-national comparisons . It may be necessary to shed prejudices about measur es of individual Copyrighted Material
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30 identity derivin g from sus ceptib ility theori es in orde r to establish a compar ative dat a base about w ho joins NSM s. Third , we also not e that the link betw een grievances and every day life of m ovem ent parti cipant s might vary between NSM group s. Th e ex ten t to w hich grievances are tied to every day concern s in contrast to m or e global issu es that seem quit e remov ed from mund ane con cerns is a provoc ativ e qu estion , and it mak es sense that th ere w ill be consid erabl e variation in the panor ama of NSM groups. A wo rking hyp oth esis is th at wh ere glo bal con cern s are far rem oved from every day life, m ovem ent coh esion requir es the selective in cen tives of a str on g identit y compon ent. Mor eov er , the relation ship between identit y and th e imm edia cy/globaln ess of grievan ces m ay com p rise ano the r dim ensi on on w hi ch NSMs can be analyzed . A final observa tion arises fro m cur rent events in Europ e. Th e specter of violent skinh ead s and neofascist youth m ovem ents in Europ e raises th e qu estion if th ese, too , some how fit into th e NSM equation of ident ity qu est , every day em bedde dnes s, and bro ad stru ctural chang e. Wh en seen in th e contex t of th e crisis of credibilit y of th e m ain tr adition al political actor s, the em ergen ce of xenopho bic mo vem ent s pr esents sim ilarities w ith post -World War I Europ e. In the past , NSM s have been discuss ed as a creative forc e of change , signif ying dir ections for cultural and so cial inno vation . Yet , th ere may be a dark er sid e th at parallel s th e dang ers pres ent ed by collectiv e identiti es in th e mold of tot alitari an mo vem ents of th e past. Surel y th e rise of nation alist mo vem ents and ethn ic hatr ed also go to th e cor e of ho w so cial actors think about themselv es. Unlik e m ass society th eor y, th e NSMs repr esent alternati ve channels for particip ation in public life (see Hack s, Ch apter 14). If this is so , th e revival of violen t racist gr oups in the sam e Europ ean countr ies that give birth to Nazi sm and fascis m would confirm th e Mar xist dictum , " H istory rep eats itself : th e first tim e as a tragedy , the second as far ce. "
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35 Taylor, Verta . 1989. " Social Movem ent Continuit y: The Wom en' s Movem ent in Abeyance . " Am erican Sociological Revi ew 54, 5:761-75 . Taylor , Verta, and Nancy Whittier. 1992. "Collective Identit y in Social Movement Communities : Lesbian Feminist Mobilization ." In Frontiers in So cial Movement Th eory, edited by Aldon D. Morris and Carol McClur g Muell er, pp . 104-29 . New Haven : Yale Univer sity Press . Thompson, E. P. 1963. The Makin g of the Engli sh Working Cla ss. New York: Pantheon Books. Touraine, Alain . 1981. The UJice and the Eye: An Analy sis of Social Movements. New York: Cambridge University Pr ess. Trotsky, Leon . 1957. The Hi story of the Ru ssian Revolution . Translated by Max Eastman . Vols. 1-3 . Ann Arbor : University of Michigan Pr ess. Turner, John C. 1985. " Social Categorization and the Self-Con cept: A SocialCognitive Theory of Group Behavior. In Advances in Group Processes, edit ed by E. J. Lawler, pp. 77-122 . Greenwich , Conn. : JAI Press . Turner , John C , with Michael A. Hogg , Penelope J. Oakes, Steph en D. Reicher, and Margaret S. Wetherell. 1987. Rediscovering the Social Group : A SelfCategorization Theory . New York: Basil Blackwell . Turner, Ralph H . 1969. "The Theme of Contemporary Social Movement s." British Journal of Sociology 20:390-405 . Whalen , Jack , and Richard Flacks. 1984. " Echoes of Rebellion: The Liberated Generation Grows Up. " Journal of Political and Military Sociology 12:61-78. --. 1989. Beyond the Barricades: The Sixtie s G eneration Grow s Up . Philadelphia : Temple University Press. Whittier, Nancy. 1993. "Feminists in the 'Post-Feminist' Age: Collectiv e Identity and the Persistence of the Women's Movement. " Unpublished paper. Wood, James L. 1974. The Sources of American Stud ent Activism . Lexington, Mass.: Lexington Books , Heath . Zald, Mayer N ., and Roberta Ash. 1966. "Social Movement Organizations : Growth, Decay, and Change. " Social Forces 44 (March): 327-41 . Zurcher , Louis A., Jr. , and R. George Kirkpatrick. 1976. Citi zens for Decency : Antipornography Crusades as Statu s Defense . Austin : University of Texas Press.
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Chapter 2
Cu Iture and Social Movements Doug McAdam
Over the past two decades, the study of social movements has been among the most productive and intellectually lively subfields within sociology. But, as with all emergent paradigms , the recent renaissance in social movement studies has highlighted certain aspects of the phenomenon while ignoring others. Specifically, the dominance , within the United States, of the " resour ce mobilization" and "political process" perspectives has privileged the political, organizational, and network/structural aspects of social movements while giving the more cultural or ideational dimensions of collective action short shrift . From a sociology of knowledge perspective, the recent ignorance of the more cultural aspects of social movements is the result of the rejection of the classical collective behavior paradigm, which emphasized the role of shared beliefs and identities but whose hints of irrationality and pathology (Klapp 1969; Lang and Lang 1961; Smelser 1962) made it unattractive to a new generation of scholars whose own experiences led them to view social movements as a form of rational political action . Whatever the reason, the absence of any real emphasis on ideas, ideology , or identity has created, within the United States, a strong "rationalist" and "structural" bias in the current literature on social movements. At the most macro level of analysis, social movements are seen to emerge in response to the "expansion in political opportunities " that grant formal social movement organizations (SMOs) and movement entrepreneurs the opportunity to engage in successful "resource mobilization." At the micro level, individuals are drawn into participation not by the force of the ideas or even individual attitudes but as the result of their embeddedness in associational networks that render them "structurally available" for protest ac-
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nvit y . Until recently, " culture, " in all of its manif estation s, was rarely invoked by Am erican scholars as a forc e in the eme rge nce and development of social movem ents . The ren ewed int erest in the topic has been spurred , in part , by the Europ ean " new social mov ement" persp ectiv e, which has mad e cultural and cog nitive factors central to the study of social mo vem ents (Brand 1990; Eyerman and Jamison 1991; Melucci 1985,1989). This chapter broadens the discours e among mov em ent schol ars by focusing on some of the links betw een culture and social movements . Specificall y, I address thre e broad topic s: the cultur al roots of social movements , the em ergence and development of distinctive " m ovem ent cultur es, " and th e cultural con sequ enc es of social movements .
The Cultural Roots of Social Movements
The "structu ral bias " in mov ement studi es is most evident in recent American work on th e emergence of social movements and revolutions . With but a few exceptions, recent theorizing on the question has located the roots of social movement s in som e set of political , econ om ic, or organizational factors. Whil e acknowledging the importance of such factors, I add cultural factors and processes to this list as important constraints or facilitators of collective action . Th ere are thre e distinct ways in which culture can be said to facilitate move ment emergenc e. Framingas on Act of CulturalAppropriation
Drawing on the work of Erving Goffman (1974), David Snow and various of his colleagues (Snow et al. 1986; Snow and Benford 1988) have develop ed the concept of " frame alignment processes " to describe th e efforts by which organizers seek to join the cognitive orientations of individuals with thos e of social movement organizations . The task is to propound a view of the world that both legitimat es and motivates prot est activity. Th e success of such efforts is determin ed , in part , by th e cultural resonance of th e frames advanc ed by organiz ers . In thi s sense, framing efforts can be thought of as acts of cultural appro -
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priation , with mov em ent lead er s seeking to tap highly resonant ideation al str ains in main stream so ciet y (or in a particular targ et subcultur e) as a way of galvanizin g activism. Much has been mad e of Martin Luth er Kin g , Jr.'s use of Gandhian non viol enc e as an id eolo gic al corn erston e of th e civil rights mov ement . In fact, King 's int erest in and advocacy of Gandhi 's phil osoph y was lar gely irrel evant to th e rapid em ergence and spr ead of th e civil right s strug gle. Far m ore signifi cant was King 's appropriation and po werful evocati on of highl y resonant cultural th em es, not only in the southe rn black Baptist tr adition, but in American political culture mor e generall y . Co nsider King 's " I have a Dr eam " speec h. Ju xt ap osing th e po etr y of the scriptura l proph ets- " I have a dr eam th at every valley shall be exalted, every hill and mount ain shall be m ade low " -with the lyric s of patr iotic anthe m s-" T his w ill be th e day w he n all of Go d's childr en will be able to sing with new m eanin g, ' My countr y 'tis of th ee, sweet land of libert y, of th ee 1 sing' " - King's orat ion reappr opriat ed th at classic str and of th e Am erican tr adit ion th at und erst and s th e tru e m eanin g of freed om to lie in th e affirmatio n of responsibilit y for unitin g all of th e div erse m emb ers o f society int o a just social ord er. (Bellah et al. 1985, 249)
Inde ed , this was Kin g 's uniqu e gen ius: to fram e civil ri ght s activity in a way th at reson ated not only with th e cultur e of th e oppres sed but with th e culture of th e oppresso r as well. King successfully m obiliz ed Southe rn black s w hile he gene rated consid erabl e sympathy and support for th e mov em ent amo n g w hi tes as well. Th e student democrac y mo vem ent in Beijin g in the spring of 1989 also dr ew on deeply reson ant cultur al th em es and tr adition s in the early days of th e strug gle. Th e initial m ar ch on April 27 that stimulat ed the mov em ent was ostensibly org aniz ed to mark and mourn th e death of form er pr emier Yu Yaobang . Such publi c displays of respect and veneration for depart ed leaders (and th e dead mor e generall y) have deep roots in C hinese politic al cultur e. By framing the mar ch as an act of public mournin g , mov em ent organiz ers appropriat ed long-standin g cultural symbols in th e service of th e mov em ent. This help s explain both th e larg e size of the initial march and th e surprising restr aint exe rci sed by Communist part y leaders in dealing w ith th e stud ents . Th e cultural legitim acy that attach ed to th e ma rch encour aged parti cip ation w hil e constraining official efforts at social con tro l. Copyrighted Material
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ExpandingCulturalOpportunities as a Stimulus to Action
Scholars such as Charles Tilly (1978), Sidney Tarrow (1994), Doug McAdam (1982), Theda Skocpol (1979), Jack Goldstone (1991), Hanspeter Kriesi (1990), and Herbert Kitschelt (1986), among others, have established the notion that social movements/revolutions often emerge in response to an ex pansion in the "political opportunities" available to a particular chall enging group . The argument is that movements are less th e product of meso level mobilization efforts than they are th e beneficiari es of the increasing political vulnerability or receptivity of their opponents or of the political and economic system as a whole. Although I generally concur with this view , I think it betrays a "structural" or "objectivist" bias in many of its specific formulations . It is extremely hard to separate these objective shifts in political opportunities from the subjective processes of social construction and collective attribution that render them meaningful. In other words, "expanding political opportunities . .. do not, in any simple sense, produce a social movement . .. . [Instead] they only offer insurgents a certain objective 'stru ctur al potential' for collective political action. Mediating between opportunity and action are people and the subjective meanings they attach to their situations" (McAdam 1982, 48) . The causal importance of expanding political opportunities , then, is inseparable from the collective definitional processes by which the meaning of these shifts is assigned and disseminated. Given this linkage, the movement analyst has two tasks: accounting for the structural factors that have objectively strengthened the challenger's hand, and analyzing the processes by which the meaning and attributed significance of shifting political conditions is assessed. This latter task prompts speculation about th e existence and significance of expanding cultural opportunities in the emergence of collective action . By " expandin g cultural opportunities" we have in mind specific events or processes that are likely to stimulate the kind of collective framing efforts mentioned above. A close reading of the historical literature on social movements suggests that framing efforts may be set in motion by at least four distinct types of expanding cultural opportunities . Ideologicalor Cultural Contradictions . The
type of cultural opportunity
first involves any event or set of events
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40 that dramatiz e a glaring contradicti on between a hi ghly resonant cultural valu e and conv entional social practices . Many su ch exam ples can be found in th e social mov em ent lit eratur e. For example, the contrast between th e egalitarian rh etoric an d the sexi st practices of the early Am erican abolitionist movement have long been regard ed as an important impetus in th e de velopm ent of th e nineteenth-c entury wom en 's rights mo vem ent. As Sara Evans (1980) and others have argued , much the sam e thing happ ened in regard to the wom en 's liberati on mov em ent of th e 1960s and 1970s. In this case, it was the egalitarian rhetori c and forms of sexual discrimination evident within th e civil rights mov em ent and the whit e student Left that fueled the development of a radical feminist " fram e" legitim ating protest activit y . On e final exam ple of the facilitating effect of this kind of ideological or cultur al contradiction can be seen in regard to the thre aten ed 1940 m arch on Washington . A . Philip Randolph , the president of the Am erican Association of Sleepin g Car Port ers , organiz ed a mass march on Washin gton to prot est discriminator y labor practi ces in th e defense indu stri es. Th e app aren t spur to action in this case was th e glaring contradiction between Pr esident Franklin D. Roosevelt 's gro win g anti-Nazi rhet oric- especiall y its "master race" philosophy-and his own tacti c acceptance of racial discrimination at home (Fishel an d Quarl es 1970; Sitkoff 1978). Suddenly Imposed Grievances. Anoth er cognitive stimulu s to framing process es comes from what Edward Walsh (1981) has called " suddenly impos ed grievanc es." Th e term describ es thos e dram atic , highly publicized , and gen erall y une xpect ed events - human-mad e disasters, major court decisions, official violence-that increase public awar en ess of and opposition to previously accept ed societal conditions . As an ex am ple of this proc ess, Walsh (1981) cites and anal yzes th e gen eration of anti-nuclear power activity in the area of Thr ee Mil e Island follo win g a 1979 accident th ere . Bert Useern 's (1980) an alysis of a m ovem ent in Boston during th e mid 1970s aimed at stoppin g th e busin g of school childr en to achiev e school desegr egation leaves littl e doubt that the resistance was set in motion by a highl y publi cized court order mandatin g busing. H arvey Molotch (1970) documents a similar rise in prot est activit y among resid ents of Santa Barbara, California , in th e wake of a major oil spill that took place in 1969.
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The initial verdict in the Rodney King beating case (Los Angeles , California, April 1992) is as another example of a highly dramatic event spurring protest activity . Dramatizations of System Vulnerability.Another "cultural " or "cognitive opportunity" that may stimulate increased framing and other mobilization efforts are those events or processes that highlight the vulnerability of one's political oppo nents. For example, the unanimous 1954 U .S. Supreme Court decision in Brown v . Board of Education declaring racially segregated schools unconstitutional convinced many in the black community of the political and legal vulnerability of the southern system of segregation and , in turn, accelerated the pace of civil rights organizing nationwide (Gerber 1962; McAdam 1982). The collapse of Communist party rule in Poland and the unwillingness of Mikhail Gorbachev to use military force to suppress the Solidarity movement was widely interpreted throughout Eastern Europe as a sign that all Communist regimes in the region were in trouble. This is not to deny the deep structural roots of the crisis in the Soviet Union (see Tarrow 1991), but a crisis needs to be transparent if it is to serve as a cue for collective action. The end of communist rule in Poland served as just such a cue. This pivotal event led, in turn, to increased framing and other mobilization activities by reformers in all of the Warsaw Pact countries. Finally, the ineffectual 1991 coup attempt by Soviet hardliners made it clear just how weak and out of touch the once formidable Communist party bosses had become, thus emboldening citizens from across the USSR to step up demands for political independence and economic reform . The Availabilityof Moster Frames. Finally, one other cultural opportunity has the potential to set in motion framing efforts and mobilization more generally. This is the availability of what David Snow and Robert Benford (1988) term "master protest frames" legitimating collective action . Movement scholars continue to err in viewing social movements as discrete social phenomena. Instead, movements tend to cluster in time and space precisely because they are not independent of one another (McAdam and Rucht 1993). To illustrate, the major movements of the 1960s in the United States were not so much independent entities Copyrighted Material
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42 as offshoots of a singl e broad activist communit y with its roots squarely in the civil right s mov em ent (McAd am 1988). One of th e things that clearly linked the variou s stru ggles during this p eriod was th e existence of a " m aster prote st frame " that was appropriated by each succ eeding in sur gent group . Th e sour ce of this fram e was the civil rights movement , but in short ord er th e other major mov em ents of the period used th e ideologi cal understandings and cultural symbol s of the black stru ggle as th e ideational basis for their efforts as well. Ev ans (1980) has docum ent ed th e idealogicallculturallinks betw een th e women 's lib eration and civil rights mov ements , whil e D oug McAdam (1988) has done th e sam e for the black struggle an d the antiwar and student mov ements . The ideologic al imprint of th e civil rights m ovem ent is also clear in regard to th e gay rights, Am eri can Indi an , farm work er s, and other leftist mo vements of th e period. All of th ese groups, drawing heavily upon the " civil rights mast er frame, " came to defin e themselves as victims of discrimination and, as such , deservin g of expanded rights and prot ection under th e law. Th ey m app ed th eir und erstandings of their own situ ations on th e gen eral fram ework first put forward by civil rights activist s. The same point applies w ith equal force to oth er periods of heightened movem ent activity . Th e rash of studen t mo vem ents that flourish ed around the globe (for exampl e, in Spain , Mexico , Japan , France , Italy , Germany , and th e United States) in 1968 were clearly attuned to and influenc ed by one anoth er , resulting in the development and diffusion of a " stu den t left mast er frame " (Ca ute 1988; Katsiaficas 1987). In similar fashion , the success of Solid arit y in fmall y br eakin g the Communist party 's fort y-four-y ear monopol y on power in Poland encour aged other East ern Europ ean dissid ent s to adopt prodemocracy frames in their own countri es. Th e sam e proc ess can be seen in th e former Soviet Union , with the succe ss of ind ependence movements in the Baltic states en courag in g th e rise of ideologically similar ethnic nationalist mov ements in man y of the other former Soviet republics. The more general theor etical point is th at suc cessful framin g efforts are almost certain to inspir e other group s to reinterpret their situation in light of th e available master fr am e an d to mobilize based on th eir new und erstanding of th emselv es and th e world around them . Thu s, the pres en ce of such a fram e constitutes ye t Copyrighted Material
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anoth er cultural or id eological resource that facilit ates m ovem ent emergenc e. The Role of Long-Standing Activist Subcultures inMovement Emergence
Mov ement scholars h ave focu sed a gr eat deal of attention on th e role of exi sting organization s or associational network s in th e eme rgen ce of prot est activity (Freem an 1973; Gould 1991; McAdam 1982, 1986; Morris 1984; Ob ersch all 1973; Rosenthal et al. 1985) . This lit eratur e betrays th e " structural bias " of th e field as a whol e. Virtuall y all of th ese auth ors attribu te the importance of prior organization to th e concr ete or ganizational resourc es, that is, lead ers, communi cation network s, and m eeting places, that such group s pro vid e. Est abli shed organizations, ho w ever, are th e sourc e of cultural resources as well . In other words, what is too often overlooked in structural accounts of movement emerg en ce is th e ex tent to which thes e establishe d organizations/n etworks are themselv es embedded in long -standing activist subcultures capabl e of sustaining th e ideational traditions ne eded to revitaliz e activism following a period of movement dormancy . These enduring activist sub cultures function as repositories of cultural materials into w hich succ eeding generations of activists can dip to fashion ideolo gically similar, but chronologically separate , movements . To use Ann Swidl er 's (1986) term , th ese subcultur es repre sent th e specialized "tool kits " of enduring activist traditions . The pr esenc e of th ese enduring cultural repertoires fre es new generations of would-be activists from the nec essity of constructing new mov ement fram es from whol e cloth . Inst ead, most new movements rest on th e ideation al and broad er cultural base of ideologically similar past struggl es. To assert such continuity is to take issue w ith certain new social movement theorists (Melucci 1989) who hold that th e movements of the 1960s and 1970s represented a total break with past activism . That these mo vements extended and modified exi sting activist traditions is undeniabl e. At the same time, it seems clear that they were initially rooted in the very traditions they subsequentl y transcend ed. E xamples of these kinds of cross -gen eration al continuities in mov ement activity are numerou s. In all west ern industrial nations , for exampl e, the tradition of labor activism has serv ed as a broad cultural templat e available Copyrighted Material
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to succeeding gene ratio ns of worke rs as a resour ce su pporting m obili zation . In sim ilar fashio n, several gene ra tio ns of Am eric an peace m ovem ent s have dr awn on a rich p a ci.fi~t tr aditi on , .as ~ur tur ed and sustaine d by a com bin ation of religiou s den ominat ion s (for exam ple, Qu aker s and Unitari an s) and secular-hum an ist organizations (for exam ple, Am erican Friends Ser vic e Com~i~tee and Fellow ship of Reconcili ation) . At th e o the r end o f th e politic al spectru m, an endur ing tr adition of an tiim m ig rant an d w hi te suprema cist activism has served as a bro ad " to ol ki t" enc ouragi ng Am eric an righ t- win g m ovem ent s over many gene ratio ns . Fin ally, in Spain, lon g- standin g separatist tr aditi on s in both Ca talonia and th e Basqu e region have served as th e wellspr ing from w hic h several cycles of nation alist m ovem ent s have flowed (see John ston , C hapter 11). Alth ou gh th e rol e of such lon g-st anding activist subcultures has received littl e att enti on in studi es of mov em ent eme rgence, th eir impr int seem s app arent . In his defin itiv e study of th e stru ctura l ori gin s of th e Am eri can civil right s m ovem ent , Ald on Mor ris (1984) docum ent s th e critical contribution m ad e by w hat h e term s " move ment halfw ay hou ses." Th ese were suc h establishe d orga nizatio ns as the H ighl and er Folk School and the Fellowship of Reconciliation th at , despite in tense repr ession , su staine d earlier tr adition s of civil rights activism . Th ey were available to play th e ro le of org aniza tional and cultura l " mi dw ives" in th e " birth" of th e new mo vem ent . Leila Rupp and Verta Taylor (1987) provid e a rich , detailed portrait of th e sur vival of ano ther en dur ing activis t subc ulture th at of Am eri can femini sm-dur in g th e long hi atu s between th e decline of th e suffrage m ovem ent an d th e eme rge nce of th e contempor ary wo me n' s m ovem ent . Lik e Morri s, Rup p an d Taylor focus on th e cruc ial role of or ganization s an d specific in di vidu als in nurtu rin g and sust ainin g an activist subc ulture durin g a period of m ovem ent dorm an cy. Th e result was th e surviva l of a set of ideas, or ganiz ational pra ctices, and activist tradit ion s th at served as one of th e important "tool kits " shapin g th e cultur al con tour s of mod ern Am er ican femini sm . Enr iqu e Larafia (see C ha pter 9) offers anoth er exa mp le of cultur al con tin uity in activ ist tradition s. He docum ent s th e historical persisten ce of Mar xist discours e an d image s of strugg le in one of th e two w ings of th e Spani sh student move me n t. Howard Kim Copyrighted Material
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meldorf's (1989) comparative study of unionism among East and West Coast dockworkers has continued to shape the ideology and practices of the union to the present . Finally, the imprint oflongstanding traditions of student activism are evident on a number of American college or university campuses . For example, one of the best predictors of which colleges and universities contributed student volunteers to the 1964 Mississippi Freedom Summer project was the presence of an active socialist or communist student organization on campus during the 1930s . It should come as no surprise that Berkel ey and other colleges such as Antioch and Oberlin sent large conting ents of volunteers to Mississippi in 1964. In doing so they wer e merely drawing on and perpetuating the localized activist subcultures that have long existed on and around those campuses . Movement emergence , then , is never simply the result of some fortuitous combination of macropolitical opportunities and meso level organizational structures. While important , these factors only afford insurgents a certain structural potential for successful protest activity . Mediating between opportunities and concrete mobilization efforts are the shared meanings people bring to their lives . These meanings, in turn, are expected to be shaped by the cultural resources and opportunities mentioned above. The Emergence and Development of a Movement Culture
An interest in the relationship between social movements and culture clearly transcends the emergent phase of collective action. Indeed , that relationship becomes more complicated and potentially more interesting as the movement develops because the direction of causal influence in the relationship can run both ways. Not only will the movement bear the imprint of the broader cultural context(s) in which it is embedded but insurgents are also likely to develop a distinctive movement culture capable of reshaping the broader cultural contours of mainstream society . That such cultures do exist is intuitively clear to anyone who has participated in any but the most ephemeral of movements . Social movements tend to become worlds unto themselv es that are characterized by distinctive ideologies , collective identities , behavCopyrighted Material
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46 ioral routine s, and mat erial cultur es. The m or e thorou gh going th e goal s of th e mo vement are, the m or e likely it is th at a mov em ent cultur e w ill develop . This is not sur prisin g. H aving dared to challenge a particular aspe ct of mainstr eam society , ther e is impli cit pr essur e on insur gent s to eng age in a kind of so cial eng inee rin g to suggest rem edies to th e probl em . Th e cha llen ge is to actualize within th e movem ent th e kind of social arra n geme n ts deem ed pref erable to th ose th e gro up is opp osing . Again , th e mor e thorou ghg oin g th e change s pr op osed , th e m or e th e tend ency to con ceive of th e m ovem ent as an oppositio nal su bcu lture - a kind of idealized communit y em bo dy ing the m ovem en t' s alterna tive vision of social life. Mo vem ent culture s are not static ove r time . H avin g ope ned up th e qu estion of th e restru cturin g of social arra nge me n ts, th ere is no guara n tee th at insur gent s w ill confine th eir att en tion to the specific issues or institution s origina lly tar geted. When thi s happens, mo vem ents can take on th e cha racter o f h oth ouses of cultur al inno vation . An ythin g an d every thing is op en to crit ical scrutin y. C hange becom es th e order of th e day . At th e m om ent , we lack any real th eor etical or em pirical und erst andin g of th e proc esses th at sha pe th e on goin g developm ent of distin ctive mo vem ent culture s, an d suc h an und er stan din g is beyond th e scope of thi s chapt er. We can begin to move in th at dir ection by calling atten tion to two factor s th at wo uld seem to influence th e shifting character of a m ovem ent 's culture . Shiftsin the SocialLocus of the Movement
Social mo vem ent s typi cally develop w ithin particul ar social and generationa l strata or geo graphic lo cation s. Th e expectation is that th e culture of th e m ovem ent wi ll, at least initiall y, reflect th ese social, gene rational, and geog raphic ori gins. Movements are hardl y th e prop ert y of th ose p opul ation seg m ent s who gave them life in th e first pl ace. On th e con tra ry, it is not uncommon for th e locu s of prot est activ ity to shi ft ove r th e life of a movem ent . As su ch shifts occ ur, we sho uld see a shif t in th e ideational and mat erial cultur e of th e m ovem ent th at reflects th e new class, region al, generation al, or o the r so cial loci of th e mov em ent . On e exa m ple of this pr ocess com es from Lynn Hunt 's (1984) definiti ve stud y, Politics, C ulture, and C lass in the French Revolution. Copyrighted Material
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47 Hunt's work documents the dramatic shift in the dominant ideology and material symbols of the Revolution that accompanied the change in the class composition of the movement between 1789 and 1795. Dominated at the outset by the emerging bourgeoisie , intellectuals, and even elements of the aristocracy, by 1794-1795 control of the Revolution had passed to artisans, shopkeepers, lawyers, and other less class-privileged elements of French society . An equally dramatic shift in the cultural content of a movement occurred in the American civil rights movement during the decade of the 1960s as a result of a fundamental shift in the class and geographic loci of protest activity. While the movement initially developed within the churches and other institutions of the Southern, urban, black middle class, by the late 1960s its "home" had shifted to the urban ghettos of a poorer and more secular Northern black community. Partly in response to this shift, the ideational and material culture of the movement became less religious in nature, more explicitly political, and more aggressively focused on the assertion of a shared and distinctive "cultural nationalism" among black Americans. This is not to say that these shifts were solely the product of the geographic and social changes, but they clearly played a part in the broader cultural transformation that occurred during these years. Nancy Whittier (1993) provides a final example of the shifting cultural content of a movement in her analysis of generational replacement in the contemporary women's movement. Whittier argues persuasively that the very real differences in the cultural content and "tone " of the current movement have come about not because the pioneering feminists of the 1960s and 1970s have changed their collective identities but because new "activist cohorts" have entered the movement and brought distinctive cultural styles and identities to the struggle . PerceivedEffectivenessofthe Movement'sDominantCore
Successful movements tend to be fairly heterogeneous, drawing adherents from a variety of subgroups within the population. These subgroups will vie for cultural as well as strategic political influence over the movement . At anyone time, however, it is usually possible to identify a particular segment within the movement as dominant. To the extent that this Copyrighted Material
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48 segme nt is w idely perceived as substan tively effective, its cultur al " package" w ill likely be pr ivileged as well. To th e ex ten t it is seen as ine ffective, strateg ic and organizational co nt ro l of the m ovem ent wi ll likely shift (often follow in g a peri od o f conflict) to some ot he r contender , th ereb y enhancing th e im por tance of its cultura l packa ge. Th e contem po rary women's movemen t in th e Un ited States affords a prim e exam ple of this ph enom enon . Init ially , th e m ovem ent coalesced aro un d radi cal fem inis ts wi th roo ts in both the Am erican " New Left " an d th e "co un tercu lture" of the 1960s. Eschewin g form al orga niza tion and lead ership , thi s w ing of th e m ovem ent pion eered th e use of conscio usness-rais ing gro ups as a form of activism. As effective as th ese gro ups were in dr awin g new recruit s into the mo vem ent , th ey came to be seen by m any as ineffectiv e vehi cles for pur suin g political an d econo m ic change (Freem an 1973). Partl y as a result of thi s critique, influ enc e over th e m ovem ent gradually shift ed to an olde r, m or e politi cally and or ganization ally convention al gro up of wome n w ho we re affiliated w ith th e Nati on al Or ganization for Wom en (NO W). Th e results of thi s shift were cultura l as mu ch as poli tical an d orga nization al, with th e countercultura l affinities of th e radi cal w ing gradually giving way to th e m or e conve ntio nal, pr ofession alized ethos of NOW loyalists.
The Cultural Consequences of Movements
In assessing th e imp act of socia l movem ent s, scho lars h ave ten ded to focus th eir attention narro wl y on politi cal or eco nomic conse quences . Given the central importan ce attache d to politi cal o r eco nom ic change by most social m ovem en ts, thi s is cer tain ly an im po rtan t top ic for system atic investigation . At th e same tim e, resist an ce to significant politic al or econom ic change is likel y to be suffic ien tly int ense as to mut e the mat erial effects of all but the most success ful m ovem ent s. As many comm ent ator s have not ed , even a m ovem ent as br oad based and widely suppo rted as th e Am er ican civ il rights m ovem ent failed to effect th e fund am ent al redi str ibuti on in political and eco nom ic power th at it ult im ately soug ht . T he opposi tion of th e polit ical and econo m ic establishme nt to such a redi stribuCopyrighted Material
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49 tion was simply too strong and too united to permit its occur rence. Given the entrenched political and economic opposition movements are likely to encounter, it is often true that their biggest impact is more cultural than narrowly political and economic. Although the topic has never been systematically studied , the examples of movement-based cultural change would seem to be numerous and extraordinarily diverse . What follows is an impressionistic survey of some of these many changes . It is not exhaustive; it merely reflects the richness and diversity of the forms of cultural innovation that may be the result of movement dynamics . As Ralph Turner reminds us (see Chapter 4), social movements have been the source of some of the most transformative ideologies or belief systems the world has ever known. We would do well to remember that Christianity, Islam, the Protestant Reformation, and subsequent sectarianism began life as the organizing frames for specific socia l movements. In many other cases, movements served as the principal vehicles by which belief systems, derived elsewhere, were modified and extended . So, for example, Marxist thought was profoundly shaped and deepened by figures associated with both the Russian (Lenin, Trotsky), Chinese (Mao Zedong, Jou Enlai, Lin Biao), and Cuban (Castro , Che Guevara) Revolutions. Through such figures as Voltaire and Rousseau in France and Thomas Paine and Thomas Jefferson in the American colonies , the French and American Revolutions had a similar im pact on Enlightenment thinking . Specific social movements can also give rise to what Snow and his colleagues (1986) call "master protest frames"; that is, ideological accounts legitimating protest activity that come to be shared by a variety of social movements. So, as noted earlier, the civil rights movement advanced a "civil rights" master frame that was, in turn, adopted by other movements as the ideological grounding for their efforts. These movements include the women's, gay rights, handicapped rights, and animal rights movements . The various revolutions in Eastern Europe have appropriated the "democracy frame" first advanced by the Solidarity movement in Poland. Social movements have also served historically as the source for new collective identities within society. For example, the iden Copyrighted Material
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titi es Christian and Muslim eme rged in th e contex t of social movem ents . So, too, did that of th e " wo rk ing class" via th e labor mov ement . In a more cont empor ar y vein , th e iden tity of "f emi nist " grew out of the mod ern wom en 's mo vem ent. Ind eed , man y propon ents of the new social m ovem ents perspe ctive (Ingl ehart 1981, 1990; Melucci 1980, 1989; Off e 1985; Tour aine 1981) argu e that what is " new" about th e new social mo vem ents-including th e women 's movement -is th e centr al importan ce th ey attach to th e creation of new collecti ve ident ities as a fund am ental goal of the movem ent. In fact , social m ovem en ts h ave alw ays serv ed this function , w hether it was an explicit go al of th e mo vem ent or an unintend ed consequen ce of stru gg le. Social movem ent s h ave also been a force for inn ovation in strateg ic action forms. Wh at began as eme rge n t and often illegal tactics in yesterday' s m ovement s oft en becom e legitimat e, institu tion alized form s of politics in later yea rs. Th e strike an d the sitin are two exampl es. Both tacti cs were pion eered in th e labor movement , but later came to be recogniz ed as legitimat e forms of action by various groups . Elisab eth Cl em ens (1993) argues that th e cont emporary importanc e of lobb ying owe s hi storicall y to its successful and legitimating use by wo me n activists in the period from 1880 to 1920. Throughout history , social m ovem ents have also function ed as a source of new material cultural items . Hunt' s (1984) cultural analysis of th e French Revolution m akes clear th e ex ten t to w hich popular symbols and the mat erial culture of Franc e we re transform ed during th e Revolution . Virtu ally all political revolutions usher in cultural revolutions as well. Th e Chin ese Revolution , for exam ple, set in motion a thoroughgoin g state effort to fashion a popular culture compatible with th e ideals of the mo vem ent . The same thing has occured more recentl y in Ir an , wi th th e Islamic Revolution ushering in a period of intens e anti-W est ern feeling leading to the whol esale rejection of West ern -st yle consum er goods and other cultural items. Ironicall y , th e revers e process is currently und erway in the Soviet Union , with th e popular rejection of th e Communist party en coura gin g a simult aneous process of Western -style cultura l liberaliz ation and ex perim en tation. Revolutions are not th e only forc e that exe rt a pow erful trans formative effect on the mat eri al cultur e of a soci ety . For example , th e 1964 Mississippi Freedom Summ er Proj ect gave early exp resCopyrighted Material
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sion to a number of specific cultural items that came to be associated with the 1960s counterculture (McAdam 1988). In general, as authors such as Morris Dickstein (1989) have shown, the counterculture and the movements of the 1960s had a profound effect on American popular culture. Dress and hairstyles, popular music, movies, dance, and theater were powerfully affected by the political turbulence of the era . The roots of the "drug culture" can also be found in the political and cultural movements of the 1960s. Language was affected; "black English" made inroads into popular English, and the feminist critique of the traditional vernacular prompted efforts to fashion more gender-neutral modes of expreSSIOn. Similar linguistic "insurgencies" are currently under way elsewhere . In the Canadian province of Quebec, French-speaking separatists affiliated with the Parti quebecois have succeeded in making French the official provincial language . In Catalonia, separatists continue to press for the same designation for Catalan, underscoring their resolve by painting over street signs in Castilian with the equivalent word or phrase in Catalan. To round out this survey, mention should be made of the effect of social movements on the culture and practices of mainstream institutions in society . In his thorough study of the impact of liberation theology on the Latin American Catholic church, Christian Smith (1991) provides a fascinating example of this process. Inspired in part by the spread of communist movements in the region, the liberation theology movement spawned a kind of revolution within the church that is still being waged today. In the United States, the movements of the 1960s have had a dramatic effect on the structure and curricular content of higher education in the United States. Structurally, the political turbulence of the era led to the establishment of African American, Native American, Hispanic, and women's studies programs on many college and university campuses . In addition, the heightened awareness of minorities spawned by the movements has resulted in far mor e curricular attention to minority groups in social science and humanities courses. The forms of cultural change that flow from social movements are many and varied, and we know little about which factors or characteristics of movements account for the extent of their cultural impact. As a first approach to the question, I would Copyrighted Material
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emphasiz e the role of four factors in m edi ating th e cultural cons equen ces of social mo vem ent s. Th ese factor s are: th e ex tensivene ss of the mov em ent 's goals , th e mov em ent' s suc cess in att aining those goals , the ext ent to whi ch th e mov em ent results in prolonged and m eaningful contact betw een two pr eviousl y segr egated groups, and th e extent of the mov em ent 's access to exis ting cultur al elites in society . Breadth of the Movement's Goals
All oth er thin gs bein g equal, th e more extensive its goals , th e mor e likel y th at a mo vem ent w ill be a forc e for cultural change . Given this understanding , it is not surprising th at all of the exam ples of cultural change menti oned in th e pr evious section are the pr odu cts of mo vem ent s w hose go als we re very bro ad. Revolutionar y movem ents h ave th e broadest goals; th ey seek nothing less than th e replacem ent of an exi sting political , econom ic, and soci al ord er. Accordingl y , of all typ es of movement s, revoluti ons typic ally have th e grea test p otenti al for stimulating significant cultural change. Giv en their fundam ental inter est in replacin g th e old regim e, insurgents will almost invariably seek to destro y th e cultur al exp ressions of the old order an d substitut e a new revolutionar y cultur e in its place (Gram sci 1971) . At the oth er end of th e revolution to reform continuum, mov em ents of the narrow reform variety typically exert little cultural force. For exam ple, the curr ent anti-drunk driving m ovem ent ha s but a few if any cultural , as oppos ed to legal or politi cal, implications . Its goals are simply so narrow and so specific as to rule out any broader cultural critique of American soci ety . The Degree of Success Achieved by the Movement History , as th e old saying go es, is writt en by th e winners. Th e sam e is tru e for all major forms of cultural expr ession . A second det ermin ant , th erefore , of th e cu ltur al impact of a mo vem ent is th e degr ee to w hi ch th e mo vem ent is successful politically . Following Mar x (1977) , it would seem to be the case that cultur al dominance rests , to a larg e ex tent , on a firm political and econom ic base. Accordingl y , I hypoth esize that the cultural impa ct of a mo vem ent w ill be com me n sur ate w ith the sub stantiv e political an d econom ic su ccess it achi eves. A gain, this is most eviden t in th e case of su ccessful revolution s, w he rein the Copyrighted Material
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victors move to eradicate the cultural, as well as political, vestiges of the old regime and to popularize cultural forms expressive of the new revolutionary order. At the other extrem e, movements that fail to achieve any political leverage typicall y leave few cultural traces behind. Contactbetween Previously SegregatedGroups Those movements that have been especially important as sources of cultural innovation would seem to be those that resulted in meaningful , that is, egalitarian , contact between previously segregated social strata. The significance of this kind of contact-the interaction between what Harrison White (1991) calls two "value streams" -is its potential to produce a new cultural hybrid based on the two subcultures present in the movement. Movements of this type have been among the most important in human history. The early Christian movement represented a unique cultural hybrid based on a merger of a rural ascetic Jewish tradition with that of urban Hellenized Jews and Romans throughout the eastern Mediterranean. The Indian independence movement facilitated unprecedented contact between the untouchables and the most privileged Indian castes . The result was not simply political success but a period of unusual cultural ferment as well . Finally, for a brief period of time , the American civil rights movement encouraged egalitarian contact between black civil rights activists and the white student left . In large measure , the roots of the 1960s counterculture are found in the distinctive cultural hybrid that grew out of this contact (McAdam 1988). Tiesto EstablishedCulturalElites The final factor that can be exp ected to shape the broader cultural impact of a movement is the extent to which it is linked to established cultural elites in society. One of the commonplace observations concerning the cultural ferment of the 1960s was that it represented "culture from the bottom up ." Instead of cultural innovation flowing , as it normally does , from an established cultural elite downward through society, it seemed to emanate from groups whose impact on mainstream culture is ordinarily quit e small. What this observation misses is the fact that the groups in question had unusually strong ties to established Copyrighted Material
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cultural elites, thus granting th em mor e access to th e means of cultural production than they o rdin arily wo uld have had. The ties forg ed in th e early days of th e mo vem ent between civ il rights activist s and segments of th e North ern intell ectual and cu ltural elite afforded blacks incr eased opportuniti es for cultural influ ence. Th e white stud ent left, dominated as it was by middl e- and upp ermiddl e-class youth, enjoy ed considerable access to th e mean s of cultural expression via th eir parents and othe r influ enti al adult s to w hom th ey were dir ectly or indir ectly link ed . Gene rally, thos e mo vem ents that are eithe r ro ot ed in cultur ally pri vileged classes or that are able to forg e such links are lik ely to h ave a greater imp act on th e cultura l contour s of main str eam so ciety than thos e m ovem ents th at rem ain fundam ent ally isol ated from th e estab lished m ean s of cultural producti on . Conclusion
Wh at I offer here is th e m ost prelimin ary statem ent of th e relation ship bet ween cultur e and social m ovem ents . Th e topi c is compl ex and multif aceted. Th ese are the beginnin gs of w ha t I hop e w ill be an ongoin g discour se on th e subject by both m ovem ent schol ars an d cultural analysts. Onl y by encourag in g such a discours e can we hope to mo ve toward a full er und er standin g of thi s relationship and m ove beyond th e curr ent stru ctur al and ration alist biases ev ident in the cont emporary movement literatur e. A cknow ledg ments: Thi s chapter was com pleted while I was a Fellow at th e Cen ter for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences. Parti al sup po rt for th e year at the Center was provid ed by the N ation al Science Foun dation (BNS -8700864) . I would also like to than k Di ck Flacks, Hank John ston , Enr iqu e Laraiia, Dieter Rucht , D avid Snow , and Sidn ey Tarrow for th eir ex tremely helpful com ments on various dr afts.
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56 Its Imp act on Th eir Mobili zation ," Paper pr esent ed at " Social M ovem ent s, Fram ing Pro cesses, and O ppo rtunity Struc tu res, " a con ference held at Wissenschaftszentrum , Berlin , Jul y . Lang, Kurt , and Gladys Lang . 1961. Collective Dyn amics. New York : C row ell. Larafia, Enriqu e. 1975. " A Study of Student Political Activism at the Uni versity of C alifornia , Berkel ey." Master' s thesis, Uni versit y of Ca lifornia, Sant a Barbara . McAdam , Dou g. 1982. Political Process and the D evelopment of Black Insurgency, 1930-1 970. Chicago: Uni versity of Chicago Pre ss. ___ . 1986. " Recruitm ent to Hi gh-Ri sk Activism : Th e Case of Freed om Sum mer. " A merican Sociological Review 92:64-90. _ _ _ . 1988. Freedom Summer. New York : Oxfo rd Uni versit y Press. McAdam , D ou g, and Dieter Rucht . 1993. " T he C ross - Na tio na l Di ffusion of Movem ent Ideas. " A rmals of the A merican Academy of Political and Social Science 527 (May): 56- 74. Mar x, Kar l. 1977. Selected Writings. Edited by D avid McLelland . Ox ford : Oxf ord Uni versity Pr ess. _ _ _ . 1979. Th e Essential Marx: Th e Non-Economic Writings. Ed ited and Translated by Saul K. Padover. N ew York: New Am erican Lib rary . Melucci, Albert o . 1980. " T he New Social Movem ent s: A Th eoreti cal Approach ." Social Science Inf ormation 19:199-22 6. - - - . 1985. " T he Sym bo lic C hallenge of Co ntem po rary Movem ent s." Social Research 52:789- 816. - - - . 1989. Nomads of the Present: Social Movements and Individual Needs in ContemporarySociety. Philadel phia : Templ e U niversity Pr ess. Mol otch , Harvey. 1970. " O il in Santa Barb ara and Power in Am eri ca." Sociological Inquiry 40: 131-41. Mor ris, Ald on . 1984. Th e Origins of the Civ il R ights Movement. New York : Free Pre ss. O berschall, Anthon y. 1973. Social Conflict and Social Movements. Englew ood C liffs, NJ : Pr entice-H all. Off e, C laus. 1985. " New Social Movem ent s: C halleng ing th e Boundari es of Institutional Politics." Social Research 52:817-68. Rosenth al, Naomi , Maryl Fingrutd , Mi chele Ethi er , Rob ert a K arant , and D avid McD on ald . 1985. " Social Movem ent s and Net wor k Ana lysis : A Case Stud y of Nin eteenth- Centur y Wom en 's Reform in New York State." A mericanJournalof Sociology 90:1022- 55. Rucht , Dieter. 1990. "Th e Strateg ies and Action Repert oires of New Movement s." In Challenging the Political Order: New Social and Political Movements in I#s tern Democracies, edited by Russell J. Da lton and Man fred Ku echler, pp. 156-75 . New York : O xford U niversity Pr ess. Rupp , Leila, and Verta Taylor. 1987 . Survival in the D oldrums: T he A merican Women's Rights Movement, 1945 to the 1960s. New York : Oxfo rd Uni versity Pre ss. Sale, Kirkp atri ck . 1973. S DS . New York : Rand om Hou se. Sitkoff, Harvard . 1J78. A New D eal fo r Blacks. New York : Oxfo rd Un iversity Pr ess.
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57 Skocpol , Thed a. 1979. St ates and So cial Re volutions. New York: Ca mbridge University Press. Smelser, Neil. 1962. Th eory of Coll ective B ehavior. New York : Free Pre ss. Smith , Christian . 1991. Th e Em ergence of Lib eration Th eology : Rad ical Religion and Social Mo vement Th eory. Chic ago : Uni versity of Chi cago Pr ess. Snow , David A., and Robert D. Benford . 1988. " Ideology , Frame Reson ance, and Participant Mobilization ." In From Stru cture to A ction: C omparing So cial Movement Research across C ultures, edited by Bert Klanderm ans, Hanspeter Kriesi , and Sidney Tarrow , pp . 197- 217. Vol. 1 of Int ernational Social M ovement Research. Greenwich , Conn . : JAI Pres s. Snow, David A., E. Burke Rochford, Jr., Steven K . Worden, and Rob ert D. Benf ord . 1986. " Frame Alignment Pro cesses, Micromobili zation, and Movement Participation . " A merican So ciological Revi ew 51:464- 81. Swidler , Ann . 1986. " Culture in Action : Symbol s and Strat egies." A merican Sociological Revi ew 51:273- 86. Tarrow , Sidney. 1989. D emocracy and Di sorder: Protest and Politics in Italy , 1965-19 75. Oxford : Clarendon Pre ss. --. 1991. " 'Aiming at a Movin g Targ et' : Social science and the Recent Rebellions in Eastern Europ e." Political Science and Politics 29:12-2 0. Tarrow , Sidney . 1994. Power in Movem ent: Social Mo vements, C ollective Actio n, and Mass Politics in the Modem Stat e. New York: Cambrid ge Uni versity Press. Tilly, Ch arles. 1978. From Mobili zation to Revolution. Reading, Mass.: AddisonWesley. Touraine, Alain . 1981. Th e (;Dice and the Ey e: An A nalys is of S ocial Mo vements. New York: Cambridg e Univ ersity Press . Useem, Bert . 1980. " Solidarity Model , Breakdown Model , and the Boston AntiBu sing Movement ." Am erican Sociological Review 45:357-69. Walsh, Edward J. 1981. " Resour ce Mobili zation and Citizen Prot est in Communities around Three Mile Island ." So cial Problems 29:1- 21. White, Harrison . 1991. " Values Come in Styles, Which Mate to Change." Paper presented at the interdisciplinary conferenc e "Toward a Scientific Analysis of Values, " Tucson , Arizona, February 1-4 , 1989. Whittier , Nan cy. 1993. "Feminists in the 'Post-Feminist ' Age: Collective Identit y and the Persisten ce of the Women 's Movem ent. " Unpubli shed paper.
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Chap ter 3
The Reflex ivity of Social Movements: Co llective Behavior and Mass Society T heo ry Revisited Joseph R. Gusfield
C oncepts and theories in the so cial sciences are mark ed by a distinctive thriftin ess . Few are was ted. Fashiona ble for a while , the y are criticiz ed, discarded , and then, sometime later , th ey are salvaged from the ash can of ideas and rev ived, often in new cont exts and with new po lish on th em . In this chap ter , I examin e some charac teristics of contempo rar y social movemen ts . In m y view , collective behavior and mass society th eories, partia lly discr edit ed in curr ent thinkin g about social mov ements, can be very useful in exam inin g certain mo vem ents and some aspects of m any othe rs. This is espec ially th e case in th e cont ext of recent thinkin g about the " new social mo vements ." I do not sugg est yet anoth er tot alizin g paradi gm th at seeks to destro y th e usefuln ess of all exis ting persp ecti ves in an effort to enter a claim to a monop olisti c ow ne rshi p of th e entire tur f of "socia l m ovement s." I have no th eor y for all season s. D efinitions of social m ovem ents and th eori es abo ut th em abo un d in sociolog y . Th e textb ooks are filled w ith th e n am es of theori es and theorists, each purportin g to pro vid e th e defmiti ve way of thinking about and of study ing th e subj ect m att er of the field . But definitions and th eori es, especi ally in thi s area, bear a relation to th e objects and hi stori cal co ntex ts th at elicit cur iosity and attention (Gusfield 1978). In part , argu me n ts abo ut differin g perspecti ves are reactions to th e different questions th at ana lysts are asking abo ut differ ent ph enom ena . In man y respects all of us are a littl e lik e the fam ed six blind Asian Indi an s in th e classic
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parable . Each places his hand on a different part of the elephant and each, as a consequence, describes a different kind of animal. Our arguments about theories are as much arguments about what is worth studying and in reference to what intellectual, social , or political problem as they are about the behavior of that which we study . The interest in social movements has been occasioned in gr eat degree by attention to reformist and dissident mobilization of partisans into organized attempts to change the institutional and political structure of a society. Studies oflabor movements, of political movements and ideologies , and of religious dissidence and sect arian development have abounded in Europe and in the United States . Much attention has been given to major ideological parti sanship , such as communism, fascism , liberalism, and socialism . Research has been fueled by the emergence of current events. The emergence of German fascism led to a generation occupied with the problem of the requisites for democracy and the decline of liberalism . The rise of student protest and civil violence in th e 1960s prompted a concern for the problem of the conditions of protest and riot (Gusfield 1978). It is not that social studies mirror historical events or that they are directed toward a particular resolution of political issues, rather, the development of historical actions poses probl ems of scholarly attention. Concern for understanding the roots of social violence became a major scholarly pursuit in the wake of the riots and demonstrations of the 1960s in the United States.' The emergence in the 1970s and 1980s of movements con cerned with such matters as the ecology of the planet, nuclear protest, gender equality , gay rights, animal rights, and new religions has seemed perplexing to old er schemes of understanding, which have been directed toward relatively organized collectivities. Current scholarship focuses on efforts to understand the conditions of em ergence , development , and disappearance of new social movements. The y have constituted an anomaly, a puzzle for earlier formulations and paradigms . In this sense, th ere has been a Kuhnian motion in which a normal scienc e has found it difficult to encompass new data in old theories (Kuhn 1962).
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60 Social Movements as Associations and as Meanings
Collective behavior and mass society theories are criticized for their failure to consider the importance of the mobilization of partisans into organized, collective action. Such action is posited essential to the emergence and effectiveness of movements (Oberschall 1973; Tilly 1978; McAdam 1982; Morris 1984). This criticism has been especially striking in the development of rational choice and resource mobilization approaches (Tilly 1978; McCarthy and Zald 1973). It has also been central to my own past criticism of mass society perspectives (Gusfield 1962). Collective behavior and mass society theories on one hand and resource mobilization theories on the other reflect two diverse images of the elephant we call social movements. The distinction has been nicely put by Alberto Melucci (1989, 17-20). He refers to collective behavior theories as "actors without action." He refers to resource mobilization theories as "actions without actors." I view these differences as those that emphasize movements as the emergence of new meanings and those that emphasize movements as collectively organized actions . The first places an emphasis on ideas; the second on organizations. A great deal of the study of social movements has been the study of people organized into associations. The National Organization for Women, the American Federation of Labor , the Hare Krishnas, or the Southern Christian Leadership Conference have been central in social movement analysis in the United States. So conceived, the study of a movement is preeminently the study of the actions and reactiona to associations, of people organized into a coordinated structure . The resources mobilization theory has emphasized this image and focused analysis on the strategy of mobilization and action as rational means for attaining fixed goals (McCarthy and Zald 1973,1977; Tilly 1978; Olson 1971). The collective behavior approach, as developed by Herbert Blumer and later by Ralph Turner and Lewis Killian, focused on the emergence and construction of new norms of social relationships and new meanings of social life (Blumer 1939; Turner and Killian 1987; Turner 1981). These new meanings emerged from
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processes in which people , in interaction with each oth er , develop new conceptions of justice and injustice, or morality and immorality, or the real and the fictitious . So conc eived , the subject matter of social movements is the appearance of new constructions of rights, of procedures , of norms, of beliefs . To speak of feminism or New Age movements is to plac e the stress of analysis on th e growing adoption of an idea, an identit y, a way of conc eivin g a situation. Associations and organizations are instan ces and em bodiments of meanings . Resource mobilization theorists critiqued this imager y. Th ey sought to bring the imag e of association from th e background into the light of the foreground. They emphasiz ed the importanc e of the mobilization of partisans or others into th e association al contexts without which the ideas would remain ineffective and unrealized. From the point of view of collective behavior theorists , what was important about a movement was its cons equ ences for change. For resourc e mobilization theorists , the movement had to be studied as a form of organizational behavior , that is, gathering and utilizing resourc es (McCarthy and Zald 1973, 1977; Jenkins 1983). Complementing the approach of the resourc e mobilization paradigm , the economic analysis of Mancur Olson and th e delineation of th e " free rid er " probl em has had a major influence on thinking about social mov ements (Olson 1971). Whether analysts agreed with it or not, Olson 's work focused attention on individual goals and rational considerations. It brought ut ilitarian considerations of costs and benefits into th e picture (Handler 1978) . In throwing the light of deductive economic logic on the inductiv e analyses of sociologists , it mad e the question of how and wh er e movements obtain resources a major question (Till y 1978). These highly warranted criticisms of collectiv e behavior th eory have led to an implicit deemphasis on ideas and changing meanings as pi votal to the und erstanding of many mov ements. Yet, a focus on organizational and associational eleme n ts are insufficient tools for und erstanding diffuse and oft en apolitical new social mov em ents. The recent mov ements that have piqu ed the interest and attention of many sociologists oft en have not display ed a clear relationship to utilitarian int erests , formed organiz ational agents , created com m unal sects , or em erged as attem pt s to alter existing institutions. What have com e to be kno wn as " new soci al Copyrighted Material
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62 m ovem ent s" are , in one or ano the r of these featur es, distingu ished from th e m odel of th e social mo vem ent as socio log ists have portrayed th em in th e past (Co hen 1985; Ed er 1985; Melucci 1985; Off e 1985). Oth ers , usin g different designati on s, have pres ent ed sim ilar conceptualizations stressing th e class or oth er structural an d cultur al characteristics o f contem p orary mov em ents (Gusfield 1979a; Turn er 1969) . It is imp ortant to clarif y th e distin ction between mo vem ents seen as associa tions and m ovem ent s seen as ideas o r meanin gs. Th e labor m ovem en t and its spec ific orga nizat ions are a mod el of associational unit s th at com prise a m ovem ent . Th ere are m emb ers and nonm emb ers, th ere are pr ogr am mat ically sta ted goa ls, an d an int ern al or ganization th at constitutes a hier arch y of office-holding leaders and a rank and file of m emb ers . In con tras t, w hi le th ere are organiz ation s that are part of th e wo me n's m ovem ent , th ey are only a part of th e diffu se goals, th e pro cess of mobilizin g partisans , th e locus of partisan ship. Being a m emb er or non m ember is not const itute d by a specific act but refers to typ es of id eational commitment. Th e action of th e m ovem ent h as its locu s in a multipli city of events , often th at of indivi duals. T he m ovem ent thri ves in every day in terac tion as well as in th e con text of collective action in instituti on s and toward th e state . Thi s typ ology of im ages is, like most , to o definiti ve. Mo st movem ents do both : take an association al form an d a form in the spr ead of new meanings . Some mov em ents involv e on e form to a greater ex tent than th e oth er. The civil rights mo vem ent , while emphasizin g collecti ve actio n of orga ni zation s, was also a m ovem ent th at change d both w hite and bla ck con ceptio ns of w hat is just and w hat right s are legitimate and pos sibl e. Its m ajor thrust was to ward th e reform of instituti ons , but it has sig nifica ntly affected racial identiti es and self-co nce ptions. Th e wo me n' s m ovem ent has its org ani zational side but is even mor e saliently a mo vem ent tow ard a chan ge in conc ept ion s of wom en an d fem ale right s relative to m en . As such , it exists both insid e and out side associationa I or organizational ph ases . Som e movem ents , notabl y the " hippie" mov ement or th e ph ysi cal fitn ess mo vem ent h ave no associational or org anizational exis tence at all. Yet , th ey manif est a sha red dir ection , a set of goa ls, and a sha re d conce ptio n of w hat is right and ju st as well as a pr ocedur e to obtain suc h goa ls. Copyrighted Material
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Utopianism of Social Movements: Back to the Future
Am I putting irreconcilables together? Why place the "hippie" movement, an unorganized phenomenon with little overt social conflict, in the same sociological bin as the abortion or antiabortion movement or th e civil rights movement? Certainly, for many purposes, they are radically different. Yet all three are perceived and talked about as "movements." (That they are so perceived is important to my analysis below.) Two considerations prompt this procedure . First, the quality of deliberateness, of a socially shared and conscious search for change has been the hallmark of phenomena labeled "social movements " (Gusfield 1970). The imagination of a future as a new way of behaving is common to both movements. It has distinguished the social movement, as an instrument for producing change, from those changes that occur without specific direction or plan. A changing birthrate is an example of unplanned, non deliberative change; it arises from the consequences of multiple acts without mutual awareness of others. The sources of change through movements implies the imagination of the future and the attempt to realize imagined states . It is an imagination that is perceived as shared; it recognizes a solidarity of partisans against a defined opposition . Even without organizational affiliations, peopl e can be "feminists," "women's libbers, " "hippies ," or "New Age freaks . " Imagining an alternative to the present is the utopian element in all social movements. Social movements become issues about change or the repelling of change in ways that are broader than individual , idiosyncratic choices. The movement produces a state of choice , of decision between what has been accepted and even enforced and what is now conceived as unacceptable . What may have been unthinkable is now thinkable and possible. Once set in motion, the " hippie" movement provided a socially shared and supported choice of life-style where such social support had not existed (Berger 1982). It is further distinguished from an individually chosen life-style where the knowledge and supportive example of others is absent or not influential. Even where action is not collective in the sense of organized and interactive , it nevertheless occurs with the knowledge that others are acting similarly . The Copyrighted Material
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64 " hippie" m ovem ent becam e su ch as in dividuals becam e aware, thro ug h readin g and thro ug h per son al acco un ts of othe rs, th at new sty les of livin g and new op po rtuni ties for actio n were eme rgmg . Second , w hile assoc iatio nal struc ture and cultura l mean ings are typ ological distin ctions , in pr actice, few m ovem ent s are entir ely one or th e othe r. Even if a move me n t lack s overt conflic t, it enge n ders contention about possibiliti es an d cho ice between alternatives. It repr esents social relations an d culture in possible tr ansition. Th e gay rights m ovem ent , w hic h h as its or ganiz ational mani festation , also exis ts in daily jud gm ent s th at pose new issues for hom osexu als and heterosexu als as to how the y are to id entif y th emsel ves and others. Self- con sciou s and del ib er ate ch oice is being m ade against a back gr ound of awarenes s of m ovem ent s. In this way th ey affect and influ enc e mor e than their m emb ers and oppo nents (Greenberg 1988; D'Emili o 1983) . Social Movements: Linear and Fluid
It is useful to m ake a distin ction between linear and fluid m ovem ent s (Gusfie ld 1981b). Linear mo vem ents pr esent th e im age of a straight line narr ative. Th e m ovem en t is a m eans tow ard an en d . Th e labor m ovem ent and indi vidu al labor union s are exa m ples . T he m ovem ent is per ceived as associa tiona l. What is studie d are careers. Th e effort to change br in gs th e m ovem ent int o overt con flict and extrainstitutionalized action . Being goa l- direc ted , it is assessed in terms of achieve me nt : Is it successf ul or n ot? H ave new pattern s of lab or-m anagement relation s been achieve d , or do th e old continu e? Th e arena of action is publi c. Th e m ovem ent seeks institution al or politic al change. Th e goa ls of th e mo vem ent are fixed, and th ey are crafted into pro gr amm atic action . Fluid movements are mu ch m or e difficult to spec ify. Since th ey impl y changes in how values and realitie s are conce ived , th ey occur outside or in addition to orga nized an d dir ected action . Th ey m ay involve cont ention with othe rs and w ith altern ative me aning s and con stru ctions . Yet, th ey are less likel y to be dr awn int o such collective actions as strik es, boycott s, pi ckets , or dem on str ation s. Th ey occur in th e m yri ad actions of every day life; in m icro and less publi c acts. It is h arder to iden tify success or failure. Th e Copyrighted Material
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women's movement and feminism occur in more than the organized efforts at constitutional amendment, equal rights legislation, and affirmative action . They also involve relationships and interac tions between men and women in micro and even intimate relations. The movement occurs in the multiplicity of events where a conception of women's rights and gender justice have become Issues. The distinction is important and has been conceptualized in different ways by different writers. There is much that is akin to , as well as different from, Richard Hacks 's distinction between history and everyday life. "History is constituted by activity which influences the conditions and terms of everyday life of a collectivity" (1988, 3). Yet, by no means is all of everyday life in history; much of it also creates and is history . My image here is rather that of the locus of action than the content of ideas or institutions. The institutional level of a movement is found in the efforts to change the rules and procedures of organizations and institutions . Often the state is either the target of change or the instrument through which the linear movement hopes to gain change . The animal rights movement or the antinuclear move ment are illustrations of linear movements where the effort is toward protest of current procedures at the levels of the state and such organizations as research laboratories. Changes in the institutional rules are the goals of the movement . The animal rights movement, for example, is an attempt to change procedures of medical research so that animals are no longer used for research purposes (Jaspers and Nelkin 1989) . The everyday or interactive level is more fluid . It may not even have an organizational base . The "hippie" movement is, perhaps, a model. Many health movements, such as holistic health care, are illustrative (Lowenberg 1989). Here there is no organizational base at all. The dissidence is not directed at changing the state or an institution. It is concerned with developing alternative styles of medicine. The movement is found in the set of ideas and the individual responses to those ideas as they affect life-styles . Such ideas are promoted through journals and through interaction. Holistic health movements will have little impact on the state, nor do they seek it . They are dissenting mov ements within medicine, but they do little to change professional medicine , develop new state laws , or protest current medical or hospital practices . Copyrighted Material
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66 They become arenas of action with little direct conflict with institutions . They are alternatives to professional medicine; they are not movements to change the medical institutions. In a sense, then bypass rather than change institutions . In what sense are fluid movements socially shared? I examine this aspect of analysis more carefully below in relation to mass society theories . For the present, what is involved is action taken with the recognition that it is not isolated and individualistic. "The train of thought and action in each individual is influenced more or less by the action of every other" (Park and Burgess 1967, 225). If we imagine the interaction between homosexual and heterosexual persons prior to the emergence of the gay rights movement, we posit a conventionalized set of norms to which people adhere or behave in idiosyncratic, individualistic forms . Once the movement is set in motion, behavior can no longer be conventionalized . Behaviors are undertaken with a recognition that alternatives are both possible and socially legitimated at some level. Homosexuals attempt to chang e discriminatory laws but also become open about their identity . Interaction between homosexuals and heterosexuals takes on a new tone . That interaction need not be direct or faceto-face . It may exist in the imaginative rehearsals of action that are fostered by vicarious experience, such as reading or watching news or dramatic presentations. What is happening is that the conventional norms of deviance that have guided both homosexuals and heterosexuals have come to be doubted and the ir acceptance made problematic. What was "tak en for granted" has become an Issue.
Microarenas and Macroarenas: Collective Behavior Theory Revisited
The distinction between public an d everyday arenas is significant in two senses. First , it indicates the importance of the linear-fluid distinction. Second, it indicates aspects of contemporar y societ y that accentuate the fluid elements of social movements . Here , aspects of collective behavior theory point to an important ch aracteristic of modern societies that social mov ement an alysis needs to consider. Both in Park and Burg ess (1967, chap . 15) and in Blumer (1939), the concept of collectiv e behavior is used as a contrast to Copyrighted Material
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social organization. Social organization is conv entionaliz ed and recurrent and provides institutionalized definitions of situations and expected behavior. Collective behavior is postulated as elementary social behavior -what occurs when social organization breaks down: " tho se phenom ena which exhibit in th e mo st obvious and elementary ways the processes by which soci eties are disintegrated into their constituent elements and the proc esses by which these elements are brought togeth er ag ain into new relations to form new organizations and new soci eties " (Park and Burgess 1970, 440-41; quoted in Turner 1981, 3). Where the Chicago School differ ed from the French sociolo gists, such as Gustav LeBon, w as in th eir assessment of th e potentialities of collective behavior for social organization . The French saw crowds through the model of irrati onal, blind , and savage actors (Barrows 1988) . The Chic ago School saw th em as th e source of new ideas and new social organizations, that is, as the basis for the emergence of new norms (Turner and Killian 1987) . Rather than viewing coll ective behavior as deviant , fearful , and anomalous, th e Chicago School saw it as the seedb ed of new insti tutions. Thus , they could conceive of social movements and fashion as part of the same area called " collective behavior." The image of society that the collective behaviorists shared with other sociologists was the classical conception of the integrated community versus the institutionalized society . It was in disorganization and "social unrest" (what today we might call "alienation") that movements emerged . Mov ements and th e emergence of new constructions of reality were contrasts to everyday , recurrent, and organized social life . The appearan ce of collective behavior was something to be explained. The sociologists' job was to study how new patterns of thought and new institutions emerged from elementary nonorganized actions. It is at this point that the collective behavior theorists need revision. The contrast between a normal, established pattern of routine and one of the creation or construction of new meanings and institutions is not adequate to the und erstanding of contempo rary societies. As a number of sociologists (Gusfield 1979a; Touraine 1977; Melucci 1989) have indicated, social movem ents , heterogeneity, and the presence of alternatives and choices is as much a pattern of contemporary life as is the model of social organization . Collective behavior is not an abnormal aspect of social life, it is a Copyrighted Material
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68 part of mod ern life. The general increases in income and discretionary time as well as the improvements in communication and transportation effect large areas of life; everyday life operates with varying degrees of freedom from the constraints of institutional organization . Richard Hacks (see Chapter 14) suggests that in the United States political parties are diminishing as centers of political power and innovation . Increasingly , he argues, social movements are supplanting established political parties as the focus of political activity . A rigid view of social organization as " social fact" is giving way to a view of social order as a product and subject of deliberate action by members in what Alain Touraine calls "the self-production of society ." The sociolog y of social mov ements cannot be separated from a repr esentation of society as a system of social forces competing for control of a cultural field .... This sociology of action ceases to believe that conduct must be a response to a situation, and claims rather than the situation is merel y th e changing and unstable result of relations betw een the actors who , through their social conflicts and via their cultural orientations, produce society. (Touraine 1981,30)
Social Movements as Sign and Symbol: The Reflexivity of Social Movements
Such critical considerations imply a revision of the collective behavior approach . Collective behavior is not an island in a sea of organized, conventional , and static human behavior. Social choices and social move ments are deeply embedded in daily interaction. Change, conflict , and reassessment are constant aspects of human societies . The collective behavior image of movements has reappeared in recent years in the attention given to movements as forms of framing (Snow and Benford 1988, 1992; Gamson 1992). Attention is given to the cognitive force of movements in defining events and in the social construction of objects toward which the movement is oriented. "Frame" is a vernacular term generally associated with paintings and photographs . "Frame" applied to everyday conduct IS a means of defining situations and objects. Except in Hindu meditation, experi ence is never "pure"; it is an experience of Copyrighted Material
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69 something . That something involves a definition or m eaning given to phenomena . "Definitions of a situation are built up in accordance with principles of organization which govern eventsat least social ones-and our subjective involvement in them : frame is the word I use to refer to such of these basic elements as I am able to identify" (Goffman 1974, 10-11; see also Bateson 1972). The concept of framing is a recognition that the m eaning of events may mak e for differing experiences of the "same " data. What is centrally attended to by one kind of interest or audience may not be attended to at all by another. As Erving Goffman suggests , "There is a sense in which what is play for the golfer is work for the caddy " (1974, 8). Social movements are involved in constructing the experien ce of partisans and would-be partisans through the ways in which they define and describe the arena of their int erest. The current abortion and anti-abortion movements are examples of how th e "same" actions are differently framed . Th e terms "pro-life " and "pro-choice" conjure up diff erent images of the abortion issue and relate it to different clusters of other issues and movements (Luker 1984). In this form , change has a significant ideational component . Awareness that norms and meanings are at issue and in contention is itself a step in the development of change. From this standpoint, social movements have a reflexive character. Th ey are something members of a society reflect on, think about, and are aware of. In attending to movem ents, members of a society recog nize that social rules are at issue (Gus field 1981b). Even where no association exists, as in the " hi ppie" movement," the recognition that a similarity of actions is occurring creates the movement. The very existence of a movement is itself a model of framing: It presents an area of life as at issue where it had previously been accepted as the norm . Alternatives now exist where choice and cont ention were absent. In one sense , a social movement exists when members of a society share the recognition that specific social rules are no longer taken for granted. In th e United States , the movem ent connected with laws against child abuse, both sexual and phys ical, has made the treatment of children by parents or other family members a matter of issue . What constitutes the "proper " behavior of parents to children has taken on a variety of n ew meanings . Att ention and notice is taken of behavior that in the past was eith er unnotic ed o r Copyrighted Material
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unmentioned . Degrees and content of affection and of physica l discip line have becom e matt ers to think about and to calculate. The relations betw een parent and child that were less open to state intervention are now legitimatel y reg ulated by law as well as by community opinion . What takes place in the organiz ed activities of many move ments is significant in its stat ed goals and as an indication of what has become pu blic accep tanc e or rejection of alternative possibi lities. Success is m easur ed no t only by victory or defeat in legislative, bargaining or legal arenas bu t also in how the movemen t has chang ed th e rules that are admissibl e in public arenas . As such a movement may support or undermine action at the interactiona l level, at the level of everyd ay life (Gusfield 1981b). The struggle over abortion in th e U nit ed States is symbolically a struggle about the place of women relati ve to men (Luker 1984) . Even local move ments , for examp le, efforts to ch an ge str eet names in som e cities from an existin g nam e to on e honoring Martin Luth er King , come to symbolize th e relativ e place of blacks in th e American social orde r. In a paradoxical sense , social movements occur when they are perceived to be occurring . Th e existen ce of or ganiz ed mo vements or the monitoring of even ts to sugg est a movement in action can create the recognition that some accept ed patt ern of social life is now in conten tion; it has becom e an issu e. Insofar as movements possess a fluid rath er tha n a linear quality, the question of membership is also fluid. Movemen ts can have cons equenc es and influ ence behavior without the kind of commit ment or ideologica l agreem ent that is often posited for th em . Frequently, we develop labels to identify memb ers, for example, "wom en' s libbers" or " peacenik s. " Movements may achieve stated, forma l goals with little effect on the every day behavior they seek to transform (Handler 1978), just as they may fail to achieve major political goals whil e deeply affecting everyday behavior. The Communication of Social Movements: Monitoring the Society
Mov ements exist along at least two dimen sions . On one level, they are events and proc esses seekin g, in a more or less delibera te fashion , to prod uce chang e in the po litica l or institutiona l characte r of the society . On
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another level, they are signs that a segment of social life is potentially under challenge and alternatives are possible (Melucci 1989). Something that may have been unthinkable is now thinkable. They have significance for those who engage in their activities, but they may have significance also for those who become aware of them. They symbolize the transformation of a fixed social organization into an issue . Whether they are perceived as "right " or "wrong," they are perceived as in flux and in contention . "Society" is not only the result of face-to -face interaction or of institutionally organized rules . It also exists as an object of observation and reflection (Gusfield 1979b) . In this fashion, it exists at a distance from most observers . To perceive it requires organization and specialized institutions and their functionaries . It has to be monitored and constructed in the process of being moni tored. It is difficult to overestimate the influence of major communications industries and widespread formal education in understanding contemporary social movements. While they monitor events they also construct a more general sense of how events coalesce. The "hippie" movement, for example, could not be perceived as a movement without an agency that framed a set of individual events as a movement. Mass media are significant sources of the process of framing movements; of interpreting individual events as movements of change (Snow et al. 1986) . Television news , for example, puts together the separately occurring events and frames them as a unity , as a movement of a particular kind. Whether movements are relatively organized or not , their depiction by the mass media influence both their understandings and those of less partisan observers in the audiences . In the process of constructing the reality of the society, mass media do more than monitor : They dramatize. They create vivid images, impute leadership, and heighten the sense of conflict between movements and the institutions of society (Gitlin 1980; Ericson, Baranek, and Chan 1987). They project a vocabulary with which to discuss the movement . Consider some of the social types that are conveyed by terms such as "women's libber, " "peacenik," "gay rights." The framing process is deeply influenced by the ways in which vehicles of news and entertainment frame the movements and their objects .
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Mass Society Theory Revisited: Social Movements as Theater
Despite its considerable drawbacks as a theory of modern politics , mass society theory contains a perception of significant aspects of modern societies that needs restatement. Developed in the effort to explain the emergence and character of totalitarian and other extremist movements, mass society theorists stressed the breakdown of class- and interest-oriented groups and the importance of groups alienated from social institutions, that is, groups that were not controlled by elites and were open to leadership that projected emotive, expressive elements into public life (Mannheim 1940; Arendt 1951; Selznick 1952, chap. 7; Kornhauser, 1959). Mass society theory emerged in an effort to understand totalitarian, nondemocratic movements in Western, industrialized societies . As William Kornhauser points out, aristocratic theorists focused their attention on the decline of the authority of established elites and institutional controls. Democratic theorists focused attention on the ways in which rank-and-file members ofbureaucratized organizations were unable to effectuate participation and influence decisions and policies. Both, however, projected a view of modern societies as ones in which great distances now prevailed between the institutions of social control and influence: church , school, government, class, ethnicity, even family and the individual at the level of his or her everyday life. The social and cultural diversities through which social commitment and control were conducted were no longer operative. The result was an alienated and homogeneous mass available to project raw, unmediated, unsocialized feelings into public policies. Karl Mannheim, in Man and Society in an Age of Reconstruction, was perhaps especially prescient (1940). In an era of fundamental democratization, he argued, social and economic organization were increasingly rationalized on a functional basis. The control and influence of cultural elites diminished and the mass were unable to achieve the kind of substantive rationality essential to the complex technology and political participation of modern social organization. In his view, "The average person surrenders part of his own cultural individuality with every new act of integration into a functionally rationalized complex of activities .... [and] Copyrighted Material
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gradually gives up his own interpretation of events for those others have given him . When the rationalized mechanism of social life collapses in times of crisis, the individual cannot repair it by his own insight" (59). And, "In a society in which the masses tend to dominate, irrationalities which have been integrated into the social structure may force their way into political life " (63). Akin to collective behavior theory , mass sociey theory was vulnerable to the criticism that alienated, unorganized people were unable to mobilize for collective action (Gusfield 1962). Further, it became obvious that modem life was by no means so devoid of social organization or so alienated and anarchic as mass society theorists described (Shils 1972, chaps. 11,12). Nevertheless , the insights of mass society theorists have relevance for the kinds of fluid movements that I have been describing . It is not necessary to a sociology of social movements that all movements be studied through the same theory or that contrasting images of modem life may not both be applicable, sometimes to the same movement . Three aspects of mass society theory retain importance . They catch the nature of "interaction" in a significant area. First, a great deal of human "interaction" takes place at a distance, apart from face-to-face interaction , in a form of "parasocial interaction" (Horton and WoW 1956). I have stressed this in discussing the role of mass media. In this sense the image of society as an audience, which is implicit in mass society studies, is still viable . Second, such interaction is, at least to an important extent , unmediated by socially organized institutions and groups. In that sense, the mass is useful as a concept not so much as a collectivity but as an area of action. Third, the mass audience is thus more standardized and homogenized than given by concepts of class, status, and ethnicity . This is not to negate the importance of these concepts but to attempt to specify where and when they may be most useful as analytical instruments. The same aggregate of people may be divided into classes, ethnic groups, and the usual sociological distinctions yet at other times and in other arenas operate as masses where a differentiated identity is absent. The conception of the mass audience as the observers of the monitoring of movements underlines the view taken here of social movements as theater. The theatrical component of movements is a central way in which new meanings are disseminated (Edelman 1989). This is especially the case where the movement is oriented Copyrighted Material
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74 tow ard chang ing behavior of every day life rath er th an th e rul es of instituti on s. Again , th e labor an d suff rage m ovem ent s are not useful m od els for mor e fluid m ovem ent s, w hile th e " hippie" m ovem ent or th e wo me n 's m ovem ent are . Th e in sisten ce of man y wom en on redir ecting conve ntional lan gu age to era se th e dominance of mal e imagery is an effective form of th eat er , of dramatizin g chang ed conceptions now br ou ght int o con scious ne ss. This dr am atur gical cha racter o f m od ern mo vem ent s is of crucial imp ort ance (Sn ow 1983). Both th e int erpr etive wo rk of th e m onit ors and th e actio ns of orga nized m ovem ent s tow ard th ose int erpr etation s becom e significant. Th ey form th e essen tial linka ge between publi c arenas and every day life. Th e disposition of m ovem ents to und ert ake action s in or der to dr am atiz e th e m ovem ent is a facet well caug ht in th e titl e of Todd Gitlin's acco unt of th e int eraction between th e wo rld of new s coverage and studen t mo vem ents of th e 1960s, Th e Wh ole World Is Watching (1980) . As other s have point ed out, it oft en lead s th e m onit or s to depi ct movements by concentrating on images of ex trem es of grea ter dr am atic content . This has been recentl y ob serve d in acco unts of th e new s coverage of th e anti-abor tion m ovem ent in th e Unit ed States (Los Ange les Ti mes 1990). Th is mo ni tor ing and dr am atic fram ing of events m akes alterna tive m odes of beh avior accessible to wide audiences. Movem ent s can be tr ansmitt ed in a sho rt p eri od of tim e and peopl e can be m ade aware of w ha t th oughts and actions are shared and acted on by othe rs, even outside th e orbit of their personal acqu aintance . Th e movem ent thus becom es a " sign of th e tim es. " The revision of m ass soc iety th eor y that I assert as useful is found in distin guishin g th e aliena tion th esis from th e und erst anding of mas s communi cations as ima ginin g so ciet y as a homo geneous , m ass audi ence. Th e form er , th e aliena ting cha rac ter of m ass society , is far less viable than th e latt er , th e im age of the m ass as an audien ce. Both collective b eh avior an d m ass societ y th eories focus att ention on th e less or ganiz ed aspects of social life. As perspectiv es toward social movem ents, the y face in opposite dir ections . Coll ective behavior restor es th e import anc e of th e interactive ord er as a signifi cant locu s of mov em ents , espe cially m any of th e new mov em ent s ori ent ed toward per son al chang e. M ass society th eori es height en our sens itivi ty to w ard th e homog enizing , standa rdizing aspec ts of mod ern life. Here, th e imp act of Copyrighted Material
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mass communic ations media provide s monit oring and framin g functions th at en ab le audien ces to share ex pe rience s despit e larg e diversities in class, cultur e, gend er, and nation. Th e plenitude of social mov em ents that exi st and persist in mod ern societies makes any singl e sch em e of anal ysis too parti al for ex pansion to all or even most mov em ents (Gam son 1992) . Th e mor e abstra ct the perspe ctiv e, th e less helpful it is for empiri cal stud y. In this chapt er I em ph asize th e m or e fluid qu alit y of man y contemporar y mov em ents . My view has been well pr esent ed b y David Snow . He points out that new or diff ering theor etical p erspectiv es have the virtue of calling att ention to oth erwis e unn oticed ph enomen a. Th eoretical per spectiv es, functionin g much like m et aphor s, not onl y highli ghts ; the y also hid e. By focussin g atte n tion on som e phenomena , oth er equally relevant things m ay be hidd en or glos sed over. Thus , just as it is useful and illumin ating to approa ch th e world w ith a range of met aphors , so it is useful to ex plain with a ran ge of th eoreti cal persp ecti ves. And this esp ecially is th e case of ph enom en a w hich are not well bound ed and about which th ere is much taxonomi c debate and confusion , as is the case with coll ecti ve behavior. (1983, 9)
Som e objections may b e m ade that man y of the mov ements to which I have alluded in this essay are eithe r tri vial or do not involv e dissent and gr eat conflict . I assert that so cial mov ements studi es have shown an undu e emphasis on th e political and have understat ed the importance of movements that create changes in every day living outside the institutional structures of mod ern life (1979a). As social historians have be en telling us in rec ent years , these, too , are very much part of history. Note 1. Durin g the 1970s a rash of works eme rge d with attention to how , where, and when movem ent s utiliz ed viol ence. See, for exam ple, Till y 1978.
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76 Berger, Benn ett . 1982. Survival of a Counter-C ulture. Berkeley : Uni versity of Ca liforni a Pr ess. Blocker, Jack. 1989. A merican Temperance Movements: C ycles of Reform. Boston : Twayn e. Blum er, Herbert . 1939. " C ollective Behavior " In A n Outline of the Principles of Sociology, edited by Robert E. Park . New York: Barn es and Nobl e. C astells, Manu el. 1983. Th e City and the G rass Roots. Berkel ey : Uni versit y of Californi a Pr ess. Co hen , Jean. 1985. " Strategy or Identit y: New T heo retical Paradigm s and Contemp orary Social Movem ent s. Social Research 52 (W inter): 663-7 16. D'Emil io, John . 1983. Sexual Politics, Sex ual Communities. Chi cago : Uni versity of C hicago Pr ess. Edelman, Murr ay. 1989. Constructing the Public Sp ectacle. C hicago : U niversity of Chicago Pre ss. Eder , Klaus. 1985. "T he 'Ne w Social Movem ent s': Mor al C rus ades, Political Pr otest Gro ups, or Social Movem ents ?" Social Research 52 (Winter): 869-90 1. Ericson, Richard, Patricia Baran ek, and Jan et Chan . 1987. Visualiz ing D eviance: A Study of News Organiza tion. Toront o : Univ ersity of Tor ont o Pr ess. Ha cks, Richard . 1988. Making H istory. New York : Co lum bia Uni versity Press. Friedman , Lawr ence. 1985. TotalJustice. New York: Russell Sage Found ation. Gam son , William . 1992. 'T he Social Psych olog y of Co llective Action ." In Frontiers in Social Movement Th eory, edited by Ald on Morris and C arol M. Mueller. New Haven: Yale Uni versity Pr ess. Gitlin , Todd . 1980. Th e Whole World Is Watching . Berk eley : Uni versity of California Press. Goffm an, Er vin g. 1974. Frame A nalysis: An Essay on the O rganizati on of Experience. Ca mbridge, Mass.: Harvard U niversit y Pr ess. Greenberg, D avid . 1988. Th e Construction of Homosexu ality. C hicag o: Uni versity of Chicago Pr ess. Gusfield , Joseph . 1962. " Mass Society and Extr emi st Politic s." Am erican Sociological Review 27:19-3 0. - - - . 1970. Protest, Reform, and Revolt. New York : John Wiley and Son s. - - - . 1978. "H istori cal Prob lemati cs and Socio logical Fields: An Am erican Liberalism and th e Stud y of Social Movem ent s. " In Research in Sociology of K nowledge, Sciences and A rt, edited by Rob ert Jon es, vol. 1. Greenwic h, Conn .: JAI Press. --. 1979a. "T he Mo dernit y of Social Movem ents." In Societal Growth, edited by Amo s Hawl ey . N ew York : Free Pr ess. - -- . 1979b . " T he Sociolog ical Reality of Am erica." In On the Making of A mericans: Essays in Honor of David Riesman. Edit ed by Herb ert Gans, Nathan Glazer , Joseph Gusfield, and C hristo pher Jencks. Phil adelphi a: Uni versity of Penn sylvania Pr ess. - -- . 1981a. " Pr evention: Rise, D ecline, and Renaissance. " In A lcohol, Science, and Society Revisited, edit ed by Edith Gomb erg, Helene Whit e, and John Ca rpenter. N ew Brun swi ck, N.J. : Rut gers School of Alcoh ol Studi es. --. 1981b . " Social Movem ents and Social C hang e: Perspectives of Linearity
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77 and Fluidity . " In Research in Social Movements , Conflict , and Change, edited by Louis Kriesberg, vol. 4. Greenwich, Conn.: JAI Press . --. 1988. "The Control of Drinking-Driving in the United States : A Period in Transition? " In Social Control of the Drinking Driv er, edited by Mi chael Lawrence , John Snortum, and Franklin Zimring . Chicago : University of Chicago Press . --. 1989. " C onstructing the Ownership of Public Problems . " Social Problems 36 (December) : 431-41. Handler, Joel. 1978. Social Movements and the Legal System . New York: Academic Pres s. Horton, Donald, and Richard Wohl. 1956. "Observations on Intimacy at a Distance ." Psychiatry 19:215-29 . Jaspers, James, and Dorothy Nelkin. 1989. "The Animal Rights Movement. " Paper presented at the annual meeting of the Society for the Study of Social Problems, Berkeley, California, August . Jenkins, J. Craig. 1983. "Resource Mobilization Theory. " In Annual Revi ew of Sociology, edited by Ralph Turner and James Short, Jr., vol. 9. Palo Alto, Calif. : Annual Reviews . Kornhauser, William. 1959. The Politics of Mass Society . Glencoe, III.: Free Press. Kuhn, Thomas . 1962. The Structure of Scientific Revolution s. Chicago: University of Chicago Press . Los Angeles Times . 1990. " News Coverag e of Abortion Conflicts: Are They Biased?" July 2, section A, p . 1. Lowenberg, June. 1989. Caring and Responsibility: Th e Crossroads between Holistic Practice and Traditional Medicine. Philadelphia : Univ ersity of Pennsylvania Press. Luker, Kristin. 1984. Abortion and the Politics of Motherhood. Berkeley: University of California Press. McAdam, Doug . 1982. Political Process and the Development of Black Insurgency, 1930-1970 . Chicago : University of Chicago Press. McCarthy , John D., and Mayer N . Zald. 1973. The Trend of Social Movements in America. Morristown, NJ : General Learning Press. --. 1977. "Resource Mobilization and Social Movements." Am ericanJournal of Sociology 82:1212-41. Mannheim, Karl. 1940. Man and Society in an Age of Reconstruction. London : Routledge and Kegan Paul. Melucci, Alberto . 1985. "The Symbolic Challenge of Contemporary Movements ." Social Research 52 (Winter) : 789-816. ---. 1989. Nomads of the Present: Social Movem ents and Individual N eeds in Contemporary Society . Philadelphia : Temple University Press . Morris, Aldon. 1984. The Origins of the Civil Rights Movement . New York: Free Press . Nelson, Barbara. 1984. Making an Issue of Child Abuse . Chicago: University of Chicago Press. Oberschall, Anthony. 1973. Social Conflict and Social Movements . Englewood Cliffs, NJ : Prentice-Hall. Offe, Claus. 1985. "New Social Movements : Challenging the Boundaries of Institutional Politics ." Social Research 52 (Winter) : 817-68 .
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78 O lson, Mancur. 1971. T he L ogic of Co llective Ac tion. Ca m bridge, M ass.: Ha rvard Uni versity Press. Park , Robert, and Ernes t Burgess. 1967. " C ollective Behavio r." In Robert Park on Social Con trol and Co llective Behavior, edited by Ralph Turn er. Chicago: Un iversity of Chicago Pr ess. Pfohl , Steph en . 1977. "T he Di scovery of Child Abu se. " Social Problems 24:310-23. Ross, H . Laurence . 1989. Th e New Philadelphia Sto ry : Th e Effects of S evere Pun ishmentfor D runk D riving . Washing ton, D. C. : AAA Found ati on for Traffic Safety. Selznick, Phil ip. 1952. T he Organ izatio nal Weapon . New York: McGr aw-Hill. Shils, Edwar d. 1972. Th e Intellectuals and the Powers and Ot her Essays . Chicago: Uni versity of C hicago Pr ess. Snow , David A. 1983. " A Dr am atur gical Appr oach to Co llective Behavior. " Paper pr esen ted to th e American Sociolog ical Association , De troit, Mi chigan, Aug ust 31-Se p tem ber 4. Snow , David A., and Robe rt D. Benf ord . 1988. " Ideo logy, Fram e Resonance, and Parti cipant Mob ilization." In From Structur e to Actio n, edited by Bert Kland erm ans, Hanspeter Kriesi, and Sidney Tarr ow . Vol. 1 of International S ocial Movemen t Research. Greenw ich, Co nn.: J AI Press. --. 1992. "M aster Fram es and Cy cles of Pro tes t. " In Frontiers in Social Movement T heory, edited by Aldon Mor ris and Ca ro l M . Mu eller. New Haven: Yale Uni versity Pr ess. Snow , David A., E. Bur ke Rochford , Jr ., Steven K. Worden , and Rob ert D. Benford. 1986. " Frame Alignm ent Pr ocesses, Mi crom ob ilization , and Movem ent Parti cipation . " Americ an Sociologi cal Review 51:464- 81. T illy, Cha rles. 1978. From Mo biliz ation to Revolution. Reading, Mass . : Ad disonWesley. Tour aine, Alain. 1977. The Se lf-Production of Society . C hicago: Uni versit y of Chicago Pr ess. Turn er, Ralph H . 1969. "T he Th em e of Co ntem po rary Social Moveme nts." British Journal of So ciology 20 (Dece m be r): 390- 405. --. 1981. "Co llective Beh avior and Resour ce Mobil izati on as Approac hes to Social Movem ent s: Issues and Co n tinuities." In Research in Social Movements, Co nfl ict, and C hange, edited by Lo uis Kries be rg, vol. 4. Greenwic h, Co nn.: JAI Press. Turn er , Ralph H ., and Lewi s Killi an . 1987. Co llective Be havior . 3d ed . En glewood C liffs, N.J. : Pr enti ce-H all.
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Chapter 4
Ideologyand Utopia after Socialism Ralph H. Turner
It has often been observ ed that social mov em ents exist and rise and fall in clusters that are more or less unified by dedication to common underlying values and worldviews . During any given period in history and within a given sociocultural complex, a few basic themes tend to shape the goals and worldviews of the most significant social movements, even when their specific concerns are quite disparate . Herbert Blumer (1939) called attention to this principle by distin guishing between specific and general social movements . General movements are "rather formless in organization and inarticulate in expression" (201), reflecting the historic emergence of new values. A specific movement, in contrast, "has a well defined objective or goal . .. [and] develops a recognized and accepted leader ship and a definite membership characterized by a 'we consciousness' " (202). He illustrated the distinction by citing th e American antislavery specific movement, which grew out of the widespread nineteenth-century humanitarian general movement. Just how broadly he meant this idea to be applied was never clear because he failed to elaborate it . It goes considerably beyond the contention of Amitai Etzioni (1970) and Charles Tilly (1979), however, that a distinctive selection of tactics prevails in any given historical period . A somewhat similar idea underlies the more recent concept of social movement "master frames" (Snow et al. 1986; Snow and Benford 1988; Johnston 1991), although it places more emphasis on strategies than on movement value orientations . "The master frame can be thought of as a general formula for solving problems related to the opposition mov ement : what collective actions are appropriate , who might be acceptable allies, what demands can be voiced, which ones are better left unvoiced, and how to interpret the responses of the regime" (johnston 1991, 139). Likewise, Sidney Tarrow's (1983) concept of "cycles of protest" incorporates Copyrighted Material
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som e of th e same assum ptio ns as Blum er' s conc ept of general m ovem ent s. Recent discussion s of " ne w socia l mov em ent s" assume tha t a com prehensive patt ern of values, spe cific go als, strateg ies, and tactics distinguish es th e dominant contem porary so cial mov ement s in Western Europ e and th e Unit ed State s from m ovem ents in previous eras. Th ese discussions may usefully be thou ght of as describing a new gener al m ovem ent , w hi ch has given impetus and sh ape to a wid e variety of cont emporar y spe cific movem ents . Th e most compreh ensi ve hist orical application of th e concept of general mo vem ents is still th at of Karl M annh eim (1946), who sou ght to identif y a patt ern in th e histori cal suc cession of such general mo vem ents . My objective in this chapt er is to exam ine some of th e impli cation s and issues from Mannh eirri's anal ysis in order to see wh eth er th ey help to shed light on th e contem porary diversit y of social m ovem ents and mov em ent styles and th e new social mo vem ent th esis. Mannheim: Ideology and Utopia
The pair ed con cept s of " ideology" and "utopia ," w ith the spe cial m eanings he assigns to th em, are central to Mannh eirri's an alys is. Both refer to widel y shared thought-syst em s that are not en tirely cong ruent with reality . Th ey consist of the categori es into which peopl e unconsciousl y organiz e th eir exp eri enc e in ord er to mak e sense of it, and th ey reflect the fundamental assumptions about realit y that people tak e for grant ed . When people shar e a common ideolog y or utopia, they can discuss and deb ate social issu es w ith a reasonable degre e of mutual und erst anding . When peopl e hold different ideologies or when some peopl e's thou ght is organiz ed in terms of an ideology and oth ers ' thou ght is org aniz ed in term s of a utopia , they typicall y talk past each oth er , misund erst andin g each other 's stat em ents and actions . Ev er y so cial ord er dep ends on the general acceptanc e of certain myths and th e use of certain thought categories for its effectivene ss and stabilit y . Th e co m prehensive syst em of thought that under girds any exi stin g social ord er is called ideology . Ideologi es are thus pot ent conserv ative forces , permittin g even dissid ents to work ultim atel y so as to maintain th e existing social ord er. Und er some circumst an ces, how ever, a Copyrighted Material
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system of thought that is wholly incongruous with the existing order may emerge and gain widespread acceptance. When that system of thought mobilizes a sufficient number of people into action to shatter the existing social order and render the prevalent ideology no longer meaningful, it is called a utopia. The utopia becomes the basis for a general social movement that fosters profound social change, leading ultimately to a different social order and a new ideology to support it. The relationship between ideology and utopia is conceived in Hegelian terms as a dialectic. A dialectical process is one in which a set of ideas known as the thesis gives rise to an opposing set of ideas known as the antithesis. The ensuing struggle between thesis and antithesis eventually results in a synthesis, which combines ideas selectively from both thesis and antithesis into a harmonious whole. That synthesis then becomes the new thesis, and the cycle begins anew as a new antithesis develops. Mannheim (1946) writes: The relationship between utopia and the existing order turns out to be a "dialectical" one . By this is meant that every age allows to arise (in differently located social groups) those ideas and values in which are contained in condensed form the unrealized and the unfulfilled tendencies which represent the needs of each age. These intellectual elements then become the explosive material for bursting the limits of the existing order. The existing order gives birth to utopias which in turn break the bonds of the existing order, leaving it free to develop in the direction of the next order of existence . (179)
A Historical Sequence
In his ambitious analysis, Mannheim (1946) begins with the year 1520, when, under the leadership of Robert Munzer, the chiliasm of the Anabaptists "joined forces with the active demands of the oppressed strata of society" (190). Chiliasm was a religious doctrine forecasting the imminent return of Christ to rule on earth for one thousand years. The chiliastic utopia expressed the wish dreams of the peasantry in opposition to the ideology of feudalism. Peasant protest was not driven by ideas but by "ecstatic-orgiastic energies" (192), and not by "optimistic hopes for the future or romantic reminiscences" (195) but by expectation of a union with the immediate present. Because existing Copyrighted Material
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82 socia l stru ctures were tot ally irr elevant to th e immin ent new order , peasan t fru str ation s were frequently exp resse d in o utb urs ts of unr estr ained destructi ven ess an d viole nce. As the feud al system decayed , partl y in respon se to chilias tic outburs ts, th e liberal-hum anit ari an ut opi a associa ted wi th th e Am erican and French Revolut ions displ aced chiliasm as th e dom inant force challengi ng th e ideology of th e peri od . Alth ou gh chiliastic ou tburs ts rem ain ed a significa n t elemen t in these m ovem ents, " the fundame n tal attitude of the liber al is cha rac terized by a positive accep tance of culture an d the giving of an ethica l ton e to hum an affairs . He is m ost in hi s eleme n t in th e rol e of crit ic rather th an of creative dest ro yer " (198). Ex pressi ng the p erson al style and w ish dr eam s of a risin g bour geois class, libe ral- huma nitarianism was driv en by ideas, assume d free w ill, and saw free do m as th e ultim ate goal. Th e liberal-hum anit arian m ent ality is closer to reality th an chiliasm , but its ultim ate relian ce on ideas still preserves a gulf betw een its ut opi a an d reality . In conscio us con trast to this liber al outlo ok, th e succee ding conserva tive utop ia "gave positive em phasis to th e n oti on of determ ina teness of our ou tlook and beh avior " (206) . Co n tinuing the exis ting tr end toward grea ter realism and acknow ledg me nt of existin g social struc tures, th e conse rva tive m ent alit y sim ply feels com fortable w ith thin gs as th ey are . Wit h non e of th e liberalhum anit arian pr edispositi on tow ard theor izing, conse rva tives only formul ated a ut opi a in defen se agains t attacks on th e exis ting order , parti cularl y from surviving eleme nts of libe ralism and chiliasm .\ Co m pleting th e series, th e succee ding socia list ut opi a was "a new crea tio n based on an inn er syn thes is of th e various for m s of utopia w hich have arisen hith ert o and w hic h have strugg led again st one an othe r in society" (215); it was "a peculiar assimi lation of th e conse rv ative sense of determini sm in to th e pr ogr essive ut opia w hich strives to remak e th e wo rld" (218). D etermini sm was embodi ed in th e th eory of class confli ct an d a mat erialisti c phil osoph y of hum an motivation , which latt er was borrow ed from th e conservativ e utopi a. The ideali sm of liberal-hum anitariani sm found expr ession in th e imag e of a harm on iou s and just soci alist society in whi ch th e state would no lon ger be need ed to regul ate hum an affairs. Th e w ish dr eam s o f th e pr oletari at are ex pressed in the soc ialist utopi a. Copyrighted Material
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Mannheim does not view the particular sequenc e of utopias in a pattern -deterministic fashion, but he sees each utopia as reflecting the social order that gives rise to it. He neverth eless describes the sequence as a "general subsidence of utopian int ensity , " as each succeeding stage " m anifests a closer approximation to th e historical -social process " (223). As the utopian force diminish es, life becom es less inspired and more matter-of -fact. Mannheim was plainly distressed by what he saw as the imminent end of both utopia and ideology. 2 It would requir e either a callousn ess which our generation could probab ly no long er acquire or the uns uspecting naivet e of a gener ation newly born int o th e world to be able to live in absolut e congru ence with the realiti es of th at world, utt erl y without any tran scendent element, eithe r in the form of a utopia or of an ideolog y. At our present stage of self-consc iousness this is perhaps th e onl y form of actu al existence that is possible in a world which is no long er in the making. It is possible that th e best th at our ethical prin ciples have to offer is " genuineness" and " frankness" in pla ce of th e old ideals. (230-31)
Mannheim saw two sources of tension to disrupt this condition of stagnation . On e consisted of social strat a whose aspirations were still unfulfilled, who would k eep alive th e socialist ut opi a, " and thus, to a certain ext ent, will always caus e th e count er-utopias to rekindle and flare up again , at least whenever this ex trem e left wing go es into action " (231). Th e other sourc e consists of th e "intellectual section of societ y , which is becoming mor e and mor e separat ed from th e rest and thrown upon its own resourc es" (233) . This im age of a world in which utopian energy and vision has almost altogether dissipat ed seems in credible half a centur y later. Yet , Mannheim 's analy sis is well root ed in histori cal fact and sufficiently sug gestiv e of generally applicabl e principl es to warr ant a serious effort to essay application to th e cont emporar y social mov em ent scen e. In addition, such obs ervations as his comm ent about an ethics of genuin en ess and frankn ess , m ade sixty yea rs ago , seem strikingl y cont emporary-at least in Am eri can soc iety." We are now in a position to ask wh eth er th e pr esent cacophony of social movements an d organized prot est is a continu ation of th e process es M annh eim describ ed , a new sequ ence par allelin g th e old, or a set of developments that are not susceptibl e of anal ysis in Mannheirrr 's fram ework . Copyrighted Material
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84 Issues
Th ere is often a vaguen ess in Mannheirn's writing that makes it difficult eith er to apply or test his model. For example, at tim es his reference to the chiliastic impulse that is transf err ed from cause to cause an d that ebb s and occasionally flows over tim e border s on the m ystic al. In addition, man y questions remain to be ans wered befor e we can appl y Mannheim 's m odel with pr ecision . Amon g the m any qu estions left un answer ed by Mannh eim 's exc itin g analysi s, two sets are fundam ental. On e set of questions concerns th e dynamic s of th e pr ocess by which succeeding utopias are gene rated . Th e oth er has to do w ith w hat has and will follow th e early twenti eth centur y , w he n th e sequ en ce he describ es came to an app arent clo se. M annheim was quit e explicit in denying th e possibilit y of pr edi cting futur e developm ents becaus e of the decisive part played by hum an choice in shaping history. He did, how ever , sug gest possibilities that are indi cated on th e basi s of his scheme . At least som e ans wers to th e first set of qu estions are essential befor e we can addr ess th e second set in an ythin g but a gros sly empirical fashion . Perhaps th e most critical question is to wh at extent th e pro cess that Mannh eim describes is increm ental , in th e sense that the dir ection of change is determin ed by th e idiosyncraci es of development at each stag e in the proc ess. If unpr edictabl e developments and ex tern ally caused event s contribute to ward shaping the utopia that is spawn ed by a given id eolog y, outcomes w ill always remain unpredictabl e. Altern ativel y, to what ext ent is there an overall dir ectiv e principle , such that the last stage should be predictabl e from a thorough understanding of th e fir st stage? Although Mannh eim's use of th e dial ecti c seems to impl y th e former , his propos al that th ere is a steady declin e in ene rgy or optimism about th e prosp ects for th e human condit ion in th e sequenc e from the chiliastic to the socialist utopia clearl y impli es th e latt er. If we accept this latter interpr etation as at least partl y corre ct, we mu st approa ch the qu esti on of recent and futur e utopi as by sear ching for a new org anizin g principl e based on a maj or sy stem ch ange. If we accept th e form er int erpr etation, we must look for appro priate antithe ses to th e postso cialist ideol o gy. If, as seems th e case, both int erpretation s are parti ally correc t, we mu st look for even more com plicatedly determin ed out com es. Copyrighted Material
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Closely related is the question of exactly how Mannheim means the dialectical principle to apply . While the utopia is ideology 's antithesis, there is not just one logically conceivable antith esis but there are many, and the antithesis is far from absolute . What , then, determines the character of the utopia that becom es th e dominant critique of any given ideology? In his analysis , Mannheim strangely neglects any reference to the stage of synthesis , which becomes the new ideology, as coming between successiv e utopias. While utopias oppose ideologies , both of which are at the cultural level, Mannheim speaks more of the distinctive conditions of social structure than of ideology in explaining the focus of each new utopia . It is clear , then, that Mannheirri 's implicit model incorporates social structure as well as culture. Perhaps the model might best be described as one in which each major utopia induces or contributes to significant changes in social structure , which synthesize utopian elements with surviving features from the priior stage of social structure . The functioning of the modified social structure then has identifiable consequences that are different for the members of different classes. Certain of these consequences , particularly in relation to the aspirations introduced or raised by the recent utopia , becom e salient and constitute the basis for the next utopia. The consequences consist of both constraints and opportunities. New opportunities view as intolerable conditions that were once taken for granted as misfortunes; they become injustices (Turner 1969) . The particular way in which the cognitive side of the new utopia is formulated reflects the dialectical principle of logical opposition to the justificatory ideology . The main thrust or direction of the utopia is better explained as an emotional response to the direct impact of social structure on members of the general movement's principal constituency . Since the ideology is not an accurate but a justificatory representation of the social structural condition, no amount of understanding of ideologies and prior utopias would allow one either to explain or predict the nature of ensuing utopias. Also unclear in Mannheirri 's analysis is the function of constituency in shaping the dominant utopia . The content of each utopia reflects the wish dr eams (or interests?) of a class in soci ety . Mannheim never describes a principle to explain or predict what particular class will be the constitu ency for th e dominant utopia in any given era. For the chiliasts and the socialists , he seems to be Copyrighted Material
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86 identi fyin g a class th at was part icul arly o pp ressed or at least bypassed by th e benefit s accru ing to othe r stra ta; for th e lib eralhu m anit arians, th e significa nt fact was that they were the rising class; for th e conse rv atives, th e imp ort ant obse rvation is th at th ey did not feel depri ved but feared bur geonin g attacks on th e legitimacy of th eir existin g pr ivileges; an d for the socia lists , the debate still rages over w hether th e work ing classes were in creasin gly oppr essed or slow ly gaining dur in g the early stages of in dustrialization. A closely relate d am big uity conce rns th e relation ship between the cons tit uen t class an d the broader sociocu ltura l dialectical pro cess w he reby each new ut opia is in direc tly a reaction to the pri or ut op ia. Th e impli ed p rinciple seems to be th at th e critical constituency assim ilated ideas selectively from th e th en-curr ent ideology and prio r utop ias- especially th e m ost recent-for consistency wi th th eir own struc tura lly based per spectiv e. On e m ight think of th e fashionin g of a ut op ian wo rldview as th e culm ination of a learnin g pro cess in w hic h ideo logica l an d cultural-a ffective resour ces are selectively ado pted, adapte d, reject ed , and reversed according to how th ey harm onize wit h th e con stitu en cies' situation ally induced feelings. A third realm of am bigui ty conce rns the relati onshi p between th e dom inant value, goa l, or object espouse d by a moveme nt and th e mo de of thou ght and action that characte rizes the movement. M annh eim desc ribes the ut opian m entality as per m eating all aspects of behavior and tho ught . He po ints ou t, for exam ple, the com pa tibility of dom inan t art for ms w ith th e preva iling ut opian me ntality . He stres ses especia lly th e tim e o rientatio n cha rac teristic of each ut op ia as affecting both pa tte rns of th ou gh t an d mo des of action. On e wo nder s w he the r, for exa m ple, th e pur suit of freedom as a cru cial value necessarily requ ires th e acco m mo dating m ent ality and m od e of action M annh eim ascribe s to th e liberalhum anit arian m ovem ent . And , attribu ting violen t outburs ts and ex tre m ist declar ations in contem po ra ry m ovem ent s to surv iving chiliastic surv ivals seems arbitra ry." As we look at con tem porary socia l mo vem ent s, we should p rob ably tr eat th e lin ka ge between parti cular m ovem ent values and mo des o f thou ght an d action as an open ques tion. A four th set of am big ui ties revolves ab ou t th e em pirical diversity and m ultiplicity of moveme nts duri n g any hist ori cal era. Copyrighted Material
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87 Mannheim wrote as if there were but a single movement during a given historical period and throughout Western Europe, or that history was shaped by only one movement at a time. This seems a gross oversimplification. What, then, determines the range over which a given utopia holds sway? To what extent can major contending utopias coexist? To what extent can the processes described by Mannheim proceed at different rates in different sectors of society, so that contentions based on different utopia-ideology pairs are taking place simultaneously? To what extent are key elements from one dominant utopia diffused into the world views of social movements promoting quite diverse causes? More profoundly, can there be different social movement systems, each with its own sequence of utopias, proceeding in parallel during the same extended historical period? Movements of the 19605
In 1969, I looked at the themes of contemporary social movements , and I attempted to relate them to Mannheim's paradigm . I suggested that every new movement era was heralded by the redefinition of a condition heretofore viewed as a misfortune, now newly viewed and deeply felt as an injustice. The condition so redefined in the 1960s was the lack of a sense of personal dignity or a clear sense of identity . The new utopia was a demand that society provide people with a sense of personal worth - something that had been, and for many people still is, regarded as a strictly individual and private problem. At that time, alienation of the individual (in its social psychological meaning as a feeling of estrangement in interpersonal relations and from the organizations and communities in which one participates) and depersonalization of society were leading symbols in the new utopia, and existentialism was the compatible philosophy. In the United States, the most prominent and organized movement embodying the new utopia became known as the New Left. Departing from Mannheirrr's formula, I proposed that the primary constituency for the new utopia was not an economic class but an age cohort, namely, youth. This change occurred because the major adjustments being made in social structure at that time had more to do with the relative privileges and obligations of age groups than of economic classes. Proposing that the Copyrighted Material
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88 constituencies for Mannheim 's utopias could all be seen as classes that were rising economically or confronted with new opportuni ties ," I argued that revised patterns of childrearing and international reaction against authoritarianism, symbolized by Adolf Hitler, coupled with the demographic fact of swelling numbers in the age cohort gave youth power and privilege that the age group had not previously experienced. I suggested that "The problem of alienation and the sense of worth is most poignantly the problem of a youthful generation with unparalleled freedom and capability but without an institutional structure in which this capability can be appropriately realized" (Turner 1969, 399) . The spread of this theme to prominence in other movements was illustrated with reference to the "Black is beautiful " them e in the American "black power" movement and similar applications in other movements . As a slogan, " Black is beautiful" represented a new strategy in the long struggle to overcome discrimination and inequality, a strategy whose inspiration came at least in part from the currently prevailing social movement theme ." In subsequent work, not specifically addressed to social movements, I proposed that there had been shift throughout the Western world in the criteria people used in identifying their "real selves" from institution to impulse (Turner 1976). Traditionally , people have thought of themselves in terms of their institutional roles and group memberships. One's occupation, gender , age group, family membership and role, religious affiliation, educational attainment, political affiliation, and publicly acknowledged achievements and recognitions were among the typical components in one's self-conception. The impulse self represented a struggle to find one's true self by separating oneself from institutional labels and constraints. The corresponding self-conception consists of personality traits and dispositions, personal likes and dislikes, and other characteristics that transcend any particular institutional role or group affiliation. "Institutionals" recognize their real selves in their achievements, in their pursuit of ideals, and, for many, in altruistic self-sacrifice . "Impulsers" find themselves in freeing their behavior from the constraints of reason and social norms so as to act strictly upon impulse, and in establishing relationships with others within which they can safely speak and act on impulse . Comparison between survey data from a probability sample of adults in the United States and questionnaire data from Copyrighted Material
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89 student samples in one U .S., one British , and two Australian uni versities documented the prevalence of the often proclaimed "quest for identity " among university students in the thr ee coun tries; it also revealed the very low incidence of such a quest among other segments of the population in the U. S. sampl e? (Turn er 1975; Turner and Gordon 1981). Attempting to place this analysis in a larg er conte xt, I not ed that movements or mov ement series typicall y begin with a patt ern of rather chaotic, poorly focused prot est , without benefit of a clear and constructive program for imp lementing their values. Thi s may have been the proper interpretation of chiliasm , rather than its being seen as comparable to the liberal-humanitarian and sociali st utopias . The assumption was that the worldwide student disruptions of the 1960s might correspond to the chiliastic phas e in Mannheim 's sequence of economic class-bas ed mov em ents. Th ey might th en be followed by movements with mor e clearly defin ed programs designed to implem ent the value of human worth and mitigat e th e depersonalization of social institutions. Th ese subs equent mov em ents might not be carried by youth but by other common -inter est segments of society , especially other age cohorts . Contemporary Social Movements
Now that two decades have elapsed sinc e th e original publication, and the disturbances of the 1960s have become ancient and not particularly rel evant history to a new gen eration of college youth , how well do es the preceding analysis stand up , and what linkage can be made to Mannheim 's sequence? Following the analogy to chiliasm , can the New Left and the more loosely coordinated worldwide youth activism of the 1960s be conceiv ed as the beginning stage in a new , differently constituted sequence , but still am enabl e to Mannheirrr 's typ e of dialectical analysis? Alternatively , can they be bett er un derstood now as a n ext stag e after soci alism in Mannheirrr 's original sequ ence? In either case , has the movement' s impact lasted ? Has it persist ed as a mo vem ent or have essen tial elem ent s of its utopia been incorporat ed into the utopias of mor e recent social mov ements? Or , is it to be dismissed as a " flash in th e pan, " an idiosyncr atic episode caus ed by a unique coincid ence of several Copyrighted Material
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90 histori c even ts, with little long -ran ge impact on contemporary social mov ements ? Let us con sider first the possibility , that th e N ew Left was a fifth or sixth stage in Mannheim 's ori ginal seque n ce. Th e mov ement was clearl y a reaction again st a social ord er that had extensively accommodat ed to demands and values from th e liberalhumanitarian, con serva tive, and socialist utopia s. Th e politicoindu strial system and th e welfare state togeth er were blam ed for m any of th e world 's ills. Furth ermor e, bo rr owin gs from socialist and liberal -hum anit ari an ut opi as were abundan t in N ew Left ideology . In thes e two important resp ects, th e N ew Left fits the patt ern of a furth er stage in M annh eirrr's sequence . N evertheles s, the m ovem ent clearly does not fit on th e trajector y tow ard in creasin g realism and pessimism abo ut hu man n atur e th at Mannhe im found in th e four ut opi as he exa mi ne d. In addition, it never evolved a clear im age of a pr ogr am to rec tify th e twin ev ils of the politi coindu strial system and th e welfa re state . Also , th e mo vement rest s on a fund am ent al shift in th e b asis upon w hic h the prin cipal cons tituency was differenti ated fro m the rest of th e populati on , th at is, from econo m ic class to age gro u p . Hence , it remain s, in retros pect , mo re like chiliasm, as th e en thus iastic and larg ely unr ealistic early expressio n of a new ut op ian patt ern th an th e continu ation of a seque nce th at mov es toward greater and greater realism . Like th e chili astic ut opi a th at borr owed fundam ent al elem ent s from early C hristianity and a varie ty of medi eval mov em ent s, it dr ew selectively fro m pri or u to pias w hile adding uniqu e featur es. Th e discontinu ity is to o great for it to be conceived as an additiona l stage in th e orig inal sequen ce. If yo ut hful pr ot est of th e 1960s is th er efor e to be conce ived as th e start of a new sequen ce, th ere mu st be evidence th at imp ortant elem ent s of its utopi a h ave becom e em bedde d in conte m po rary cultur e, th at lastin g social struc tura l change s occ ur re d in society in respon se to its dem and s, and th at new ut opi as in cor por ate both th em es from th e 1960s' move men ts and critiq ues of a society th at has acco m mo da ted to dem and s fro m th e earlier m ovem ent . A search for clues to thi s pu zzle m igh t begin b y asking whet he r a dist inctive m ent al fra me of referen ce associa ted wit h th e 1960s has surv ived . One such clu e is evi dence th at , in spite of externa l ap pearances, the imp ulsive concep tion of the true self has per sisted and perh aps becom e eve n more preva len t among college Copyrighted Material
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youth. This frame of reference has been documented by David Snow and Cynthia Phillips (1982) . This finding lends further confirmation to the original thesis that this was a long-term trend, predating the 1960s decade, a thesis that was also supported by James Benton's (1981) content analysis ofleading American magazines from 1920 to 1978. Like each of the utopian uprisings of the past, and like the sudden worldwide eruption of "democracy" movements in 1989 and 1990, youthful protest in the 1960s constituted the crystallization of previously accumulating changes in worldviews, either provoked or facilitated by the conjunction of critical historic events . While the most salient theme of the 1960s movements in the United States was peace, the peace theme was neither new nor distinctive to the New Left movement. It was strong enough during the early years of World War II that it might well have kept the United States out of active combat except for the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor and the stigma of anti-Semitism ." Merle Curti (1929) impressively documented the importance of peace movements in American history throughout the nineteenth century . The ebb and flow of American peace movements has reflected the changing threat and costs of war. Consequently, I do not think that the prevalence of peace themes in current movements can serve as evidence for the start of a new movement sequence . Rather, we must look for new ways of thinking about the issue of peace and war that are more in harmony with the new utopian trend-if there is one. Other prominent themes in the New Left movement included opposition to large-scale organization of all kinds, the antigrowth and antitechnology theme that "less is better," and a str ess on participatory rather than representative democracy . In California, the movement remained strong enough to elect and reelect a leading exponent of these values, Jerry Brown, to eigh t years as governor. Many chang es have been made, nationwide, in the directions of decentralization, monitoring of new technology in terms of human values, and openness of government and busin ess decision making to public view. The distrust of large government, large business , and large labor has been documented for the United States by Seymour Lipset and William Schneider (1987) . There is abundant evidence to the present day of declining public identification with governCopyrighted Material
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ment in th e United Stat es. Whil e it m ay be less clearly embodie d in organiz ed social mov ements , it finds frequ ent ex pression in grass -root s protests such as wildcat strik es and local protests of all kinds. Symptomatic of th e longing for participator y democracy are th e continuing insist ence on op en m eetings of decision-making and advisory bodi es, th e almost ritualistic use of public demon strations in all causes, and th e wid espr ead ex pe rim en tation with Japan ese participator y work organizati on in Am erican and Euro pean factori es (Cole 1989; Turner 1991). The them e of " less is better," with a suspicious attitude tow ard technology, gro wth , and so- called progr ess, may be the most distincti ve legacy of th e mov ement. Slow growth and antide velopment mo vements have pro liferated in com m unities all over the Unit ed States; th ey have an impr essive record of succes s. While the enviro nme ntal mov ement is divid ed between an " appro priate technolog y " and a chang ed life-st yle wing , th e cautiousness about acceptin g technologi cal solutions to probl ems; the opposition to nucle ar ene rgy; th e resist enc e to urb an exp ansion ; the conc ern about env ironme n tal ex ploitation and pollution ; and the preser vationist attitud e tow ard natur al env ironme nts, hi storic ally significant structure s, and ecolo gical balanc e are all significant expressions of th e general them e. If th e Gr een m ovement is th e quint essential " new mo vement ," its continuit y with N ew Left them es is striking . The following words by the mod ern environm en talist Lester Milbrath (1984) could easily have been transplanted with minor adaptations from the New Left 's Port Huron Statement of 1962. In modern society , we have develop ed a socio- techn ical-e conomic system th at can dominat e and destro y natur e. Along side it , we have retain ed a norm ative and ethica l system bas ed on 200o-y ear-old religi ons . T he lack of congrue n ce betwe en th ese two systems thre aten s th e continu ed exi sten ce of our civilization . Our science tells us how our wo rld work s ph ysicall y but pro vid es no moral guidance for our beh avior within it . Th e norm ative pr escription s from inh erited religions do not addr ess th e power an d exu berance of mod ern human activities . Th e env iro n me ntal mod ern -day proph ets are tr ying to unit e a sophisticated und erstandin g of how the wo rld work s with a new norm ative ethical sys tem th at recognizes and addres ses tho se realiti es. (101)
Th e conc ept of alienati on , introdu ced b y M arx and used by th e socialist utopia to refer strictly to th e wo rke r 's relationship to Copyrighted Material
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work , and given central meaning in the 1960s with a chan ged , more psychological meaning , is once mor e given altered meanin g to fit the values of the Gr een movement . Jonathon Porritt , a lead er of the British environmenta l mov em ent , writ es that " alien ation has become a part of our lives ." He defin es alienation as "t h at sense of estrang ement people experience betwe en th emselv es an d their work , their own health , th eir en vironment, and the workin gs of their democracy " (1985, 77). Thus he broadens th e referent for alienation and the m eaning of ecolog y to sub su me all aspects of peopl e's relationship to their daily experienc e. It seems fair to conclud e that important them es from the New Left utopia have diffused and found expression in a wid e variety of cont emporary movements . As th ey have done so, ho w ever, the constituency has broad ened . As many scholars have already obser ved , the constitu enci es for most of these " n ew mov ements" are the educat ed middl e classes (Cohen 1985). Ind eed , th e prominence of the middl e classes in recent mov em ents has oft en been noted . The stud ent protest ers of the 1960s wer e disproportionatel y of middle-class origin . Frank Parkin (1968) earl y called attention to the dominantl y middle -class constituency of th e British movem ent for nuclear disarmam ent . But , in most cases, the movements have not defined either th e probl em or their go als primari ly in terms of broad economic class oppositions or agegroup conflicts . In a surv ey of middl e-class campaigns in Britain in the 1970s, Rog er King and Neill Nug ent (1979) conclude th at "neither th e middle classes as a whole , nor our particular activists, display a unit y of purpose warranting the description 'm iddle class revolt ' per se" (184). Som e of th e campaigns th ey exa m ine d were address ed to issu es that particularly impacted th e self-int erests of a segm ent of th e middle class, while others had a classless referenc e to gen eral issues of culture and morality . One might say that th ey defmed their enem ies primarily in valu e terms . Frank Park in (1968) makes th e point sharply : It w ill be su ggest ed that w he rea s wo rkin g class radic alism co uld be said to be geared largel y to reforms of an eco nomic or m ateri al kind , th e radicalism of the m iddl e class is direct ed m ainl y to socia l reform s w hi ch are basically moral in co nten t. Ag ain , w he reas th e form er ho ld s out th e promi se of benefit s to one parti cul ar section of societ y (th e wo rkin g class) from w hich it s own suppo rters are drawn , th e latt er env isage s no reward s w hic h w ill accrue to th e
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middle class spe cifically, but on ly to soci ety at large , or to some und erpri vileged gro ups. It is argued in fact th at th e main pay-off for middl e class radicals is that of a psych olo gical or emotio nal kind-in satisfactions de rived from expr essing person al values in action. (2)
Th e most critical que stion remains : Is th e conviction that a sense of person al worth , of meaning in life, is a fundamental human right that must be pr otect ed and promot ed by our social institutions germane to th ese new mo vem ents ? Or, was th e establishment of a sense of per son al worth and m eaning in life a distinc tivel y adolescen t pr obl em, with no count erpart among th e mid dle-cl ass adults w ho are th e ne wer m ovem ents ' prin cipal constitu ents? In fact, a somew h at mor e sophisticated version of th e sam e th em e recur s in mor e rec ent ut opi an pronounc ements . The eco logists in part icular str ess the ne ed for hum ankind to understand th eir pr op er place as a part - variously signifi cant or insignificant- of th e natural orde r, rath er than as a rac e ap art from and abo ve natur e. Peace and an tin uclear mov ements and th e variety of " slow- gro wth " mov em ent s call for a reexamination of self in relation to th e world or th e uni vers e. Th e women 's mo vement pur sues opp ortu niti es for self-fulfilme n t an d human dignit y. C learly th e probl em of w ho we really are has persisted and spr ead even as it has bro adened to en com pa ss th e conc ern s of a variety of mor e specific m ovem ents. It is hi ghly plau sibl e, th erefor e, to think of th e youth ful protest of the 1960s as a for erunn er in th e historical pro cess th at has pr ecipitat ed a new m ovem ent patt ern th at seems charact erist ic of th e contem porary era. This patt ern is in contra st to th e post -Middle Age s sequ enc e of mor e class-bas ed and class int erest-orient ed socia l mov ements . Onl y histor y writt en in futur e decade s or centuri es can establish securel y wh eth er thi s is the corr ect interpr etation of social mov em ents in th e second half of the tw enti eth centur y . For now , thi s seems the mo st reasonabl e interpr etati on . Furth er Qu est ions
Whil e this essay has thus far dealt more in question s than in answers, still furth er qu estions are stim ulated by th e for egoing incompl ete anal ysis. On e qu estion arises from a mor e com prehe n sive look at American Copyrighted Material
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history. The nineteenth-century social movements that were taken as prototypes for theory building from the perspective of collective behavior resemble in some ways the "new social movements" more than the economic class-oriented movements on which Mannheim and many traditional European scholars focus. The movement for the abolition of slavery, the movement for public education, the temperance movement, the movement for women's suffrage, the children's movement, the foreign missions movement (religious), prison reform, and others had largely middleclass constituencies and promoted objectives that did not benefit the middle class exclusively or even primarily. Charles Beard (1913) advanced a class struggle interpretation of the writing of the American Constitution (adopted in 1789), but subsequent historical research has generally discredited or greatly moderated that view.? The public education movement in the United States was once interpreted as a working-class movement, but that interpretation, too, is hardly credited by contemporary educational historians. Similarly, Joseph Gusfield (1963) demonstrated a class element in the temperance movement, but he would not place it in the same category of class interest-based movements as Mannheim's examples . The foregoing list reminds us that the American movements were often counterparts to European movements. Yet these do not seem to figure in Mannheirrr's analysis, unless they can be seen as expressions of the liberal-humanitarian utopia. Hence, we are prodded into asking whether the new social movements are really new with respect to type of constituency and their value orientation or whether they represent a continuation and further evolution of a very significant, but overlooked, movement segment that never fit the "old" pattern of class-oriented movements. Another question concerns another important set of contemporary movements often neglected in discussions of new movements. Raising the question "What next?" in the 1950s, I suspected then that nationalistic, ethnic, and racial movements might be to the twentieth century what Mannheirri's great movements were to earlier centuries. As we near the end of the century, the impression becomes even stronger that the most prevalent and powerful movements worldwide have been of this type. Furthermore, nationalistic/ethnic movements have a history antedating the current century. In a classic analysis , Carlton J. H. Hayes Copyrighted Material
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(1931) tr aced th e histor y of mod ern nationali sm back to th e break up of th e "o ld int ern ationalism " in eig hteenth-ce n tury Europe. While th ese m ovem ent s have vary in g degr ees of class involv em ent , th eir constituen cies and th e int erests in volved transcend class bound aries. It has even been sug gest ed that pri or to the accession of Franklin Roose velt to th e U. S. pr esid enc y in 1933, politics and politi cal m ovem ent s were mor e sectionall y bas ed than class based (Bell 1955, 10). Sectionalism bears a close relationship to nati on alism . Because of th eir lon g histor y , the se nationalistic and ethnic m ovem ents are ripe for a longitudinal ana ly sis paralleling M annh eims analysi s of class-b ased mo vem ent s. Have th ere been stages in th e developm ent of ethnic and n ation alisti c utopia s that have been link ed thr ough a dialectical proc ess , w ith each new version of ethno na tion alism con stituting a reaction against a sociocultural syste m tha t incorpor ated elem ents from an earlier version? Alt ern atively , have th ere been cha ng ing m eanings and sty les of nationalism th at corr espond to the patt erns of concurr entl y evolvin g class-in terest m ovem ent s? To w h at ex tent are ethnic and nation alisti c aspira tions ex p ressed in the langu ag e of class-bas ed issues, so th at on e fmd s distincti vely chiliasti c, liberal -hum anitarian , conse rva tive, an d socialistic ima ges of th e ethni c com m uni ty or nation ? On e wo uld then ex pec t to see n ew conc eptions of the ethn ic com m unity an d nati on corr espondin g to th e themes of today 's " new" social m ovem ents . It is pr ob abl y much too early to sort out th e th em es in the curre n t E astern Europ ean tr ansiti ons. Ind eed , th e un seating of established po wer in th ese countri es may h ave com e too easily and too quickl y to facilitat e th e focusin g and elaboration of utopian goa ls and worldvi ew s. Howe ver , if we accept th e pr emis e that th ese are lar gel y nation alistic m ovem ent s, th e evolving utopias can be an alyz ed from two points of view. First , to what ext ent can th ey be explaine d as antith eses to th e exi sting ideologi es that synth esize soc ialist and earlier world views ? Second , to what extent can th ey be ex plaine d as a next stage or continua tion of the historic evoluti on o f n ationali stic wo rldview s? A compari son o f th e analyti c power of th ese two approache s, or discovery th at neither contr ibut ed mu ch to under standin g , wo uld have signific ant th eoretic al impli cation s. Th e 1960s witn essed black pow er, th en weake r Chicano power , " Na tive Am eric an ' " " pow er , an d all- Asia m ovem ents in Copyrighted Material
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the United States; they were clearly linked to nationalistic -ethnic movements in other parts of the world . Ethnic revival movem ents have usually been explained in either anthropological or political terms, rather than treated as part of the general social movement phenomenon . For example, a prominent review of studies generalizes: "Ethnicity is mobilized by featur es of modern states that legitimate ethnic politics , and rationalized market systems raise the utility of ethnic organization over other forms of social organization" (Olzak 1983, 356) . But viewing the ethnic revival and nationalism together in terms of a Mannheimian style of analysis could shed valuable light on both the ethnic revival and the broader field of social movements . In the 1970s the resurgence of the women's movement brought still another constituency to the fore. This , too , is the revival of a movement that got under way in both Europe and the United States in the nineteenth century. It is clear that the movement's major discourse employed successively th e language of the liberal-humanitarian , the socialist , and the 1960s movements . An interesting question is, then, to what extent was the transmission of utopian visions a one-way or a reciprocal exchange between the class-interest movem ents and the women's move ments, and to what extent are the two sets of movements susceptible of parallel analysis? Finally , one must ask where religious movements fit into the scheme for social movement analysis. New religious movements , revivals of old religious movements, and religious themes in political organizations seem to have intensified in recent years (Beckford 1986). If it is the nature of major social movement utopias to permeate the society 's patterns of behavior, expression , and thought , then religious movements cannot be left out of the analysis. In conclusion , I have raised many questions and answ ered few. I propos e simply that the analytic framework us ed by Karl Mannheim in Ideologyand Utopia, with suitable updating and other modifications , be em ploye d to shed new light on th e gen esis, character, and dynamics of today 's major social mov em ents, including nationalist , ethnic revivalist , gend er, and religiou s movements . Such anal yses may help clarif y th e me anin g an d th e validity of the concept of " new social mov ements. " Copyrighted Material
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98 Notes 1. I have never been able to und erst and why Mannh eim designated the
postr evoluti on ary cons ervativ e th ou ght of the ninet eenth century as a utopia rath er th an as ideology . 2. See "e nd of ideology" discu ssion s: Aron 1957; Bell 1960; Rejai 1971; and Shils 1955. For a m or e recent view that major ideolo gical disput e has ended with the final victor y of the liberal-hum anit ari an world view, see Fuku yama 1989. 3. See Bellah et al. 1985 for one characteriza tion of values in contem po rary Am eri can society. 4. Expl ainin g Am eri ca' s " Bo sto n Tea Party" o r Patri ck Henry 's " Liberty or Death " pron ouncem ent (m y illustr ation ) on the basis of surv ivin g chiliastic elem ent s ha s a holl ow ring . 5. Thi s form ulation bear s some resembl an ce to status pol itics theor y. Status politi cs is contrasted to class or econo mic int erest gro up politi cs; it was int rodu ced initi ally to explain the prolif eration of conse rv ative social m ovement s durin g period s of pro sperit y. Whil e class politi cs explaine d m ovem ents during periods of econo m ic dep ression as reaction s ag ains t eco nom ic loss and hard ship, status politi cs explaine d m ovem ent s of econo mica lly secur e or risin g classes as effort s to pr ot ect or imp ose th eir tr aditi on al valu es and pr eserve th eir social status. (See especia lly essays by Daniel Bell, Richard Hofstadt er , and Seym our M. Lipset in Bell 1955.) Subsequently, a variety of cons erva tive mo vement s have been explaine d as status polit ics, such as the American temp erance mo vem ent (Gusfield 1963) and th e an tipo rnog raphy m ovem ent (Z ur che r and Kirkpatrick 1976). My formul ation differs, however, in pr op osin g th at constituencies need no t be econo mic classes but th at they sho uld be categorie s of peopl e whose pr ivileges have been rising . 6. Lest I be mi sund erstood , I did not attri bute choi ce of the " Black is beautiful " them e to " unparalleled freed om " for bl ack yo uth. Rath er , I saw a pro cess of cultura l diffu sion , where by a th em e that evolved princip ally among w hite yo uth supplied a fram e of reference th at othe r gro ups th en assim ilated to their concerns. 7. Co m pa rable gene ral popul ation da ta were not available for Australia and Britain. 8. Th e " Am erica First " m ovem ent , as th e m ovem ent to keep the Unit ed States out of World War II was called, was accused of being insen sitive to the plight of Jews in Ger many and occ upied Eu rop e und er H itle r. Th e suspicio n that Am eri ca Firsters were anti-Se mitic wa s accen tua ted w hen th e nati onal hero and pr omin ent m ovem ent spo kes ma n C ha rles Lindberg declared publicly th at AmericanJ ew s were behind th e effort to involve th e U nit ed Sta tes in th e war . 9. Th e Beard th esis held th at th e Co nstitution was w ritten and ado pted by wealthy pr op ert y ow ners in a succe ssful attem pt to subv ert th e benefits gained by less wealthy classes thro ug h the Ame rican Revo lution of 1776 and institute d in the Articles of Confe deratio n (ado pted as the law of th e origi na l th irteen states in 1781). T he classic attac k on the Bea rd th esis was by Forres t McDonal d (1958). A mo re mode rate critiq ue was offered by Lee Benson (1960) . Th e debate is sum mariz ed pro and con in a collection of papers edited by Leona rd Levy (1969).
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99 10. "Native American" is the term employed polemicall y to refer to persons of American Indian ancestry .
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Gusfield, Joseph R. 1963. Symbolic Crusade: Status Politics and the American Temperance Movement. Urbana, Ill.: Univ ersity of Illinois. Hayes, Carlton, J. H . 1931. Th e Historical Evolution of Modern Nationali sm. New York: Richard R. Smith. Johnston , Hank . 1991. Tales of Nationali sm : Catalonia , 1939-1979 . New Brunswick, N.J. : Rutgers University Press. King, Roger, and Neill Nugent, eds . 1979. Respectable Rebels: Middle Cla ss Campaigns in Britain in the 1970s . London : Hodder and Stoughton . Levy, Leonard W., ed . 1969. Essays on the Making of the Constitution . New York: Oxford Press. Lipset, Seymour M ., and William Schneider. 1987. The Confidence Gap : Busin ess, Labor, and Governm ent in the Public Mind . Baltimore : Johns Hopkins University Press . McDonald, Forrest . 1958. !M' the People: The Economic Origins of the Constitution . Chicago : University of Chicago Press.
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Ralph H. TImler 100 Mannh eim , Karl. 1946. Ideology and Utop ia: A n Introduction to the Sociology of K nowledge. Translated by Loui s Wirth and Edwa rd Shiis. New York : Harcourt, Brace. Milbr ath , Lester W. 1984. Environmentalists: Vanguardfor a New Society. Albany : State Uni versity of N ew York Pr ess. O lzak, Susan. 1983. "Co nte mpo rary Ethnic Mo bilization ." Annua l Review of Sociology 9:355-74 . Parkin , Frank . 1968. Middle C lass Radicalism: The Social Bases of the British Campaignfor N uclearDisarmament. Manchester: Manchester Uni versity Press. Porritt , Jon ath on . 1985. Seeing Green: T he Politics of Ecology Exp lained. Oxfo rd: Basil Blackwell. Rejai, Mostafa, ed. 1971. D ecline of Ideology ? Chicago : Ald ine. Shils, Edward . 1955. "T he End of Ideology?" Encounter 5:52-5 8. Snow , David A., and Robert D. Benford. 1988. " Ideology, Fram e Reson ance, and Parti cipant Mobili zation . " In From S tructure to Action, edited by Bert Klanderm ans, Han speter Kri esi, and Sidney Tarro w . Vol. 1 of International Social Movement Research. Gr eenwi ch, Co nn .: JAI Pr ess. Snow, David A., and Cy nthia Phillip s. 1982. " T he Chang ing Self-Ori entati ons of Co llege Students: From Instituti on to Impu lse." Social Science Quarterly 63:462-76. Snow , David A., E . Burk e Rochford , Jr. , Steven K . Worden , and Robert D. Benford . 1986. " Frame Alignm ent Pr ocesses, Mi cromobili zation , and Movement Parti cipation. " American Sociological Review 51: 464- 81. Tarrow, Sidney. 1983. S truggling to Reform: Social Movements and Policy Change during Cy cles of Protest. Ithaca: Co rne ll Uni versit y Pr ess. Til ly, C harles. 1979. " Reperto ires of Co ntentio n in Am erica and Brit ain: 1750-1 830. " In T he Dy namics of Social Movements, edited by M ayer N . Zald and John D. McC arth y, pp . 126- 55. Ca m bridge , M ass. : Winthro p. Turn er, Lowell R. 1991. D emocracy at IMlrk: Changing World Markets and the Future of Labor Unions. Ith aca: Co rne ll U niversity Press . Turn er , Ralph H . 1969. " T he Th eme o f Co ntem po rary Social Movements." BritishJournal of Sociology 20:390-405 . - - - . 1975. " Is Th ere A Qu est for Iden tity?" Sociological Quarterly 16:148- 61. --. 1976. "T he Real Self: From Institut ion to Impul se. " AmericanJournal of Sociology 81:989-10 16. Turn er, Ralph H ., and Steven Go rdo n . 1981. " T he Bound aries of th e Self: Th e Relation ship of Auth ent icity to Inauth enti city in th e Self-C on cepti on. " In T he Self-Concept : Ad vances in T heory and Research, edited by Mervin D. Lyn ch , Ard yth A. Nor em-H ebeisen , and Kenneth Gergen, pp . 39-5 7. Ca mbridge, Mass.: Ballin ger. Zurch er, Loui s A ., Jr. , and R. Geor ge Kirkp atri ck . 1976. Citiz ensf or D ecency: Ant ipornography Crusades as S tatus Defense. Austin: Univ ersity of Texas Pr ess.
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Chapter 5
A Strange Kindof Newness: What's "New" in New Social Movements? Alberto Melucci
Insyst ems of high info rmation densit y , individuals and groups must poss ess a certain degre e of autonomy and formal capaciti es for learning and actin g that enable them to function as reliable , self-regulating units . Simultaneously, highly differentiated systems exert strong pr essur e for integration. They shift social control from the content of action to its languages , from th e ext ernal regulation of behavior to interference in the cognitive and motivational preconditions for it . Conflicts tend to arise in those areas of the system that are most directly involved in the production of information and communicative resources but at the same time subjected to intense pr essures for integration. Today, the crucial dimensions of dail y life (tim e and space, interpersonal relations , birth and death) , the satisfying of individual needs within welfare systems, and the shaping of personal and social identity in educational systems are constructed through the production and processing of information . Individuals and groups are allocated increasing amounts of information resources with which to define themselves and to construct their life spaces. At the same time, however , thes e sam e processes are regulated by a diffuse social control that passes beyond the public sphere to invade the very domain where the sense of individual action takes shape . Dimensions that were traditionally regarded as private (the body, sexuality, affective relations) , or subjective (cognitive and emotional processes, motiv es, desires), or even biological (the structure of the brain, the genetic code, reproductive capacity) now undergo social control and manipulation. The technoscientific apparatus, the agencies of information and communication , and the decision-making centers that determine policies wield their power over these domains. Yet, these are precisel y the areas where individuals and groups lay claim to their autonomy, wher e they conduct their search for identity Copyrighted Material
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by transforming them into a space where they reappropriate, selfrealize, and construct the meaning of what th ey are and what they do . Conflicts are carried forward by temporary actors who bring to light the crucial dilemmas of a society. The conflicts I describe here, which do not exhaust the range of social conflicts , concern the production and the appropriation of resources that are crucial for a global society based on information . These same processes generate both new forms of power and new forms of opposition : Conflict only emerges insofar as actors fight for control and the allocation of socially produced potential for action. This potential is no longer exclusively based on material resources or on forms of social organization; to an increasing extent, it is based on the ability to produce information. Conflicts do not chiefly express themselves through action designed to achieve outcomes in the political system. Rather, they raise a challenge that recasts the language and cultural codes that organize information . The ceaseless flow of messages only acquires meaning through the codes that order the flux and allow its meanings to be read . The forms of power now emerging in contemporary societies are grounded in an ability to "inform " that is, to "give form." The action of movements occupies the same terrain and is in itself a message broadcast to society convey ing symbolic forms and relational patterns that cast light on "the dark side of the moon" - a system of meanings that runs counter to the sense that the apparatuses seek to impose on individual and collective events. This type of action affects institutions because it selects new elites, it modernizes organizational forms, and it creates new goals and new languages. At the same time, however, this action challenges the apparatuses that govern the production of information, and it prevents the channels of representation and decision making in pluralist societies from adopting instrumental rationality as the only logic with which to govern complexity. Such rationality applies solely to procedures, and it imposes the criterion of efficiency and effectiveness as the only measure of sense . The action of movements reveals that the neutral rationality of means masks interests and forms of power; it makes clear that it is impossible to confront the massive challenge of living together on a planet, by now become a global society, without openly discussing the ends and values Copyrighted Material
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that make such cohabitation possible . Movements highlight the insuperable dilemmas facing complex societies, and by doing so force them openly to assume responsibility for their choices , their conflicts, and their limitations. By drawing on forms of action that relate to daily life and individual identity, contemporary movements detach themselves from the traditional model of political organization , and they increasingly distance themselves from political systems . Th ey mov e in to occupy an intermediate space of social life where individual needs and the pressures of political innovation mesh. Because of the particular features of movements, social conflicts can become effective only through the mediation of political actors, even though they will never restrict themselves to only this . The innovative thrust of movments, th erefore, does not exhaust itself in chang es to the political system brought about by institutional actors. Nevertheless , the ability of collective demands to expand and to find expression dep ends on th e way in which political actors are able to translate them into democratic guarantees. As my thinking in this area has developed, I have gradually abandoned the concept of class relationships . This concept is inseparably linked with capitalist industrial society , but I used it as an analytical tool to defme a system of conflictual relationships within which social resources are produced and appropriated . The notion of class relationships has been a tool with which to analyze systemic conflicts and forms of domination in complex societies. It is a traditional category that I employed to focus on the relational and conflictual dimension of the production of the basic orientations of a society. In systems like contemporary ones, where classes as real social groups are withering away, more appropriate concepts are required . This must be accomplished without ignoring the theoretical problem that the category of class relationships has left behind as its legacy. That problem can be defined as knowing what relations and what conflicts are involv ed in the production of the crucial resources of a particular system . Addressing this question is essential to an understanding of the dual articulation of autonomy and dependence that characterizes the political system and the relationship between movements and processes of representation and decision making . The theoretical problem is therefore whether there are forms of conflict that engage the constitutive logic of a system . The Copyrighted Material
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notion of mod e of production is too closely associated with economic redu ctionism . Production cannot be restricted solely to the economic-mat erial sphere; it embrac es th e entirety of social relationship s and cultural orientations . Th e problem is thus whether one can still talk of antagonist con flicts, that is, conflicts that involv e the social relationships that produc e the constitutive resource of compl ex system s: information . Analysis of exchanges internal to the political market, or th e knowledg e we have acquired concerning strat egic behavior in organiz ations and political systems , shows that many cont emporary conflicts , sometimes even violent ones , are the expression of social categories or groups claiming access to representation . A demand for inclusion in an institutional syst em of benefits may even be radical , but it implies not so much antagonis m tow ard the logic of th e syst em as pr essure for redistri bution. If no analyti cal space is left open for asking the question about antagonist conflicts, then we have not onl y erased such a qu estion and failed to resolv e the problem it raises but we have failed to demon strat e its futility . The Europ ean Left now seems to be replacin g th e Mar xist model with a model of the ex change or th e rationalit y of decision-making choic es. In the past , I have analyz ed class conflicts from within a constructivist and systemic framework already very far from th e M arxist model , but explanation of contemporary conflicts solel y in terms of exchan ge strikes me as inadequat e. I believe that th e question of the systemic nature of conflicts should be kept op en : What do es the term "s ystem logic" m ean in highly diff erentiat ed syst ems? Is it possibl e to identify antagonist conflicts without their actors being char acterized by a stable social condition? Can the arenas of conflict chang e? Th ese questions become stimul ating wor k ing hypotheses if the analytic space for their formulation is kept op en . These qu estions may serve to guid e analysis of contempor ary movements. New Movements?
This analytical framework helps to clarify a recurrent issue in th e debate of th e last ten years (Coh en 1985; Off e 1985; Klandermans , Kr iesi , and Tarrow 1988; Tarrow 1989), which concerns th e " ne w n ess" of contemporary conflicts . What is new about the new social movements? As Copyrighted Material
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one of those who introduced the term "new social movements" into sociological literature, I have watched with dismay as the category has been progressively reified. Newness is by definition a relative concept, which here has the temporary function of signaling a number of comparative differences between the historical forms of class conflict and today's emergent forms of collective action. If analysis and research fail to specify the distinctive features of the new movements, we are trapped in arid debate between the supporters and critics of newness . On one hand, there are those who claim that many aspects of contemporary forms of action can be found in previous phenomena of history and that their alleged newness derives only from the myopia of the present from which so many sociologists suffer, especially when they are emotionally involved with their subject of study . On the other hand, the defenders of the newness of contemporary movements endeavor to show that these similarities are only formal and that phenomena change their meanings when set in different systems. Both the critics of the newness of new movements and the proponents of the paradigm commit the same epistemological mistake: They consider contemporary phenomena to constitute a unitary empirical object, and on this basis either seek to define their newness or deny or dispute it. When faced with the women's movement rather than the peace movement, one side in the debate tries to mark out differences with respect to the past, the other stresses continuity and comparability with previous events. The controversy strikes me as futile. Contemporary phenomena, in their empirical unity, are made up of a variety of components, and if these elements are not separated out, comparison between forms of action belonging to mutually distinct historical periods is based on an epistemological misunderstanding. It is not a question of deciding whether the empirical data observed are equivalent or comparable, instead, the question is whether their meaning and the place they occupy in the system of social relations can be considered to be the same. Thus, it becomes extremely difficult to decide, for example, how far the modern women's movement, as a global empirical phenomenon, is new compared with the first feminist movements of the nineteenth century . In order to make this kind of comparison we must distinguish, within the overall empirical object, among different orientations of action (for example, the presence or absence of a conCopyrighted Material
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flictu al attitude, dimen sion s of solida rity or of agg rega teness , a br each or otherwise of th e system's com pa tibility limit s). We must distin gui sh also amo ng th e vario us sys tems of socia l relation ship s com prising th e action. Seen in th ese term s, th e wo me n 's m ovem ent of th e nineteenth cen tury , lik e its co ntem po rary co unte rpa rt, is a com pos ite and hetero gen eou s ph en om en on . Thu s, rath er th an com pa re two ethical objec ts in th eir en tirety, one can relate certain, ana lytically defined aspec ts of th e form er w ith aspects of the latt er and discern sim ilarities and differen ces (Melucc i 1984, 1989, 1991). Paradoxica lly , th e result of th e deb ate on new m ovem en ts has been th at th e idea of m ovem ent s-as-p erson ages h as fade d. C ontem po rary m ovem ents , like all collective ph en om en a, brin g togethe r for m s of action th at invo lve vario us levels of th e social struc ture . Th ey entail different p oint s of v iew . Th ey bel on g to different histori cal period s. We mu st seek to und erst and , therefor e, thi s multiplicit y of synch ro nic an d diachronic elem ents . T hen we can exp lain how th ey co m bine int o th e con crete unit of a collective acto r. Ever y em pirical ph en omenon of fers us a cross section of a social struc ture, rather like a split in a ro ck revea ls its inn er com pos ition and stra ta . Ju st as a photog raph of th e rock as a w ho le canno t be confuse d w ith the mi ne ra ls an d stra ta th at compose it, so collective ph enom en a do no t disclose th eir m eanin g to us if we only consider th em in th eir to tality . Instead , we mu st ins pect th e different orien tations pr esen t in th em (conflict ua l, non con flictual, solidary , ato mize d), the different levels of socie ty affected by th e action (for exa mp le, mo des of pr odu ction , polit ical systems, life wo rlds), an d th e diffe rent hist or ial peri od s con dense d int o th at part icular ph en om en on . Ju st as one mu st exp lain how th e m inerals and strata of th e rock have com bine d to crea te that parti cular geo log ical form ation , so we mu st cons ide r collective actio n as a result and n ot as a point of dep artur e. Th e task of th e ana lyst is to explain ho w thi s outcome has been collectively cons tru cted, ho w it is maint ained , an d , perh aps , how it alters over tim e. H aving clarifi ed this epistem olog ical pr emis e, we m ay still ask ourselv es wh ether a new paradi gm of collecti ve actio n is taking sha pe . We do not ask thi s in an em pirical sense, th at is, in term s of th e ob serve d ph en om en on as a w hole, but ana lytically, th at is, in term s of certain levels or elem ent s of actio n . We mu st ask ours elves, th erefor e, if th ere are dim en sion s to th e n ew form s Copyrighted Material
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of action that we should assign to a systemic context other than that of industrial capitalism. This question is dismissed by critics of new movements, like Charles Tilly or Sidney Tarrow, who place these phenomena on an exclusively political level. This kind of reductionism eliminates from the field of scientific inquiry the question of the appearance of a new paradigm of collective action: Do contemporary movements reveal systemic conflicts that are unrelated to those of industrial capitalism? This question disappears from the scene without any detailed or well-argued answer in the negative . Moreover, those specifically social dimensions of action that are so significant for the new movements are ignored. This gives rise to a myopia of the visible that concentrates exclu sively on the measurable features of collective action -that is, their relationships with political systems and their effects on policies while it neglects or undervalues all those aspects of the action of movements that consist in the production of cultural codes. This myopia ignores the reality that the elaboration in daily life of alternative meanings for individual and collective behavior is the principal activity of the hidden networks of contemporary move ments and the condition for their visible action. In fact, when a movement publicly confronts the political apparatus on specific issues, it does so in the name of new cultural models created at a less noisy and less easily measurable level of hidden action . Do contemporary collective phenomena comprise antagonist conflicts that are systemic in nature, or are these phenomena of social margination, of aggregate behavior, of adjustment by the political market? This general question can only be answered by first exploring alternative explanations for collective action, for example, in terms of dysfunctions or crisis (Alberoni 1977; Moscovici 1981; Turner and Killian 1987), or in terms of political exchange (Pizzorno 1978, 1985). Many contemporary conflicts can be explained on the basis of the workings of the political market, as the expression of excluded social groups or categories pressing for representation (Tilly 1978, 1986; Tarrow 1989). Here there is no antagonistic dimension to the conflict, there is only pressure to join a system of benefits and rules from which one has been excluded. If political boundaries are rigid, the conflict may even be violent (Gam son, Fireman, and Rytina 1982; Gamson 1990). However, it need not necessarily entail antagonism against the logic of the system but may, instead, express a demand for the Copyrighted Material
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different distribution of resources or for new rules (McCarthy and Zald 1977, 1981; Jenkins 1983). Similarly, a poorly functioning organization may be subject to even intense conflict , the aim of which, however, is to reestablish the proper functioning of the organization itself. The student movements of the late 1960s and more recent ones in various European countries (Spain 1987, France and Italy 1990) contained a common rejection of the authoritarian behavior of the educational system and a demand for greater efficiency and relevance. Having exhausted the explanatory capacity of these dimen sions, we still need to ask ourselves whether everything has been accounted for. We must preserve sufficient theoretical space in which the question of systemic conflicts can be formulated. Otherwise, the issue will have been glossed over without being given an answer or proved to be useless. Social scientists are still heirs to a tradition that attributes this logic to "structures," regardless of the day-to -day relations entered into by actors as they construct the meaning of their action . The logic of a system is not necessarily to be looked for in largescale interests or in the more visible forms of power; it is also to be found at the more simple levels of social life, where actors interact to define the possibilities and constraints of their action . Today , as overarching explanations (for example, global explana tions of the logic of capitalism) begin to disappear, their place is taken by a kind of theoretical retreat into explanation of social relationships couched solely in terms of exchange, or into a purely terminological rearrangement of previous theories . Thus, the change under way in contemporary systems is now only referred to in allusive terms (complex, postindustrial , late capitalist society) . The assumption is that these define a logic significantly different from that of industrial capitalism. This move neglects or suppresses the theoretical problems that this assumption incurs . The question of the existence of antagonistic conflicts with systemic scope , however, keeps open a number of questions that theoretica l analysis must now address. For instance, a theoretical question of major importance is whether one can conceive of a dominant logic that does not necessaril y manifest itself in a global and overarching form , but which instead distributes itself among various areas of the system to produce a wide variety of arenas and actors of conflict . This is a logic to be identified not just in the Copyrighted Material
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functional workings of the great apparatuses but, as the ethnomethodologists have taught us, in daily interaction. Facing these questions forces us to leave behind the dualistic legacy of the nineteenth century that opposed, for example, structures and representations, or systems and actors (Giddens 1984; Crozier and Friedberg 1977). We must rethink social action into the process by which meaning is constructed through interaction (Neisser 1976; Von Foerster 1973; Watzlawick 1984; Von Glazersfeld 1985). It is actors who, through their relations, produce and recognize the sense of what they are doing . But interaction is never an entirely overt process. It lies within the field of possibili ties and constraints that actors observe and utilize. Domination and power are not metaphysical realities lying outside the games that actors play; they are the most solid, permanent, and unbalanced forms of such games. Conflicts, therefore, act as signals of both the constructed nature of social action and its tendency to crystallize into structures and systems . Information Societies
Where, then, can we locate the action of contemporary movements? Through an ever-growing interlacement of economic structures, complex societies produce apparatuses of political regulation and cultural agencies . Material goods are produced by information systems and symbolic universes controlled by huge organizations. They incorporate information and become signs circulating through markets of worldwide proportions (Touraine 1971, 1978, 1984; Habermas 1984). Conflicts move from the economic-industrial system to the cultural sphere. They focus on personal identity, the time and space of life, and the motivation and codes of daily behavior . Conflicts lay bare the logic now gaining its sway over highly differentiated systems . These systems allocate increasing amounts of resources to individuals, who use them to become autonomous loci of action; but the systems also exact increasing integration . In order to maintain themselves, they must extend their control by regulating the deep -lying sources of action and by interfering with the construction of its meaning. Contemporary conflicts reveal the contradictions in this process and bring to the fore actors and forms of action that cannot be fitted into the con Copyrighted Material
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ventional categories of industrial conflict or competition among interest groups . Th e production and reappropriation of meaning seem to lie at th e core of cont emporary conflicts; thi s understand ing requir es a careful red efinition of what a social movement is and w hat forms of action displa y its pr esenc e. In the cour se of hist ory , soci eties have run through th e gam ut of th e resourc es that driv e every living syst em (m att er , energy , information). Th ere have been societies stru ctur ed on material resourc es and societies that have dep ended on energy for th eir grow th (steam and electricit y as th e engin es of industrialization) . Now, societies exist that rely on informati on for th eir survival, control of th e env ironme n t, expans ion into spac e, an d th e delicate equilibrium that pr eserves them from tot al w ar. Th e microel ectronic revolution has made it possible to concentrat e enorm ous quantities of circuits int o spac es that were unthinkabl y small tw ent y-fiv e years ago . Thi s has not onl y transform ed th e size of com puters but has brought a staggering increase in th e speed at w hich inform ation can be process ed and an enor mous expansion in the amount of data that can be stor ed . Parallel advances in communic ation technologies m ean that information can be collect ed , process ed, and transmitt ed in fractions of a secon d and through limitl ess space. What are th e featur es of an informati on so ciety? First , the tr an sformations mentioned ab ove have accentuat ed th e reflexive, artificial , and constru cted charact er of so cial life . Most exp eriences oflif e in comp lex societies are exp erienc es " to the nth degree ." In other words, they take place in cont exts that are produced by social action , broadcast by th e media , and internalized and enacted in a sort of involute spiral that turns realit y into a m emory or a dream . Most of the trivial activiti es of daily life are alr ead y marked by and depend on th e impact of transformations in the sphere of information. New technologi es incorporat e an increasing quantit y of information and contribut e in turn to th e massive expansion of information output . Her e, too , a spiral proc ess seems to multiply the reflexi ven ess of social action . Anoth er feature of an information soci ety is th e planetarization of th e system . Th e circulation of inform ation ties th e world syst em togeth er and rais es new transnation al problems over the con tro l, circulation, and exchan ge of inform ation. At th e same tim e, it inflat es th e issues and arenas of conflict into worldwide Copyrighted Material
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proportions. The geographical localization of a problem is of secondary importance compared with its symbolic impact on the planetary system. The processes of globalization reactivate ethnic and national-based forms of action that seek to give a stable and recognizable basis to identity. Old national questions, processes that were interrupted or historically repressed by the rise of the nation-state are, paradoxically, revitalized by the formation of a global space. Ethnic symbolism and concrete reference to a motherland lay a foundation for the development of a culture and a language for the identity of individuals and groups in a space that has lost its traditional boundaries. Ethnic -national movements are both the last residues of the process of modernization and the signal that modernism is being left behind . In a system whose most advanced sectors employ over 50 percent of the population in activities involving the production, processing, and circulation of information, this basic resource structures social life. Information is a symbolic and therefore reflexive resource . It is not a thing; it is a good which to be produced and exchanged presupposes a capacity for symbolization and decodification. It is a resource that becomes such for the society as a whole only when other needs have been satisfied and when the capacity for symbolic production has been sufficiently freed from the constraints of reproduction. The notion of "post-material society" captures, at least in part , these transformations in progress. Systems that increasingly rely on information resources presume the acquisition of a material base and the ability to build symbolic universes endowed with autonomy (which, in turn , become conditions for the reproduction or the broadening of the material base itself). Information does not exist for a society independently of the human capacity to perceive it . Being able to use a reflexive resource of this kind depends on the biological and motivational structure of humans as transmitters and receivers of information . The massive investment that complex societies make in biological research, in research into the brain and the motivational and relational mechanisms of behavior , demonstrates that the role of information as a decisive resource entails greater human intervention in inner nature. It requires an increased capacity for self-reflection, which reaches the point of the production of reproduction , the Copyrighted Material
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point at which int erf erence in th e deep biological stru cture of the species begins . If inform ation is characterized by the spe ed of its circulation and its rapid obsolesc enc e, it becomes crucially important to control the codes by which mutable information is organized and int erpreted . Increasingly , knowledge is less a knowledge of content s and more an ability to codify and to decode messages. Information is linear and cumulative; it constitutes the quantitative base of the cognitive process. Knowl edg e structures ; it establishes relations, links , and hierarchies. Th ere is a terrifying widening of the gap between these two levels of experienc e and what used to be called wisdom . Wisdom has to do with the perception of meaning and its integration into individual exist enc e. Wisdom is the ability to maintain an integral core of exp eri enc e in one 's relations with oneself , with others , and with the world. As information becom es th e cru cial resource for complex systems, thes e three levels progressively separate. Control over the production, accumulation , and circulation of information depends on control over codes. This control is not equally distribut ed, howev er, and access to knowl edg e becomes the terrain wher e new forms of pow er, discrimination , and conflict come into being . Simultaneousl y , th e sense of individual experi enc e, that is, th e ability to incorporat e th e increasing quantity of information transmitt ed and received into an interior principle of unity , becomes increasingly fragile . A split op ens between the realm of instrumental knowledge , which efficientl y manipulates the symbolic codes that select, order , and dire ct information, and wisdom as the integration of meaning into personal experi en ce. The result is the search for identity , the quest for self that addresses the fundamental regions of human action : the bod y, the em o tions, th e dimensions of experience irreducible to instrumental rationality. This search allows the rediscov ery of an irremediable oth erness (other people, the Other, th e sacr ed) , a silent void that escapes th e ceaseless flux of encod ed messages. In this closedness and em ptin ess, we seek to fit back together the scattered fragments of a human exp erience that is con stantl y aware that it stands on the brink between life and death. To en counter the power of human action that transforms the world and that int ervenes even in inner natur e is simultaneously to encount er its limits . This awaren ess may tak e the form of a return to organized religion (the Copyrighted Material
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resurgence of sects and fundamentalisms), but it may open the way for a desacralized experience of the sacred and a new search for identity. Information is difficult to control because it spreads through many different channels : language or interpersonal communication, the objects that incorporate information, or a more elaborate corpus of symbolic kind. Unlike other physical goods , informa tion can be divided without losing its quality . It can be multiplied and divided among various actors without affecting its specific content . If power in complex societies is based on the control of information, it is potentially a very fragile kind of power, because the simple acquisition of information puts the actors in a communicative relation on the same level. Power cannot be exercised, therefore , solely over the content of communications and over the manifest expressions of action . To be effective, power must shift its basis and take control of codes. Codes become formal rules , the organizers of knowledge, the new foundation of power. Wisdom fades away and a search for meaning seems senseless. Its place is taken by self-justifying, operational expertise. The codes on which the new forms of power build and develop themselves are invisible; the possibility itself of speaking and communicating is already organized within them. The risk is that there is no discourse other than that which privileged areas and groups in the system control through their power of naming and the monopoly that they seek to impose on language. Information is no longer a resource circulating among all actors; they cannot exchange it and they cannot cumulatively build their potential for knowledge . Instead, information becomes a system of empty signs, the key to which has been lost or hidden . The signs no longer concern themselves with their meaning . Simultaneously, the potentially limitless extension of information increases the margins of uncertainty for the entire system. Uncertainty derives first from the difficulty of establishing nexuses in the enormous mass of information that we transmit and receive. This difficulty derives from the fact that the passage from information to knowledge is not guaranteed; indeed , sometimes the deluge of information actually impedes knowledge. Uncertainty affects the meaning of individual action because the disproportionate growth of information increases the options but also Copyrighted Material
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m akes th e decision difficult . The individu al ans wer to the qu estion , Wh o am I? becom es p robl em ati c. As a result , com plex sys tems are requir ed to pr odu ce decisions in orde r to redu ce un cert aint y . An inf orm ation sys tem expand s its decision -m akin g cap acity to keep pac e w ith thi s requir em ent to cop e with un cert aint y . It assum es th e featur es of a decision al, contrac tual sys tem: decision al becau se redu cin g unc ertaint y m eans assum ing th e risk of th e decision ; con trac tual because, in o rder to decide, agree m en t mu st be reached over the ru les of th e game . Un certaint y cannot be reduc ed ex cept by m akin g decision s and by agreeing on th e fram ework wi thi n w hic h th ese decisions are to be reached . Th e level of un cert aint y cons tan tly ren ew s itself and expands , in part because th e decision s crea te new probl ems even as th ey resolve th e old ones. Th e decision al and con tractual dim ensi on s bec om e central to the social life of com plex systems. In other wo rds , con tempo rary societies mu st continua lly establish and renew th e pacts tha t bind th em to gether an d guide their actio n. Thi s applies both to soc iety as a w hole and to indi viduals and gr oups . Individu ally and socially pr odu ced identity must constantly cope with th e un cert aint y created by th e ceaseless flow of inf ormat ion , by th e fact th at indi vidu als belon g sim u ltan eously to a plur ality of systems, by th e variety of th eir spatiotem po ral fram es of referen ce. Identit y mu st be for ever reestablish ed and renegot iated . Th e search for identit y becom es a rem ed y against th e opa city of th e system , aga ins t th e unc ert aint y that constantly con strain s action (Pizzo rn o 1987). Pr odu cin g ident ity m eans steppin g up th e flow of inform ation from th e sy stem an d m akin g it mor e stabl e and cohe ren t. Producin g identit y contribu tes to the stabilization or m oderniz ation of th e system itself. It is not only to th e requir em ent of secur ity an d con tinui ty th at thi s search for identit y responds . It also p rovid es resour ces for in divi duatio n and ena bles indi vidu als to per ceive them selves as distin ct from others. In th e dep th of this separat en ess, indi vidual s dis cover th e capacity to reject th e dominant codes and to reveal their qu estion able pow er. Th ey recogni ze th em selves as produ cer s of m eaning and th ey are ena bled to cha llenge th e m anipul ation of m eaning by th e apparatus . In system s of thi s kind, can we still talk of a dominant logic? Copyrighted Material
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Certainly the spatial metaphors that characterized industrial culture (base/superstructure, centrality/marginality) are increasingly inadequate to describe the workings of centerless, and by now headless, complex societies. The decentralization of the loci of power and conflict makes it more difficult to identify central proc esses and actors. Does this mean that we must renounce any attempt to identify dominant logic? Does this mean that in complexity everything becomes the same as everything else? A logic of dominance is not in contradiction with the idea of complexity. Contemporary societies have a dominant logic, but the site of this logic changes constantly. The areas and levels of a system that insure its continuity may change in time, just as the loci of conflict vary. Power does not inhere once and for all in certain structures; its concrete manifestations in the form of actors and relations are not definitive. Conflicts, too, may involve different actors and different sectors of the system. This is not to imply, however, that all forms of malcontent are equivalent , or that every form of social agitation expresses conflicts that have systemic scope. There are conflicts that strike at the logic of the system . Although addressing a circumscribed area, they bring to the surface the crucial dilemmas of complexity, and the power forms that such complexity produces, and render them visible to society as a whole. Symbolic Challenges
Contemporary movements have passed from sequence to coexistence. Slices of experience, past history, and memory coexist within the same empirical phenomena . They become working components in the single action system of the movement. The traces of the past that persist in contemporary phenomena are not simply legacies of history or residues on which new accretions build themselves; they help to shape patterns of collective action in which historical and cultural elements coexist or blend. In what has been called the ecological movement, for example, we find traditional forms of resistance to the impact of modernization coexisting with a religious fundamentalism that draws its renewed energy from the appeal to Nature, pressures for a new ethical code regulating humanity 's relationship with Nature, and political demands for the Copyrighted Material
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democratic control of energy policies . All these elements are blended tog eth er, perhaps temporarily , in that concrete actor of mobilizati on that we call a movement. Becau se of their composite nature-a synchronous arrangement of different epochs and different stag es of societal development-mod ern movem ents hold up a mirror to the system as a whole . In fact, in the gr eat scenario of the media everything becom es simultaneous : the last remnants of the archaeology of societies mix with th e most sensational images of the future . Amazon Indians being chased from th eir forest by bulldozers are as much part of the entertainm en t as films of outer space . As we watch from the comfort of our armchairs , our television screens transport us through time and space from prehistory to science fiction. Remote and unrelated experiences are juxtaposed; interchangeable signs stream past us in a pur e sequence of images without the leaps in spac e and tim e that any reality would require . Second, movements are not occasional emergencies in social life locat ed on th e margins of the great institutions; nor are they residual elements of the social order. In compl ex societies, movem ents are a permanent reality. They may be more or less visible and they may emerge as political mobilization in cyclical form (as Tarrow 1989 has done well to point out), but their existence and their effects on social relationships are neither sporadic nor transitory . In contemporary societies, a specific sector or subsystem for collective action is becoming a differentiated and stable component in the working of the system . Movements acquire a certain independence from both the daily life of individuals and from political action by creating a specific space for their actions. The differentiation of complex systems is so extensive that collective action can acquire autonomous status . Noninstitutionalized, collective action separates from those other forms of action with which it was formerly confused (political action , in particular) . In th e industrial age , social conflicts were incorporat ed into struggles for citizenship, just as in th e histor y of th e workers ' movement anticapitalistic social struggl e and the fight against th e bourgeois state coincided . Wh en th ese two levels separat e, as th ey do in cont emporary so cieties, mov em ents los e th eir ch aract er as personages en gaged in a confrontation-clash with a state for citizenship Copyrighted Material
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rights. Instead, th ey form themselv es into social net works, w here a collective identity is negoti ated and given shape . Two features of these netw orks can be id entified . Fir st, a movement network is a field of social relationships wher e, through negotiation among various groups, a collective identity is structured. In this social field, the ori entations and constraints of action are defined and redefined within the solidarity networks that link individuals together in their daily lives . Second , a mov ement net work is a terrain in which identity is recomposed and unifi ed . Networks within the movement insure a certain degree of continuity and stability in the identities of individuals and groups in a social system where this identity is constantly fragment ed or destructured. The movement provides individuals and groups with a relatively stable point of reference from which to rebuild identities split among the various memberships , roles , and time scales of social experience. The inevitable th eor etical question at this point is wh eth er contemporary movements are conflictual in character. Are th ere elements of antagonistic conflict in phenom en a so distant from th e image of the revolutionary, coll ectiv e actor that we have inherited from the past? Is conflict found in phenomena so fragm ent ed , dispersed, and interwoven that they are more like subcultures than political actors , more inclined towards expr essive action than instrumental effectiven ess? The answer lies at two differ ent levels. The first level is the orientations of the movem ent's action . Such orientations constitut e th e basis on which its collective identity is negotiated . For th e reasons set out above , a mov ement combines various orientations of action, and analysis must establish wheth er any of them are antagonistic in nature . If so , this does not exhau st the featur es of th e movement but indicat es th e pres ence of an antagonism that cannot be reduced to political exch an ge or functional adaptation. The second level reflects the concrete operation of the mo vem ent 's networks . This is the level wh ere relation s structure th emselves and wher e organization and action expr ess a conflictual messag e. Let us consider the first point. Drawing on m y em pirical work (Melucci 1984) , I have found th at orientations of action are both general and specific in character. Th ey are, in fact , th e point of union betwe en a particular actor an d th e field of opportuniti esconstraint s to which its action ref ers . A parti cul ar so cial con dition Copyrighted Material
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encourages conflict because it provides certain groups of people with access to central resources of the system . At the same time, it exp oses this group to pressures that affect th e formation of identity and meaning . This is the case, for example , of women or young people. In oth er cases, the factors that en cour age conflict are not associated with a stable condition but nevertheless delimit a social space (for exam ple, geographical location for certain sections of the environm entalist movement , or pr evious political and cultural history for certain sections of ecologi st or pacifist militancy, or certain areas of the feminist mov em ent) . The conflict is provoked by thes e particular conditions, but it simultaneously brings into play probl ems that concern the system 's overall logic and its dilemmas. The actor is always a specific entit y , but the social field it addresses and th e issu es it rais es compris e the entire syst em . This is th e parado x of contemporary movements: they addr ess th e whole of so ciety in th e name of a categor y or a group , or on the basis of a particul ar place within the social structur e. Being young in contem porary society ceases to be a biological condition and is incr easingl y defin ed in cultural terms. People are young not bec ause the y have a certain age, but be cause they participat e in a cultur e or life-st yle , because th ey live in a state of susp end ed animation relative to the duti es, schedules , and rules of adult life. Youth as a sym bolic condition en gages th e possibilit y and right to redefin e, to change , and to reverse choic es. This problem concerns not only young p eopl e but also soci ety at large. For syst ems that mak e change the condition of their existence , predictabilit y is an essential requir ement . The syst em promises and induces change , but it strives to keep it m easurable and therefore controll able. Becaus e of this condition of so cial suspension, young peopl e oppose this logic by appealing the reversibilit y of choices; th eir actions tak e th e form of an abs enc e of planning , living for the present, and claiming the right to belon g by choice not by allocation . Youth , th e age par ex cellen ce of ind eterminateness, openn ess, and discontinuity , becom es th e metaphor for a right to change and to self-d etermin ation that challen ges th e social rul es that impose continuity , conformit y, an d pr edictabilit y. By seeking to appropriate th e pres ent and th e right to be able to chang e things , youn g people em boody a gener al cult ur al need and th ey qu estion th e roots of th e logi c of rational instrumentalit y. For women, the profound m emory of subordin ation and enCopyrighted Material
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trapment in a body "other" than that of the dominant culture make a struggle for emancipation an important , and quantitatively perhaps the most significant, component of the movement's action. Collective action by women, however , is structured not only on the campaign for equal rights but also for the right to be different. The struggle against discrimination and for access to the economic and political market interweaves with, but is neverth eless distinct from, the struggle for difference. Being recognized as different is perhaps one of the most crucial rights at stake in postindustrial systems. Granting recognition to women entails accepting a different outlook on reality, existence in a different body, and a specific way of relating to others and to the world. In societies that exert strong pressures toward conformity , the appeal to difference has an explosive impact on the dominant logic . By claiming difference , the movement addresses women and society as a whole . At the same time, the movement's action gives women access to political and cultural markets and helps to renew them. Success in the market transforms the movement into a pressure group , segments the network , bureaucratizes some groups, and dissipates others. The movement's professionalization, however , does not affect its antagonistic nucleus but makes it more difficult to locate. This nucleus shifts toward the form of communication. The self-reflective form of the small group-which was the core of th e women's movement and preceded and fostered its public mobilization-already expresses its intention not to separate doing from meaning, or action from awareness of its significance and its emotional content. The work done by the women in the movement speaks for all of us. It shows that one cannot act publicly and effectively without a stable component of reflectiveness that constantly questions the meaning of what is being done. Communication must find room not only for the instrumental logic of efficiency but also for the feelings, uncertainties , and affective conflicts that always nourish human action . What does this privileged communication of the women 's movement, which has been engaged for so long and with such difficulty, actually express? Power and difference . Women 's confrontation with male power has taught them to recognize that difference becomes power (Gilligan 1981). Female communication contains a demand and a challenge: it asks society whether a difference without power is possiCopyrighted Material
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ble ; it tries to establish forms of communication that preserve difference. Women rely on the fema le form of communication . They know it is different from male communication. They also recog nize that it is not internally homogeneous and that it contains differences among women. When they use this form of comm unication , women in terrogate the whole of society concerning the roots of communica tion . They raise the qu estion of how diversity can be reconcil ed , whether unity in separateness is feasib le, whether, in sum, humans can communicate without oppressing each oth er. In what sense is this message antagonistic? It is antago nistic in th e sense that the system , which multiplies communica tion and lives by it, knows only two kind s of communication : identification , that is, incorporation into dominant cod es, fusion with a pow er that denies diversity ; or separateness , that is, differen ce as exclusion from all com m uni cation . Other features of femal e communication reveal its antagonistic nature . The requir ement not to lose sight of th e particula r -the value assigned to the details of experi enc e, to memories of the day-to -day , to small gestures, to events without histor y -all these are features that have been dismissed as femal e narcissism but that have, in fact, a profound ly subver sive significance. The y challenge the standardization of ex perien ce and the homog enization of time that an information society ex acts in ord er to make its procedures generally applicabl e. Not all women mobilize themselv es, however. The actors in th e movem ent are th ose wom en who have experien ced the contra dictio n betwe en , on th e one hand , promises of inclusion in the labor market, in the arena of politica l rights and equality, and , on the other , th e social costs of being a woman restricted to the immutable ro les of mother , wife , and mistr ess . Women who mobilize, th erefore , are thos e who have experienced a surplus of resourc es within the narrow confines of the female condition. They are those with higher levels of schooling ; they are those exposed to the con tradictions of welf are syst ems (edu cation , health , social security) , of which th ey are oft en agents and recipi ents . The reaction by th ese wom en takes th e form of cultur al overproduction within th e mov em ent, a symbolic wast efulness that contains a profound am bivalence. " Fem ale" activities within the movement consist of pointl ess m eetings, writ ing for its own sak e not for the Copyrighted Material
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market, apparently aimless communication, and time spent in ways incoherent with utility and efficiency. The cultivation of memory ; the search for the margins, nuances, and seams of experience; and the duplication of the same activities by a myriad of groups, with complete disregard for economies of scale , are all aspects that the dominant masculine culture judges as " sen seless." Nevertheless, it is this waste that breeds innovation, as recent years have shown . In fact, on one hand, these activities comprise one way in which the system controls uncertainty; they form a sort of enclave where haphazard experiments in innovation are conducted. The system absorbs the results of these experiments by sifting out their essence in a kind of natural selection process. But, on the other hand, this symbolic wastefulness is also the expression of an irreducible difference; it is an expression of what is "valueless" because it is too minute or partial to enter the standardized circuits of the mass cultural market. The symbolic extravagance of female output introduces the value of the useless into the system, the inalienable right of the particular to exist, the irreducible significance of inner life that no history is able to record but by virtue of which individual experience becomes the ultimate core of expenence. The women's movement is hazardously balanced between its role as a modernizing force, a role which it cannot refuse but which makes it into a pressure group, and its function as a symbolic appeal that goes beyond the female condition . In its modernizing role, the movement helps to spread the political and cultural contents of feminism , by now professionalized. Small, residual fundamentalist groups resist institutionalization while groups of intellectuals cultivate the memory of the movement. As regards its symbolic appeal, the women 's movement seems destined to deny itself as a specific actor. By giving everyone the chance to be different, it cancels its own separateness. The dichotomy " bein g yourself/being for others" seems to constitute the drama and the symbol of femaleness ; it seems to define the collective action of women as well. Environmentalist mobilizations are more visibly channels for the formation of new elites than the movements considered so far. Because of their lack of a common condition , environmentalist groups have a solidarity that is wholly symbolic in character. Here , Copyrighted Material
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too , the antagonistic level is hard to pin down because the movement's identity is largely structured by its rol e in institutional pressure and th e presence of potential new elites. This movement dir ectly confronts public polici es and decisions in an external arena of action . In doing so, it has fulfill ed a crucial function in applying pr essure that has not only influenc ed policies but altered the criteria for innovation; it has redefined priorities and recalibrated the yardstick with whi ch alternativ es are measur ed . There is, how ever , a strictly cultural dim ension to the structuring of the enviro nm entalist movement. In an artificial world , which is creat ed by the prolif eration of the instrumental capacit y for social int ervention , ther e still remain areas of shadow. That which escapes th e artificial , societ y 's construction of itself , speaks of missed chances or of possible dr eams . Th e " N atur e" to which th e mov emen t app eals symboliz es this fronti er ; it reminds the societi es th at take efficien cy and effectiveness as their operational credo of the limit s to th eir omnip otenc e. In th e ecological practice of the m oveme nt 's bas e group s, N atur e is lived , acted, and experienced by ups ett ing th e ope rationa l cod es of destructive pro duction. This minu scul e, alm ost in visible action reminds societ y that th e power th at ena bles it to pr oduc e is also the po wer that m ay destro y it ; thi s respect for th e shade, for th e limit , for th e secret rhythm s of th e cosm os w ithin and w itho ut us is the othe r , inseparabl e side to hum anit y 's urg e to discover and to create (Bateson 1972, 1979) . In thi s appea l to the shadow, to th e uns aid and the uns ayable , lies th e m ost pr ofound meanin g of th e new spiritual urgency that dri ves th e collective acti on of man y gr oup s. Where it is not a renewal of th e m essage of religi on , w he re it is not a specialized sector of th e mar ket in em otion s, spiritu al ex perience in inform ation societies is an app eal to w isdo m ; it is a call to th at encoun ter wi th th e self th at is ne ver entirely expressible in ope ratio nal cod es. Th e reint egration of hum an ex perien ce and the recomp osition of o the rne ss and its limit w ithin a unit y of som e kind m ay be the m ost significan t activity of th ese coll ective phenom ena. If acting as th e trans mi tte r and receiver of info rmation according to co dified pro cedur es an d criteria of efficiency has becom e th e rul e in inf orm atio n societies , clo sedn ess, silence, and the Copyrighted Material
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retreat into the void where the only words are those spoken to oneself constitute behavior of extraordinary subversive impact. The orientations of the action of contemporary movements therefore reveal an antagonistic nucleus. If, in information socie ties, power is exercised in the control of codes, antagonism lies in the ability to resist and, even more so, to overturn dominant codes. Antagonism lies in the ability to give a different name to space and time by developing new languages that change or replace the words used by the social order to organize our daily experience. It lies in the ability to make room for wisdom beyond knowledge, to adopt an affective rather than an instrumental reflectiveness . These are the ways movements shape and interpret the flux of information, the ways they give another name to the world. Antagonism expresses itself in the structuring of the collective actor, that is, in the way that it organizes its own solidarity. As it structures itself, the action of movements is already a challenge to the system. We can now turn our attention to the second dimension of movements, namely, the forms of organization and action as mo dalities of conflict expressed not in the content but in the form and in the process of collective action . The structure of mobilization is provisional and reversible; it is based on direct participation, which is considered a good to be used regardless of the results it achieves; it is designed to meet the needs of individuals who no longer distinguish between work time and leisure time. This structure broadcasts to the system beyond the concrete contents of the mobilization other codes that concern the definition of the individual in the collectivity. Predictable time is opposed by a reversible time that follows individual rhythms that are based on the plurality of memberships and on the requirement to experience change at first hand. Participation is seen as commitment and not as duty; it has sectorial and not global implications, but with a global concern; provisional and not life-long commitment, the circulation of individuals in different groups and organizations, are also indicators of this upsetting of codes . The features that render the challenge to the system most visible are organizational structure and internal power relations. Movements function as open spaces where constantly negotiable contracts are made. The organization must insure this negotiation; it must make sure that collective action is the outcome of a conCopyrighted Material
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tractual and reflective process . Concern for the quality of inner relations entails recognition of power relations , that is, a recognition of differences and the risks connected with them. The attempt to keep this dimension under control by intensifying self-reflective activity runs the risk that groups will close in on themselves . At the same time, however , it provides evidence of the contractual and reflective character of the relation. People are not what they are but who they choose to be. They do not belong to a group or to a project becaus e they share an objectiv e condition or because they have made a definitive, irrev ersible choice. They do so because they continue to choose and to assum e responsibility for that choice. This implicit contractuality is also th e basis for the relation between more prof essionalized groupings and the rest of the movem ent . Although the former help to structure the collective identity and to nurture it , th ey also know that only by providing certain kinds of symb olic goods , and only by respecting the model of relations described abov e, will they be abl e to maintain their role. The organizational structur e of the networks and relations of power stand in opposition to th e domin ant codes. They say, in fact , that making power visible does not m ean nullifying it, but it do es place it und er control. Th ey also remind us that pacts with an invisibl e power are always false. They reject a logic of exchange that do es not make its asymm etry ex plicit. This challenge is profoundly significant in syst ems that hide and neutralize the loci of power . The antagonistic nucleus that I have described is flanked by other meanings . The search for antagonistic meanings of action is a product of analysis , and it is conduct ed once other explanator y crit eria have been employed. It is used to explain those elements of behavior that have resisted explanation in terms of , for ex am ple, exchange relations or relationships bas ed on strategic calculation . Th ere are dimensions to th e action of contemporar y movements that cannot be explained by th ese paradigms . In particular , it is impossible to reduce th e incr easingl y mor e formal and self-reflective charact er of group action , which seems to free its elf of the contents that it m ay assume at any particul ar mom ent , to an explanation in terms of exchang e relations. Such a deep con cern with th e form of action, with its cha racter as a co de, with its nature as Copyrighted Material
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a process, is difficult to reduce to analysis in terms of cost -benefit calculation. It requires other explanatory criteria . A fruitful approach here might be analysis of the antagonistic meanings of the action. The hypothesis is that conflict arises over the criteria themselves by which meaning is created. What is at issue in a conflict is not the terms of the exchange, or the best way to conduct it, but the actual meaning of the exchange itself. At the same time, the antagonistic nucleus that engages formal codes is not a separate entity from the concrete contents that action assumes . The more the action coincides with its contents, that is, the more the group coincides with what it does and not how it does it, the more the challenge declines in strength and the more the group is institutionalized. The spiritual quest becomes a church; youth culture becomes a fashion that the media market appropriates and rapidly consumes; the issues of feminism become a renewal of customs and morals; ecology becomes a good traded on the political market. Institutionalization shifts the arena of conflicts to other issues and other actors. Questions and social groups that once stood at the center of the conflict find a few years later that they have become new elites, modernizers of the market, or reformers of the political system. In the meantime, in other areas of the system , other conflictual issues come to the fore which, in different ways and by mobilizing new actors, restate the fundamental dilemmas of complexity amid the conflicts inherent to high-density information systems. The field of conflict, in fact, comprises a number of central issues that have a certain perma nence and stability, whereas the actors who give voice to these issues change quite rapidly. We can assume that a high degree of variability in the action of a group will favor autonomy between the forms and contents of action and a greater capacity to utilize the antagonistic impact of codes. The antagonism of movements is eminently communicative in character. It offers other symbolic codes to the rest of society, codes that subvert the logic of the dominant ones. It is possible to identify three models of communicative action. Prophecy: The message is that the possible is already real in the direct experience of those proclaiming it. The struggle for change is already incarnate in the life and in the structure of the group . Prophecy is a striking example of the contradiction beI.
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tween th e form and th e content of action I spoke of abov e. Prop hets always speak in th e nam e of someon e else, but they cannot help but pr esent th emsel ves as th e model of th e m essage the y are proclaiming . Thus , as mo vem ents battl e to up set th e cod es, the y spread cultures and life-styles th at en ter th e m ark et or are institu tionaliz ed . 2. Parado x . Th e authorit y of th e dominant through its exas pe ration or its overturnin g .
code app ears
3. Repr esentation . Th e mes sag e tak es th e form of a symbolic repr odu ction that sep arates th e cod es from the cont ents that habitually m ask th em . It m ay combin e with the abo ve two forms. Cont emp or ary m ovem ents mak e use of such form s of repre sentation as th eat er , video, an d th e m edi a.
U sing th ese thr ee model s, m ovem ent s functi on for th e rest of society as a speci fic kind of m edium, the chie f function of w hich is to reveal w ha t a sys tem does not say of itself, th e kernel of silence, of violence, or of arbitrary pow er th at dominant codes alway s compri se. Mo vem ents are m edia that speak thr ough action. It is not th at th ey do not say words , that th ey do not use slogans or send out m essag es; but th eir function as int erm ediaries bet ween the dilemm as of th e syst em and people 's dail y lives is mainl y m anifest in what they do . Th eir pr im ary m essage is the simple fact that th ey exi st and act . T his tells societ y at larg e th at there is a probl em that invol ves everyo ne and around w hi ch new form s of power are being ex ercised . Th e pow er stru ctur e says that their solution to th e probl em is th e onl y on e possible while it hid es its specific int ere sts and its cor e of arbitrary po wer and oppression . Movem ents , doin g what th ey do and in th e way that th ey do it, ann oun ce that oth er avenu es are op en , that th ere is always another horn to th e dil emma, and that the needs of individu als or of gro ups cannot be reduced to the definiti on th at po wer give s them. Th e action of movem ents can be seen as symbol and as communication . This does aw ay with the old distin ction between th e instru m ental an d th e ex pressive m eaning o f action , for in contemporar y mo vem ents th e result s of action and th e indi vidu al ex pe rien ce of new cod es tend to coincid e. Action , ove r and above producing calculable outcom es, chan ges th e rul es of co m m unicatio n . Copyrighted Material
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Hidden Networks and Visible Action
Contemporary movements display a twopole pattern of functioning. The normal situation is a network of small groups submerged in daily life that require personal involvement in the creation and experimentation of cultural models. These networks only come into the open over specific problems, for example, mobilizations for peace. Although the hidden network is composed of small, separate groups, it is a circuit of exchanges. Individuals and information circulate through the network, and there are specific agencies (the professionalized nuclei) that insure a certain amount of unity . The hidden network allows multiple membership; is part-time with respect to both the life course and to the amount of time it absorbs; and requires the personal commitment and affective solidarity of those who belong to it. The bipolar model shows clearly that latency and visibility have different functions and that they are reciprocally linked. Latency makes the direct experience of new cultural models possible, and it encourages change by constructing meanings and producing codes. Its cultural output often challenges dominant social pressures. Latency is a sort of underground laboratory for antagonism and innovation. When the small groups come out into the open, they do so in order to confront political authority on specific grounds. Mobilization has a multilayered symbolic function . It proclaims opposition against the logic that guides decision making with regard to a specific public policy . At the same time, it acts as a medium that reveals to the rest of society the connection between a specific problem and the logic dominating the system. Third, it proclaims that alternative cultural models are possible, specifically those that its collective action already practices and displays. The mobilization unifies the thrust of cultural innovation, antagonistic demands, and other levels that comprise the movement's action. These two poles are reciprocally linked to each other. Latency makes visible action possible because it provides the solidarity resources it needs and builds the cultural framework within which mobilization takes place. Visible action strengthens the hidden networks, boosts solidarity, creates further groups, and recruits new militants who , attracted by the movement's public action, join its hidden networks. Mobilization also encourages the instituCopyrighted Material
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tion alizat ion of cert ain frin ge elem ents in the movement an d of new elites that have formed in the area . For this model to persist and to operat e effectively , cer tain conditions have to be fulfilled . Thes e includ e: I . A high degre e of varia bility in the environment that prevents the groups in the hidd en network from closing in on them selves.
2. High elasticit y in the political system , which does not obstruct the delicate phases of passag e from one pole to the other. 3. Ar ea agencies and umbrella
organizations , or temporary organizations, able to insure internal communications (during latency , mainly the former) and ext ernal communications (during mobilizati on , mainly th e latt er) . These forms of leadership are compati ble with a multifac eted structuring of groups and does not impede the typic al structuring of th e area. The two -poles model seems to indic ate that public mobiliza tion is the moment of direct contact w ith political systems. In latenc y phases , only the professionaliz ed nuclei maintain chiefly instrumenta l contacts with some sector of the political system . If th e goal of th e movement is mainly symbolic in nature , wh y should it engage in exchange relations with the political system , which are always part of a logic of representation? The main reason seems to be that collectiv e actors must pr eserve areas of auton om y from the system , are as in w hi ch they can undertake change. This is th e laboratory wh ere formal models are created and which th e movem ent fills with cont ent addressed to specifi c goals . Thus , a relationship with the political system , in th e form of some kind of exchang e, is a condition for th e safeguarding or th e extension of this autonom y (Keane 1988). A relationship of thi s kind can onl y come about by est ablishing a pact; this pact is not th e basis of the exc ha n ge but onl y a condition for its furth eranc e. This logic is first delin eated in the action of umbr ella org anizations and agen cies as th e mobilization pro ceeds. Th e pact- a cir cum scrib ed and reversibl e exc ha nge with the institution s-simult aneousl y mak es pow er visible. Power that is usu ally neutr alized by pro cedur es com es out into the open to Copyrighted Material
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take responsibility, that is, to exercise authority , in a pact. Thus, it becomes possib le for movements to measure the distance that separates them from power, as well as to accept, disenchanted, the confrontation . Through these means it becomes possible for society to openly address the dilemmas that social movements have uncovered through their action, as well as to create or adapt the political institutions best suited to cope with those dilemmas. References Alberoni, Francesco. 1977. Movimento e istituzion e. Bologna : II Mulino. Bateson, Gregory . 1972. Steps to an Ecology of Mind . New York: Ballantine Books. --. 1979. Mind and Nature. New York : Dutton . Cohen, Jean L. 1985. "Strategy or Identity : New Theoretical Paradigms and Contemporary Social Movements." Social Research 52,4:663-716 . Crozier , Michel, and Erhard Friedberg . 1977. L 'acteur et Ie systeme. Paris: Seuil. Gamson , William A. 1990. Th e Strategy of Social Protest. 2d ed . Belmont, Calif.: Wadsworth. Gamson, William A ., B. Fireman, and S. Rytina . 1982. Encounters with Unjust Authority . Homewood, III.: Dorsey Press . Giddens , Anthony . 1984. The Constitution of Society . Berkeley : University of California Press. Gilligan, Carol. 1981. In a Different UJice. Cambridge, Mass .: Harvard Univer sity Press. Habermas, Jiirgen . 1984. The Theory of Communicative A ction. Boston: Beacon Press . Jenkins, J. Craig . 1983. " Resource Mobilization Theory and the Study of Social Movements ." Annua l Review of Sociology 9:527-53. Keane, John, ed . 1988. Civil Society and the State . London: Verso. Klandermans, Bert, Hanspeter Kriesi, and Sidney Tarrow, eds . 1988. From Structure to Action. Vol. 1 of International Social Movement Research. Greenwich , Conn .: JAI Press . McCarthy, John D., and Mayer N . Za ld. 1977. " Resource Mobilization and Social Movements: A Partial Theory. " American Journal of Sociology 82 , 6:1212-41. --. 1981. Social Movements in Organizational Society. New Brunswick, N.J. : Transaction Books . Melucci, Alberto. 1984. Altri Codici. Bologna : II Mulino. --. 1989. Nomad s of the Present. Philadelphia : Temple University Press. --. 1991. L 'Inuenzione del presente. 2d ed. Bologna : II Mulino . Moscovici, Serge . 1981. L'Ag e desfoules . Paris : Fayard . Neisser, Ulric. 1976. Cognition and Reality . San Francisco: Freeman. Offe, Claus . 1985. "N ew Social Movements : Challenging the Boundari es of Institutional Politics ." Social Research 52, 4:817-68 . Pizzomo, Allessandro . 1978. "Political Exchange and Collective Identit y in In-
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130 dustri al Co nflict." In T he Resurgence of C lass Conflict in l#s tern Europe since 1968, edited by C. C rouc h and A. Pizzorn o . Lon don : Macmillan. --. 1985. "O n the Rationality of th e Democ ratic C ho ice." Telos 63 (Spring): 41- 69. --. 1987. " C on sider azioni sulle teori e dei m ovim enti socia li." Problemi del Socialismo, n .s. 12:11-27 . Tarro w , Sidney . 1989. D emocracy and Disorder. Ox ford: C larendo n . T illy, C harles. 1978. From Mobiliz ation to Revolution. Readin g , M ass.: AddisonWesley. --. 1986. T he Contentious French. Cam bridge, M ass. : H arvard Un iversity Press . Tour aine, Alain. 1971. La Production de la societe. Paris: Seuil. --. 1978. La UJix et Ie regard. Paris: SeuiJ. -- . 1984. Le Retour de l'acteur. Paris: Fayard . Turner, Ralph H ., and Lewi s M . Killian . 1987. Collective Behavior. 3d ed . Englewood C liffs, N .J.: Pre ntice Ha ll. Von Foerster, Heinz . 1973. "O n Cons truc ting Realit y." In Environmental D esign Research, edited by W.F.E. P reiser. Stro udsbo urg , Penn .: Dow den, Hut chinson, and Ross. Von Glasersfeld , Erns t. 1985. "Re cons truc ting th e Co ncept of Know ledge ." Cahiers de la Fondation A rchivesJean Piaget 6. Watzlawick, Paul, ed. 1984. T he Invented Reality. N ew York: N ort on .
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Collective Actors in New Social Movements
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Chapter 6
Activ ists,Authorities, and Media Framing of Drunk Driving John D. McCarthy
Even prote st mo vement s in th e Unit ed States tend to follow issue-specialized and geographically fissiparous pattern s. State structur es, establish ed int erest groups and oppo sitional groups all m ay mirror on e anoth er's forms of or ganization and scop es of purpos e. - Th eda Skocpol D eath caused by drunk driv ers is the only socially acceptable form of homicide . -Candy Lightner The Drunk Driver has turned his car into a weapon , a weapon that thr eatens the lives of the inno cent . - Ronald Reagan
With the rise of nearly universal use of automobiles during the past fifty years, deaths and serious injuries associated with automobiles have escalated rapidly. Highway fatalities are chronic in all rich nations simply because the automobile is central to the everyday lives of most citizens. Driving crash deaths in the United States have totaled between forty thousand and fifty thousand a year during the last several decades . Close to on e-half of these deaths are thought to be alcohol related . Each of them has left behind grieving relatives and friends. A recent estimate of people who believe that they are victims of the " alcohol-related vehicular homicide" of a close relative or friend puts the number of immediate family members at 2.2 million people, the number of other relatives at 4.0 million, and the number of close friends at 3.6 million (Kilpatrick , Amick , and Resnick 1990, 79). Yet despite this pool of people that has existed for some time with the potential to initiate a collective search for a solution to this problem, no movement emerged , nor Copyrighted Material
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did the issue receive much media attention, until the late 1970s. If the loss of a child to a drunk driver were enough to motivate a collective search for a solution to this problem, Marilyn Sugg would have founded MADD (Mothers Against Drunk Driv ing) in North Carolina in the late 1960s. When her son was killed by a drunk driver, Sugg tried to organize a collective response to protect others exposed to the threat of drunk drivers. But events like auto fatalities must be properly interpreted to be motivating, and proper interpretations must resonate with existing communities of discourse before they can effectively orient collective action. In 1968, automobile crashes were still generally understood as accidents, largely beyond any serious measure of control. Within this interpretive context, Sugg's outrage was channeled by local officials and community leaders into auto safety activities popular at the time. The Marilyn Sugg case lacked the elements necessary to motivate collective action: an effective frame and organized constitu encies to whom that frame is accessible and resonant . According to Gamson (1990), an effective frame "has three elements: (a) it defmes the root of the problem and its solution collectively rather than individually; (b) it defines the antagonists -'us' and 'them '; and (c) it defines an injustice that can be corrected through the challenger's action" (155). More specifically, Snow et al. (1986) point out that creating an effective frame requires "fairly selfcontained but substantial changes in the way a particular domain of social life is framed, such that a domain previously taken for granted is reframed as problematic and in need of repair, or a domain seen as normative or acceptable is reframed as an injustice that warrants change." A frame must resonate with the experience of a collectivity and be accessible with its mix of crosscutting identities. In 1968, Marilyn Sugg had available neither the cultural temp late of an effective frame for reinterpreting the dominant traffic accident frame nor resonant constituencies with whom she could create one. 1 By the late 1970s, however, Candy Lightner's outrage when her daughter was killed by a drunk driver found both an existing template for an effective "killer drunk" collective action frame and a series of interlinked constituencies receptive to helping build a movement. The process of change that had so favorably trans-
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formed both the political and cultural opportunities confronting these two mothers concerned with drunk driving began with a group of American public health researchers in the late 1950s who disseminated the idea that accidents of many kinds are preventable and hence not accidents at all (Haddon, Suchman, and Klein 1964). As this idea began to be taken more seriously, public debate commenced over how to understand the potentially remediable causes of the deaths and injuries resulting from crashes involving automobiles . Several relatively coherent perspectives emerged during the several decades of claims-making that ensued . Two of themauto safety and drunk driving-provided the cultural backdrop for interpretations of automobile crashes that were widely available to the surviving victims of crashes , some of whom became the activ ists of the citizens ' movement against drunk driving. The citizen activists concerned with automobile crashes overwhelmingly adopted and, by and large, have continued to embrac e, the drunk driving perspective. And, since each perspective frames the causes of the problem differently, thereby leading its proponents to offer quite distinct remedies for reducing crashes , the one adopt ed by the activists strongly shaped their goals and strategies . As the first citizen activists began to organize, they entered a public arena dense with competing understandings of the causes of and solutions to automobile crashes and their consequences. In this essay I explain the principal origins of the auto safety and drunk driving frames , why the drunk driving frame became so powerfully appealing, and why it subsequently achieved such wide public attention. I begin by examining elements of the competing frames themselves. Frames may vary in their resonance , coherence, and sophistication. Recent thinking provides clues to the relative importance of these dimensions in understanding the differing appeal of public frames (Snow et al. 1986; Gamson 1990; Gusfield 1988b) . The relative legitimacy, power, and access to resources of those who create and publicly advocate frames should be important in explaining success in having one's chosen frame prevail over others in the public imagination (Gamson 1988). Finally, the processes of newsmaking by media actors shape attention curves; our knowledge of many of the standard operating procedures of media actors will inform the analyses as they are un folded.
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The Creation of Dominant Auto Fatality Frames
Th e frames adva nce d to ex p lain automobile crash-relat ed injuries and fatalities that have achiev ed a wide degree of public acceptan ce in the United States are "auto safety ," " drunk driving ," and , very recentl y, "public health " (Gus field 1988a).2 Ea ch emphasiz es different aspects and mak es ver y different " sense" of a similar set of " facts." Each targ ets culprits in em otive lan guag e. And , each has been adv an ced by a mor e or less organiz ed group of adv ocates. For a bri ef period in th e mid 1960s the aut o safety fram e received the m ost publi c attention. Emb edd ed in a w ides prea d fed eral regulator y effort, it thr eatened to becom e th e dominant fram e for years to com e. But toward th e end of th e 1970s drunk dri vin g began to achieve wid e attention and by the early 1980s had em erged as the dominant fram e judging by public att ention . Auto Safety
Befor e 1960 in th e Unit ed Stat es, if any com m on publi c und erstandin g of aut om obil e accidents pr evailed at all, dri ver erro r was th e dominant acco un t of cra she s (N ader 1972). " T he nut behind th e w heel" was a w idely kno wn ima ge impl yin g unskill ed , unbalan ced dri vers responsibl e for killin g and injuring th em selves and oth ers . In th e early 1960s, a loosel y connected cadr e of professional reform ers an d guerrilla bureaucrats promulgat ed a very differ ent und erstanding of th e caus es of highway injuri es and fataliti es. Ralph N ader (1972) expr essed their position: " T he hi ghwa y toll is neith er in dispute nor obs cure . The trag edy is kn own . Ho w it is int erpr eted is an othe r m att er and one w hich ha s rem ained th e principal ob stacl e to a rati on al selection of safet y strateg ies and th eir impl em ent ation " (xiii). Nad er summariz ed th e polic y age nda of th e new frame: " The aim should be to have th e autom obile industr y produ ce an autom obile that would be safe under th e assum ption that fools and drunks would driv e it " (Gusfield 1988a, 115). In the same vein, Daniel P. Moynihan , th en an em ployee of th e feder al Departm ent of Labor , and befor e becoming sen ator from th e state of New York , cont end ed: Th ere is not much evidence that the numb er of accidents can be substantially reduced simply by altering the behavior of drivers Copyrighted Material
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while maintaining a near universal driver population . . . . This leads to the basic strategy of crash protection : it is assum ed that a great many automobile accidents wil1 continu e to occur. That being the case, the most efficient way to minimize the overal1 cost of accidents is to design the interior of the vehicles so that the injuries that fol1ow the accidentsare relativel y mild . An attraction of this approach is that it could be put into effect by changing the behavior of a tiny population-the fort y or fifty executives who run the automobile industry. (Moynihan 1966, 12)
Animated by a new approach to the reduction of automobilerelated injuries and deaths, a small band of reformers coalescing around Ralph Nader was crucial in bringing it to wide public attention . Their efforts rode the coattails of President Lyndon Johnson's Great Society initiatives that began to gain stream after 1964, as the Congress and the president undertook an aggressive program of domestic reform. In this climate , their activities proved instrumental in creating a new federal agency in 1966 that later became known as the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA). They hoped this agency would carry out a program of auto safety reform. The goals of that reform emphasized improvement in vehicle design rather than driver performance as the appropriate strategy to ameliorate the consequences of automobile crashes. The essence of the frame was and is that improvements in automobile design can reduce the likelihood of death and injury by either making crashes less likely or, in the event of crashes, minimizing their consequences. In practice, a variety of automobile manufacturing standards were advocated to make crashes less likely, including ones to improve tire and brake quality . Seat belts, air bags, and safety glass would minimize the effects of the "second collision," that is, the collision between the driver and passengers and the interior of the vehicle. The content of this frame is dense and sophisticated. Extensive research accumulated to support it and was widely disseminated. The frame resonated with a highly educated, technocratic elite who viewed public policy as a lever to improve the lot of the masses . Yet it was and is highly abstract and the framing language typically used by its advocates is unemotional. Finally , its logic was structural. Gusfield (1981) in accounting the most emotionally charged and popularly accessible versions of this frame says, "draCopyrighted Material
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rnatic attribut es occur as well in the personificati on of automobile design as 'v illain.' . .. A po ssibl e dr ama o f scene , of environme nt, is conve rted int o one of age nt, of auto indu str y dir ector s as villain s" (82). Th e advocates sou ght a federal agen cy to create and enforce safety standards an d enforce th em on vehicl e manufactur ers . " T he legisl ative hi stor y of th e act [est abli shing th e ag en cy] indic ates that C on gress intend ed th e feder al govern me n t to emph asize standards th at would miti gate injuri es arising from th e so-c alled 'second collision ' betwe en motorists an d th e vehicl e int erior " (Grah am 1989, 219) .3 In pra ctice, th e professi on al reformers focus ed much attention on chan gin g th e beh avior of vehi cle m anufactur ers who had been notori ou sly unint erested in safety design conce rns . Th ey did so by brin gin g pr essur e to bear on th e newl y created agency th at was em powered to establish minimum safet y standards for newl y m anufactur ed autom obiles. In th e pr ofession al reform tr aditi on typ ical of U. S. policy m akin g (Low i 1969), a federal regul ator y age ncy was created to gua rd th e publi c inter est in auto safety ." Th e agenc y 's efforts to create and en force auto safety standards, center ed at th e nation al level," have been strong ly resist ed by auto m anufa cturer s. Ag ency encour age me nt h as com e from thr ee sources : th e C enter for Auto Safety , a N ader-inspir ed but now ind ep end ent , prof ession al reform or ganizati on ; Publi c Citi zen, th e cen tral fundraisin g and coordinatin g organization of th e Nad er prof essional reform empire ; and the Insuranc e Institut e for Auto Safety , a coalition of automobile insur an ce firms . Th e conflict aro und thi s fram e has generated almo st no organize d grass- ro ots citiz en invol vem ent . The Drunk Dri ver
Th e legislation that established NHTSA focused almost ex clusively on auto safet y but ask ed , inc ident ally, for a " thorough and com plete stud y of th e relationship between th e consumption of alcohol and its effect upon hi ghwa y safety and driv ers of motor vehicl es" (Highway Safety A ct of 1966, 6). In 1968, th e Alcohol and Highwa y Safety Report w as deli vered to Con gr ess. Ba sed on a bod y of " accident" resear ch carri ed out by univer sit y resear cher s that showe d w ide alco ho l invol vem ent in auto-
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mobile crashes , the report concluded, "The use of alcohol by drivers and pedestrians leads to some 25,000 deaths and a total of at least 800,000 crashes in the United States each year. Especially tragic is the fact that much of the loss in life, limb and property damage involves completely innocent parties" (U.S . Senate 1968, 1). It continued by assessing potential means for remedying the problem within the frame it offered . These were heavily weighted toward "legal means," later to be more commonly known as law enforcement approaches . By defining the issue , attributing blame to the drinking driver , and embracing a law enforcement strategy, the report became the template for an effective drunk driving frame. It laid the groundwork for the extensive future activities of NHTSA and others , especially the National Safety Council , in disseminating the frame and in generating widespread state and local efforts based on its assumptions about how to best solve the problem. During the 1970s, NHTSA became the major institutional advo cate of the drunk driving frame and , through its state and local programs, created a vast interlinked constituency of supporters for it. The main dimensions of the frame were well in place by the time the citizens' movement against drunk driving emerged . Gusfield (1981), assessing the frame then, described its main elements: First, the drinking-driver is portrayed as " dru nk." The "sin" of drinking and driving is almost a microcosmic and symbolic enactment of the sources of disorder , the unwillingness to respect controls and boundaries in social life. . . . The second aspect . . . is the term "drunk en driver." Not the event "drinking-driving" but the person "drunken driver" is described. The personalization of the event keeps alive the sense of a drama of conflict against disordered persons, a performance of deviance . It is a drama of agents in which the individual is prime mover. (82)
The clear focus on personal responsibility embedded in the frame made the detection and punishment of drunk drivers an obvious solution to the problem for those who adopted the frame. Further, the broader consequences of increased levels of punishment were seen to be the reduction of drunk driving through its deterrence
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effects. Battlefield imagery was common among proponents, as in the phrase "waging war against drunk driving." Emotive language reviled "the scourge of drunk driving" and "the killer drunk. " As NHTSA developed a commitment to the drunk driving frame along with its originally mandated one to auto safety, budgetary commitment expanded in ways that were consistent with the new frame's implicit lines of action . A series of policies, including grants to state and local jurisdictions, an expanded research and development program, and an important series of enforcement demonstration programs, created broad institutional and professional support for the drunk driving frame. Support was particularly strong among state and local functionaries, state and local police, and an expanding research community . All three of these groups had a large stake in disseminating and institutionalizing the new frame ; this was most true for local law enforcement officials. Demonstration Programs. Between 1970 and 1974, thirty -five communities were provided large grants for Alcohol Safety Action Programs (ASAPs) . The central theoretical mechanism of the programs entailed both general and specific deterrence, which was to be achieved through law enforcement. More than one -half of the ASAP funds were allocated to enforcement programs. As stated by NHTSA, "Enforcement of DUI laws constitutes the input factor of the ASAP system concept. Its goals are: (1) to identify, apprehend, and channel offenders into the judicial system, and (2) to optimize the level of effort directed at this activity in order to instill a high perception of risk of being apprehended in potential drinking drivers" (U.S. Department of Transportation 1974, 1). Rates of arrest for DUIIDWI (driving under the influence/driving while intoxicated) increased by more than 100 percent in these demonstration communities during the first two years of the programs as the police were provided support for stepping up their enforcement efforts. The rate of DUIIDWI arrests more than doubled during the 1970s across the United States, importantly as a result of these and other efforts of NHTSA. This stepped-up enforcement provided local police agencies an important stake in the drunk driving frame. The ASAPs also supported extensive public information efforts designed to bring the drunk driver frame to wide local attenCopyrighted Material
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tion. Reasoning from the premise " that only a third of the public was aware that drunk driving is the major caus e of fatal crash es, the ASAPs undertook public education campaigns on two levels . The first was to inform the community of the exten t of th e drunk driving problem, particularly the disproportionate rol e of th e problem drinker in alcohol related crashes, and second , to inform specific target audienc es about th eir opportunit ies to join a syst ematic effort to control and rehabilitat e drunk driv ers " (U .S. D epartment of Transportation 1974, 1). Drunk Driving Research. From th e beginning , NHTSA support ed research efforts relat ed to its concerns. Consistent with the drunk driving frame , it funded res earch on the det ection of drunk drivers, especially br eath testing to m easur e blood alcohol concentration (BAC) . This technology , alon g with th e legal changes allowing its impl em entation , aided police en forcement . Extensive research on the relation betw een alcohol and automobile crashes was also supported , buttr essing th e earli er work that had been summariz ed in U. S. Senat e 1968. And , NHTSA launched an effort to create a reporting syst em in all states to test persons involved in fatal crashes for BAC. Known as the Fatal Alcohol Reporting System (FARS) , this data base was designed to provide epidemiological evidence of the involvement of alcohol in fatal automobile crashes as well as a monitorin g device to track the success of efforts to control drunk driving. State and Locol Grants. From 1967 to 1985 mor e than 1.8 billion dollars was allocated directly to local gov ernments for community auto safety activiti es. Thes e grants were shaped by th e broad er emphases ofNHTSA so that many of them flowed to projects, such as dri ver education, pedestrian performance, traffic contro l, and emergency m edical services , that were not central to th e drunk driver frame. But mor e than 28 percent was for polic e traffic services, a significant proportion of which went to DUIIDWI enforcem ent activities, and more than 15 percent was alloc ated directly for what the agency called "alcohol counter-measures." Th ese were programs derived dir ectly from the drunk driving frame for und erstanding automobile crash fat alities and injuries.
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Public Attention to Auto Safety and Drunk Driving: 1962-1979
Th e fra mes of au to safety an d drunk dri ving an d th e vigoro us efforts o f th eir pr op onen ts to br ing th em to publi c at ten tio n pr ior to 1980 h ave been briefly describ ed. I do not mea n to impl y th at th ese two frames are necessar ily mutu ally excl usive of one ano the r. A reason able observe r m ig h t con clu de th at th er e is an ele me n t of truth in both frames and th at polic ies b ased o n each sho uld b e sim ultaneo usly pur sued . But th ey do co m pe te w ith one ano the r for publi c attention (H ilga rtne r and Bo sk 1988) becau se th er e is a lim ited amo unt of available space for m edi ated atte n tio n to public issu es in ge ne ral. And , multi causal ex plana tio ns of pr obl em s ge ne rally lack th e intrin sic appea l of mor e sim plified acco un ts that tar get specific gro ups as respon sibl e for th em (Gu sfield 1981 ; Sno w and Benford 1988) . Ev ide nce develop ed from Th e Reader's Guide to Periodical Literature chro nicles th e publi c atten tio n focus ed on th ese two frames in th e peri od ju st pr ecedin g th e bur st of atten tion to dru nk dri vin g. T his source ind exes th e subs ta ntive articles in mo st m ass circulation peri od icals publ ish ed in th e U nit ed Sta tes. " E ffort s of the pr op onent s of th e aut o safety frame we re ve ry success ful, it wo uld seem , in brin gin g it to public attentio n durin g th e m id 1960s. Th er e ar e almos t no sto ries ind exed on au to safety issues in the earl y 1960s, but a m ajor inc reas e in public atte ntion to au to safety durin g th e peri od 1965 to 1967 coi nci de d w ith the establishme nt of NHT SA . Aft er w aning in th e late 1960s, atte ntio n to auto safety held ste ady at m od er at e level s. int o th e lat e 1970s. D espit e th e w ides prea d efforts by NHSTA an d its local allies to prom ote th e drunk dri vin g fram e and publi cizin g th e issu e, th e m edi a paid almos t n o attentio n durin g thi s entire peri od . A clos e observer bel ieved that , " A public con sen su s exi ste d about th e ev il of DUI ... for seve ral decad es [but it was ] .. . muted and immobiliz ed" (Gusfield 1988 , 126) . But publi c atten tion to th e drunk driving fram e escalate d rapidly aft er 1980 . 7
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The Citizens' Movement Against Drunk Driving
The rise in public attention to the drinking and driving issue and the growth of the citizens' movement concerned about it followed similar trajectories." Before assessing the substantive and biographical content of the public attention, I briefly describe the movement and demonstrate its impact on the likelihood of media coverage. Beginning in the late 1970s a widespread movement of citizen advocate groups emerged in the United States whose members, many of whom are victims of drunk driving crashes, began working to reduce the level and consequences of drunk driving. Their efforts are widely seen by a variety of observers as having had some success . For instance, Senator John Danforth (1988) said of MADD, "This organization has made the public realize that drunk driving is not a victimless crime. This change in public attitude has made it possible for those of us in Congress and in state legislatures to pass stronger drunk driving laws ." In discussing these local advocacy groups, Franklin Zimring (1988), a consistently skeptical social observer, says, "the mobilization [by the groups] of public opinion has been partially responsible for the increased prominence of drunk driving as a public policy issue " (374). He goes on to say, "My guess is that citizen action groups are a more important explanation [than others] of the passage of legislation in the 1980s" (380). Finally, Mark Wolfson (1988) concludes, in his systematic evaluation of the effects oflocal advocacy, that the efforts of these groups positively affected several state legislative initiatives and "may have [had] some influence on fatalities" (9). The movement consists of a number of national and local organizations. At the national level, there are two umbrella groups, Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD), with headquarters in Hurst, Texas, and Remove Intoxicated Drivers-USA (RID), with headquarters in Schenectady, New York . Each of these groups has a large number of local chapters spread across many states. In addition to MADD and RID, there are a few groups that are not affiliated with either of the national umbrella groups. In 1985, there were about 450 local groups devoting themselves exclusively to the issue. The first local groups began in the Copyrighted Material
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late 1970s in upstate New York . These groups later became affiliated with RID , which was started by Doris Aiken in 1979. By 1985 there were seventy active RID chapters in twenty-three states. MADD was started by Candy Lightner in California in 1980 after her daughter was killed by a drunk driver. MADD was quick to diversify geographically , and it accelerated at a breathtaking pace over the next few years. By 1985 more than 375 MADD chapters existed . By 1985, the movement had become truly national in scope, with more than 450 local groups with at least one in every state but Montana. " By then the majority oflarge American communities had a local group, and 55 percent of the American population lived in a county in which one of the groups resided , 67 percent lived in a county in which such a group recruited members, and 95 percent lived in a media market that included such a group (McCarthy, Wolfson, and Harvey 1987). By 1985, local groups of the movement had come close to saturating local communities across the United States. LocolGroupsand Activists
The constituent elements of the antidrunk driving movement are emblematic of many similar local groups seeking a wide variety of changes in their communities that have emerged during the last several decades . They include a variety of victims' groups (Gibbs 1982) and many women's groups (Mansbridge 1983). Distinctive in their size and shape, in the scope of their goals, and the range of their tactics , the groups usually operate out of a leader's home and are typically quite small, labor intensive, and leader-centered projects. To think of the " communal activism" (Dalton 1988) of these "minimalist organizations" (Weed 1991; Halliday , Powell, and Granfors 1987) as we do large, complex organizations distorts their essential structural features. Groups like these typically seek narrow, issue-specific reforms that are seldom even partisan much less regime threatening . They prefer ruly tactics in their change-seeking efforts; they concentrate mainly on community outreach and advocacy . When they do employ unconventional tactics, they tend toward what Joyce Mushaben (1985) calls "soft protest," for example, candlelight vigils honoring victims. Information was gathered from local groups in order to deCopyrighted Material
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scribe their typical dimensions and the characteristics of their leaders. While a few of the groups are very large and resource rich , the typical group is small, with an average of thirty-five members and a mailing list of one hundred names. About six people beyond the leaders do volunteer work for the group during an average month. Seventy percent of the groups had annual revenue of $2,500 or less in 1985, with the median revenue being $1,229 . Most local groups rely primarily on leaders, volunteers , and donations of money and other resources (for example, telephones, postage, and supplies) to carryon their work . Despite wide support by their communities (McCarthy, Wolfson, and Harvey 1987; Ungerleider, Bloch, and Conner 1987), the groups depend primarily on their members for both labor and financial support . This adds up to about 2,250 leaders, 2,700 regular volunteers, 15,750 group members, and 45,000 people on local mailing lists among the 450 plus groups existing in 1985. Activists in this movement closely resemble the profile of activists in other advocacy movements (Verba and Nie 1972; Dalton 1988). Not surprisingly, the typical chapter officer is a woman, who either does not work outside of the home or works part-time. Often she is married with school-age children at home. Although all officers tend to be highly involved (Weed 1987), the chapter president is usually the most active (McCarthy, Wolfson, and Harvey 1987). About forty-three years old , she has had some college education . Weed (1987), in a survey of the MADD chapters, notes that "presidents were less apt to be in the labor force than other officers, and when they were employed they tended to hold slightly higher status jobs" (265). The officers on average contribute the greatest labor to the efforts of their groups. Victim members comprise about one-fourth of the typical local group and fill most leadership positions. Among leaders, presidents are most likely to come from the ranks of those responsible for founding the organization. This description corresponds with the reports by Weed (1987) and Ungerleider, Bloch, and Conner (1987) on the leaders of MADD chapters. GroupActivities
While all the groups aim to reduce drunk driving, their efforts reflect different approaches, including varying emphasis on promoting public awareness, pursuing legislative Copyrighted Material
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strateg ies, and pro vidin g dir ect victim ser vi ces. The leaders , typically, m ake m any public appeara nces in a yea r on behalf of their group s and in th e pro cess recruit m emb ers and volunt eers who help carry out gr oup pr oject s. Pr oject s might includ e pr eparing and mail ing new slett er s, organizing n onalcoh olic " prom s" and " red ribbon " campaign s, monitorin g court proce edin gs involving drunk driv ers, running legislati ve campaigns , and th e lik e. Groups usuall y org anize som e task committ ees in order to dec entralize wo rk on such pr ojects. Drunk Driving Attention : 1979-1987
As th e mov em ent em erge d, public attention to th e issu e of drink ing and driving escalated rapidl y . A compar ison of th e amount of att ention given to th e issue of drunk dri vin g in thr ee different m edia sources reveals sim ilar attention patterns for coverag e on national network news pr ograms , in 5 nation al circul ation ne w spape rs, an d in locally ori ginat ed stor ies app earin g in 112 local newsp apers . to In the peak years of covera ge th e n ational newsp ap ers devot ed an average of more than 30 stori es to th e issu e, th e netw orks close to 10 stori es, and the local pap ers clos e to 5 stori es to the issue. A not iceabl e incr ease in att ention occurre d between 1980 and 1981, with att ention peaking during th e period 1983 to 1984, and a noti ceable declin e in attention beginnin g ther eaft er. While the patterns are similar , the varying att enti on is attributabl e to the varying amounts of spac e/time that th e thre e media sourc es have available for the coverage of issu es. The contrast in att ention to the drunk dri vin g issue here com pare d to that befor e 1979 is striking. Durin g the peak years of cover age attention to drunk driving outstripp ed att ention to auto safety in each of these m edi a sourc es. Recall that ther e were ex tensive efforts by pow erful federal and lo cal actors to bring the drinking and driving issu e to public att ention long befor e the citiz en activists arr ived on th e scene. Th eir eme rgen ce coincided almost perf ectl y with the incr easing m edia att ention to the issu e. Jame s R. Nichols ;'! long-tim e liaison between NHTSA and th e citiz en activists , h as term ed th em the " m issin g link " in bringing the probl em of drinkin g and driving to wide publi c att ention in th e Unit ed Stat es. Gu sfield (1988a) echoe s th is obs ervation wh en h e says MADD and o ther or ganizaCopyrighted Material
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tions "created a new movem ent that has given a dramatic form to an issue that had been dormant in American life" (125). He continues, "The developments of the 1970's had built a res earch and policy community that , even though relatively limited in power , could be utilized in the new atmosphere of public concern. Nevertheless, the ability of the movement to provide a symbolism, an imagery, and a dramatic focus was a potent catalyst" (126). The movement's raw emotive power was thought by many to be its central avenue of impact on the public imagination. "The very name, MADD, presents the symbols that carry an expressive imagery . 'Mothers ' puts the issue in a framework of violence against children. 'Against' provides an emotional sense of battle and enemies. 'Drunk drivers ' provides an image of the DUI as asocially irresponsible and out of self-control. This is the 'killer drunk ' who constitutes the villain of the story. MADD has brought to the public arena the emotional and dramatic expression of the public as victim" (Gusfield 1988a, 125). Andrew McGuire (1989), one of the earliest executive directors of MADD believes that one of its keys to success has been "literally the name of the organization .... It says what the organization does to you when you are into blaming perpetrators. You are mad about it ." The recollections of Marinelle Timmons (1989), founder of the first MADD chapter in Texas and later Texas state coordinator of MADD , reinforce the image of the media as highly receptiv e to the anti-drunk driving message when delivered by the activists . "The media was there every time we moved and they loved it . We got tremendous print media. But , we did radio shows .. . we did television shows at least weekly .... It was incredible , the support . It really grew ." Is there any reason to believe that the anti-drunk driving activists had any direct impact on the production of the drunk driving media attention cycle , or did they just "surf " the issue, that is, take advantage of a cresting wave of media attention to the issue they had little, dir ectly, to do with generating? The Role of Activists in Generating Media Coverage
Most social movement activists in general, and the anti-drunk driving activists in particular, attempt to bring their grievance as well as their int erpr etaCopyrighted Material
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tion of its sources to public attention. They do so in the belief that such attention will facilitate the social change they espouse. Wide agreement among activists regarding the difficulty in getting media coverage yields to broad debate about the best ways of going about achieving it on terms most advantageous to activists' causes (see Ryan 1991). There is little systematic evaluation of the independent role of varying activist efforts in achieving coverage . The simplest test of the impact of activists would assess whether their mere presence increases media coverage of their primary grievances. A more complex test would evaluate the variable impor tance of their efforts and differences in how they go about attaining media coverage. Two sources of evidence offer an opportunity to estimate each kind of activist effect across local communities for the drunk driving media cycle . The first body of evidence relates the existence of a group in a local community to whether the local newspaper covered the drunk driving issue . The second, based on surveys of more than three hundred local groups, relates variations in group agency, strategy, and structure to variable local media coverage outcomes . GroupPresenceand NewspaperCoverage There exists an extensive research literature on how "news" is created by media institutions (Kielbowicz and Scherer 1986) suggesting that many factors beyond the efforts of activists and the objective nature of events shape wha t will be reported. Simply how much space .is available (Fowler 1979), known among journalists as the size of the "news hole, " the range of available news possibilities (Hilgartner and Bosk 1988), and the dramatic appeal of the potential material (Molotch 1979; Gitlin 1980) provide parts of the context within which activists attempt to get their story told. The independent impact of the mere presence of activists in a community for achieving media coverage was assessed using evidence that was developed by selecting those local newspapers whose locally produced stories were indexed by Newsbank for each of the years 1979 to 1987 (McCarthy and Harvey 1989). An estimate of the presence or absence of an anti-drunk driving group on the likelihood of the drunk driving issue being the subject of any newspaper story during each year for the period 1979 to 1987 Copyrighted Material
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in 111 local communities was developed.F Then the presence or absence of an anti-drunk driving group in a community for each year was estimated from a census of these groups (McCarthy, Wolfson, and Harvey 1987). Finally, secondary data characterizing the community and the local newspaper was developed from various sources. The impact of the size of the "news hole" was estimated by the size of the newspaper's circulation-the more subscribers, the more the advertising, and, therefore, the larger the news hole, and whether it was published daily or weekly. Both estimates of news hole size were significant predictors, in a logit regression analysis, of the likelihood of any coverage of drunk driving. The previous presence of an Alcohol Safety Action Program (ASAP) in a community had a significant impact on the likelihood of coverage of the issue. This suggests that having had a local program aimed at creating interest in drunk driving has a long-term effect on the likelihood of coverage in a community . The mere presence of a group had a strong and significant impact on whether the issue received coverage during the year; community income and population size had no effect on coverage. Apparently, no matter what they did, the presence of an activist group noticeably increased coverage of the drunk driving issue in a community. GroupAgency,Strategy, and Structure and LocolMediaCoverage
There is little systematic comparative evidence across groups that evaluates how the variable efforts of activists affect their ability to mobilize community resources, including media coverage of their own efforts . 13 But it seems plausible that the harder they try and how they go about attempting to mobilize resources should affect their success. In order to evaluate this expectation for the anti-drunk driving activists, data from a survey of local anti-drunk driving groups carried out in 1985 (McCarthy, Wolfson, and Harvey 1987) was used to assess the impact of several measures of individual leader effort, group emphasis, and organizational structure on a summary estimate of the group's success in gaining local media coverage of its efforts . The group's president reported on the group's goals, activities, leaders , and membership and also estimated the level of media coverage of Copyrighted Material
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the group's efforts provided by the major television stations and daily newspapers in the community. The results of a multivariate analysis aimed at predicting media coverage with a variety of measures of leadership effort, program emphasis, and group structure shows, at best, modest effects ofleadership effort on levels of self-reported local media coverage . However, groups that emphasize drunk driving victim issues and services report gaining substantially higher levels of coverage: victim emphasis exhibits the strongest effect in the model. This analysis suggests that, beyond a mere presence in a community, the most important thing that activists can do to attain media coverage of their own activities is to stress victimization. Actors and Themes in the Content of Media Coverage
An analysis of the content of the media stories that make up the drunk driving media attention cycle chronicled above illuminate the interacting roles of stat e functionaries, activists , and media institutions in the production of the media cycle. Media-especially newspaper-records have been increasingly used by analysts of collective behavior (see Franzoni 1987; Olzak 1989). Yet that research has been focused almost exclusively on collective events of which the media - usually newspaper-reports are thought to be a more or less adequate representation (for exceptions see Gamson 1988; Gamson and Modigliani 1989). Here I focus not on events but on the substantive coverage of the drunk driving issue. 14 I regard this record as one index of what Gamson has called an "issue culture." An issue culture shapes the perceptions of activists and potential activists while it may also be shaped, to some extent, by their efforts. I attend to the actors who are part of the coverage, the main subjects and themes of the stories , and some dimensions of the framing of drinking and driving as it is portrayed in that coverage. Sources Three sources are used to create the population of media stories on drinking and driving that form the basis of the following content analyses. The first source is the National Newspaper Index (1979-1987), which indexes the substantive conCopyrighted Material
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tent offive major daily newspapers, the New York Tim es, the Christian Science Monitor, the Los Angeles Times , the Washington Post, and the Wall Street Journal, each of which purports to provide national coverage of issues and each has a substantial readership beyond its local community . All of the substantive content included in these papers is indexed, including editorials and letters to the editor . The second source is Newsbank (1979-1987), which in 1989 indexed 118 newspapers that had been continuously ind exed for the 1979-1987 period of interest. Stories originating in these newspapers provide the basis for the local coverage analyses. Th e papers range from very small circulation weeklies to large circulation dailies. News reports and feature stories make up a larger proportion of this record than for the five national newspapers . As a result, editorial coverage is rarer and wire service coverage of the issue is totally excluded from the population of articles coded. The Vanderbilt Network News Index and Abstracts (1979-1987) is the third content source . It records the national nightly news broadcasts by ABC, CBS, and NBC , creates summary descriptions of story content, and indexes the content of the descriptions . These serve as the basis of the content coding. Since the story descriptions are not verbatim accounts of their texts, the analyses of television media records are not strictly comparable to the parallel analyses of the newspaper records, if for no other reason, because they leave out large portions of the text. CodingCoverageContent
A systematic cross-referencing system was created for each index in order to locate all stories that focused primarily on the drinking and driving issue . The obvious key phrases such as "drunk driving, " "alcohol , " and "automobiles" were consulted , and a strategy of searching each index for articles was developed . The National Newspaper Index is an online index that produces a list of articles in response to a list of keyword designations. The strategy for developing this list of articles was to continue to provide keywords progressively distant from the substance of drunk driving until no more new articles were uncovered. The Newsbank hard-copy index was treated in the same way until no new articles were being uncovered for each year. A similar process was developed for the Vanderbilt abstracts . These procedures provided a list of stories for each source. Copyrighted Material
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The national data set consists of 614 articles. The local data set consists of 2,696 articles . Only the 1980 and 1985 articles, about 16 percent of the total local newspaper articles, are analyzed here. The network data set consists of 182 stories. These records provided the raw material for content coding. The unit of analysis is the story. A series of coding dimensions was developed. Some of these depended on earlier efforts to code this issue arena (Estep and Wallack 1985). They included: (1) characteristics of the article beyond its substance such as the date it appeared, whether it appeared on the front page, and its length; (2) the major substantive themes and subjects treated in the article such as passing new laws, law enforcement, alcohol-related crashes, and the rise of the citizen s' movement; (3) the major corporate actors mentioned (up to five), such as state and local governmental officials, industrial representatives, and movement activists; and (4) evaluations of such frame dimensions as doubts about the drinking and driving frame itself , the use of extreme semantics, and suggestions for the need for tougher law enforcement efforts. 15
Actors The actor category scheme was developed deductively and was aimed at capturing the major clusters of corporate groups involved in creating and tending the drunk driving frame.l " The first five corporate actors mentioned in each story were coded. The variable size of the news hole across the three sources resulted in more total mentions of actors in the national newspapers than the other two sources . The dominance of governmental officials among the actors mentioned is striking, but it should come as little surprise after knowing the extent of federal, state, and local governmental involvement in the drinking and driving issue prior to this period . Officials are more likely to be mentioned in national sources (both print and electronic) than local, primarily because the local papers are substantially less likely to attend to federal officials of any kind. Surprisingl y , local stories are least likely to mention the activists . There are some important trends in the notice of actors over the cycle. The spread of the movement is indicated in its representatives being mentioned more often as they become active in more communities . As the drunk driving issue became more widely Copyrighted Material
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publicized, more diversity develops among the actors mentioned , for example, mentions of corporate actors from the voluntary sector, such as church groups, professional associations, and nonprofit groups, and among the "other" category (for example, schools , victims, and drunk drivers themselves) become more prominent. These patterns suggest that governmental actors were the dominant sources in the shaping of the issue culture surrounding drinking and driving during the cycle. While anti-drunk driving activists may have been a "catalyst" to this attention, they were far less likely to be mentioned, or seen as authoritative, than were governmental officials. Themes The theme category scheme was created by another research group attempting to inductively map the subject content of a large but haphazard sample of news coverage of this issue (Estep and Wallack 1985).17An important reason why governmental actors are so extensively noticed in the news coverage of the issue is revealed in this evidence: there is extensive governmental activity on drunk driving during the period , and that activity dominates the substantive coverage . Through the cycle, mention of legislative activity expands and contracts pretty much along the lines of the expansion of the movement and coverage of the issue in general. Law enforcement activity generally declines as a theme over the period, as widespread enforcement becomes more routine. Particular drunk driving crashes as a central theme declines throughout the cycle. Groups opposing drunk driving become less newsworthy later in the cycle as coverage of the issue declines. Legislative activity is more prominent as a theme in the local press than in either the print or electronic national press. FromeAttributes Several attributes of the drunk driving frame were coded in an attempt to grasp its dominance and appeal. The first aimed to capture its emotional appeal. Was "hot" rhetoric-references to killer drunks, ravaged victims , and the like-a part of the story? The second and third attributes focused on challenges to the frame itself. Was there any general doubt about the frame expressed in the story or were civil liberties questions raised about enforcement of drunk driving laws? And, finally , was the Copyrighted Material
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issue of alcohol availability, a key element of the most subversive counterframe, raised?" Doubt about the drunk driving frame is very rare in any source and it is concentrated early in the cycle of coverage when it does appear. Doubt about the frame is nonexistent at the local level and in the national electronic coverage. The appearance of debate about the availability of alcohol increases as the national debate about a twenty-one -y ear -old drinking age escalates; it subsides after the law takes effect. Focus on alcohol availability, how ever, is greatest at the local level, and it retains attention late in the cycle there . There is a strong copresence of activists and the alcohol availability issue in stories in all media across the cycle . The difference in aggregate attention levels to alcohol availability between the national and local media sources is striking: the networks tend to ignore it. The use of extreme semantics, rarer than might have been expected given the "focus -upon -the-victim" activists, is more common early in the cycle; it becomes very rare in any source by 1986. It is more common in national sources than local ones . In general, officials are more likely than other actors to be mentioned in articles that also include extreme semantics . Surprisingly, in neither the national nor the local coverage is there a significant copresence of activists and the kind of "hot" rhetoric in stories. Actorsand Themes
The analyses of national and local press coverage of the issue shows the dominance of state actors in publicly promulgating the drunk driving frame , even after the movement became strong. The active legislative, judicial , and executive agendas surrounding the issue as the activists took center stage meant that a large pool of knowledgeable "experts" in the problem and its solutions was available to be tapped by the media as "sources" who could speak authoritatively about it . The evidence suggests, as well , that the activists were far less directly responsible for the emotional presentation of the issue than has been the common perception. Yet, there is no question that the activists were important in helping to bring the media attention to it, as the evidenc e linking their presence and efforts in local communities to th e likelihood of increased coverage has shown. What broader sense can we mak e of the emergence of modern social movements Copyrighted Material
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and their role in media attention cycles from the diverse evidence I have assembled here on the activists, sympathetic state actors, and the drunk driving media attention cycle itself? Implications
Until recently, social movements were commonly conceived as purely indepen dent manifestations of civil society. Accordingly, their main lines of challenge to structures of power , accepted ways of doing things, and ways of imagining the social world were seen to originate wholly among citizens who could seek redress in actions of the state (Tilly 1984) or through the redefinition of social reality (Melucci 1989). In these formulations, the state was seen either as an adversary or, at best, a passive actor (Gamson 1990). Yet, as I have shown, the movement against drunk driving was only possible through the earlier efforts of federal , state, and local functionaries. It emerged without direct assistance from the state, but it could not have emerged when it did had the federal functionaries not worked so diligently and successfully in framing the issue and mobilizing a collectivity of diverse state advocates in support of it. Only with the movement's emergence, however, were the many state functionaries able to bring their framing of the issue to wide public attention through the mass media. The movement was, indeed, the missing link. The movement's independent character, however , may yet make it a fickle proponent of the frame that enabled its emergence in the first place. IndependentState Actors
Traditional characterizations of the origins of state agency/citizen group partnerships portray a standard mobilization sequence: outraged, oppressed, excluded groups mobilize and draw attention to their plight, which results in the creation of a state agency that outlasts their outrage and which remains more or less committed to their concerns (Baumgartner and Jones 1993). The sequence is also embedded in common analyses of the transformation of social movements into interest groups (Lowi 1971). The sequence of events encompassing the media attention, state efforts , and activist mobilization preceding the emergence of Copyrighted Material
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the drunk driving issue does not fit the standard mobilization sequence. Instead, the many state functionaries first actively created the opportunities for movement mobilization and then, once it emerged, took advantage of that mobilization to communicate their program through the media. The activist mobilization and subsequent media attention also allowed them to expand the scope and intensity of their efforts, for example, by increasing budgetary allocations and fielding new programs at the local as well as the federal level. The apparent anomaly presented by the case raises several questions about the nature of the modern state and has implications about the relationship between state segments and social movements that can extend our unfolding comprehension of their links (McCarthy and Zald 1977; Skocpol 1985; Costain 1992). The first is the relative autonomy of state actors . 19 The state initiative on drunk driving is best described as a "policy project" conceived and fielded by an interlinked network of state actors . They crafted the drunk driving frame; they created a knowledge base that legitimated it, disseminated it, and embedded it in law enforcement and judicial practices; and, by doing so, they mobilized a wide "collectivity of state actors" (Skocpol 1985) who had interests in its hegemony. All of this preceded the emergence of the activist movement and reveals an independent band of state functionaries succeeding in promulgating change prior to any grass-roots citizen pressure. Their policy project is not inconsistent with the assumption that "state managers collectively are selfinterested maximizers, interested in maximizing their power, prestige and wealth" (Block 1987, 84) . The project was not motivated to any great extent, however, by organized capitalist interests, although it threatened, to some extent, and was , subsequently , constrained by the alcohol industry . Once we have acknowledged the possibility of independent agency on the part of state segments, we must ask how their efforts can affect grass-roots citizen mobilization. Direct state facilitation of activist mobilization through the provision of material resources has been stressed by resource mobilization analysts (MeCarthy and Zald 1977) and journalists (Bennett and DiLorenzo 1985) . Although both federal and local material facilitation of the drunk driving activist 's efforts has been important to their ongoing mobilization, its first appearance followed, rather than created, Copyrighted Material
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the local activism. The pattern is the same as that seen in the civil rights movement (McAdam 1982; Jenkins and Eckert 1986). The facilitation most crucial to the emergence of this movement was indirect. The mechanism was the creation and reinforcement of "identity opportunities" for victims. Once the drunk driving frame was widely available, aggrieved individuals could conceive of themselves as victims of drunk drivers. Constructing such collective identities was directly facilitated in communities by the strong likelihood that local police and prosecutors would participate in helping the activists to cocreate the victim identity. The success of the drunk driving policy project had resulted in local governmental actors who responded positively to their efforts, which reflected legitimacy on their newly adopted victim activist selves. Recall the experience of Marilyn Sugg , whose son was killed by a drunk driver in 1968 (Moose 1974), well before the hegemony of the frame was established. It demonstrates the importance of both the mobilizing frame and local state facilitators . Sugg tried to mobilize but was soon channeled into the North Carolina chapter of the National Association of Women's Highway Safety Leaders, a group struggling at the time to act on the consequences of the auto safety frame. As a result, her individual effort to adopt and act on a drunk driving victim identity was unsuccessful. MediaProcesses
Media organizations proceed on their own logics of newsmaking, always dominated by profit making. What is newsworthy depends upon what is already newsworthy if the issue has not worn out its welcome, if importance as measured by governmental or other major institutional involvement is guaranteed, if the conflict is big but not so big as to stymie resolution , if the issue 's sponsors manage to create an event or interaction with a public official that provides a good news peg, if the conflict involves appealing characters, if there's a good story line with a fresh angle, an unusual twist, or something moving or funny. (Ryan 1991,51)
As the 1980s began, drunk driving was perfectly suited to the needs of media institutions, with diverse groups of well-informed officials prepared to speak about it, emotional victims capable of Copyrighted Material
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articulating the grief that result ed from it , and no vested inte rests seriously thr eaten ed by the initial framing of it. Medi a institutio ns commonly display a h eavy reliance on "of ficial " sourc es in th eir stories (Gam son 1988), but the dominance of offi cial actors shown her e app ear s more ex cessive than usual. It result s, in some part , from the lack of a credible counterfram e advocat ed by organized groups -seen in the almost total lack of disput e about the cor e elements of the fram e itself in the stories . When fram es are in som e disput e, th e m edia 's concern for " balance " seems to lead to mor e div ersity in th eir choice of sources . Evidenc e from network news coverag e of env ironme ntal risk, wher e disput e is m ore typi cal, shows far more use of activists as sourc es than has been seen her e for th e drunk drivin g issue (Gr eenberg et al. 1989). Ironi cally , th e activists w ho app ear to be impor tantly responsibl e for spurrin g thi s m edia att ention cycl e are given scant notic e in it , and thi s is m ost tru e in th eir own community new spap ers. Independent Local Activist Projects
I characteriz e th e anti -drunk driving activists as em powe red by th e gr ound work accom plishe d by a coterie of state fun ction aries. My em ph asis, howe ver , should not devalue th eir heroic efforts or th eir own contributions to rethinking the problem of autom obile fataliti es. Their stru ggles have been marked by deep dedi cation and wid espr ead tactical innovation . Th eir efforts have shown a cha racteristic ge ographi cal diversit y in goal s and tactics , mapping th e decentralized nature of the political syst em they confronted. Th ey came to their acti vism with few pr econc epti ons, no consistent ideological baggag e, and almost no prior politi cal ex pe rience. Although th ere is no qu estion that they shap ed th e public debat e about automobil e fatalities after they becam e engage d, tiltin g th e public attention toward th e drunk driving fram e, th ey rem aine d incr edibl y pr agm atic in their search for solutions to reducing th e likelihood of automobile crashes and the asso ciated cons equenc es in human sufferin g . Since th ey are, typi cally , nonideological , pragmatic probl em solv ers who betray no structur al critiqu e of the state or soci etal arr an gem en ts, they h ave been op en to solutions to th e probl em from outside of the drunk driving fram e. They were not adv ers e, right from the start , to tryin g to lim it alcoho l availabilit y (exemplifi ed by th eir heavy Copyrighted Material
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engagement in efforts to raise the drinking age and to pr omot e server liability) or to fight for social changes that made automo biles safer for " fools and drunks " (for exam ple, th eir wid e involvement in laws requiring that seat belts be fast ened) .20 D evelopm ents in th e last several years sugg est th at adv ocates of the "public health" frame-th e central goal of whi ch is to limit alcohol availability-may be succ essful in wooing th e activists toward their alt ernative frame despit e its serious threat to th e alcohol industry . The stat e functionaries who advoc ate this fram e succeeded in conv ening the Surgeon General's Workshop on Drunk Driving in 1988 that led to the creation of the National Coalition Against Drunk Driving, a coalition of organizations with dir ect state subsidy that is seriously committed to advocating the public health frame . Federal officials in the Offic e of Substanc e Abus e Prevention (aSAP) and many university-based public h ealth programs have also become more actively involved in advocating th e public health frame . Many local activist groups have adopt ed thi s frame, and significant conflict has developed within and among local groups about the appropriat eness of more compl etely adopting it as the basis for future action . Th e weak association between the stat e actors whos e efforts indirectly spawned the mov ement against drunken driving and its constitu ent local groups suggests that new waves of victim activists may yet be alienated from the frame that originally motivat ed their crusade . Successfully establishing frame hegemony for an issue lik e this one has broad social control implications. As a dominant frame orients grass-roots action into centrain substanti ve channel s, it diverts it from others. Templates of m eaning probably plac e greater short-run constraints on grass-roots activists like th ese than do es th eir relativ e access to material resourc es, sinc e, for th e most part , th ey depend primarily on volunt eer labor. As som e of the activists have begun to imagin e changes that threaten the alcohol and automobile industries, their understanding of entrenched economic interests-r etarded by the wide con sensus surrounding the killer drunk frame-has begun to develop. But , thus far , its manif estations resembl e th e typically American primitive, populist reproach es to "big business. " Notes Acknowledgments: An earlier versi on of thi s chapter was pr epared for the Wor kshop on Social Mo vem ent s, C ounter- forces and Bystand ers (Wissenschaftszen-
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John D. McCarthy 160 trum Berlin fur Sozialforschung), Berlin , Jul y 5-7 , 1990 . Th e critical assistanc e of Bob Edwa rds, Joe Gusfield, Hank John ston , D ou g McAdam , Frank Weed, and, especially, jur gen Ge rhards as well as the other participant s in the WZB Co nference is much appre ciated. 1. I attend to th e developm ent of available fram es in w hat follo w s. Potential activists, however , mu st und ergo wh at D oug McAd am (1982) calls " cognitive liberation " befor e th ey can begin to act them selves. Th ey mu st tak e the available fram e (or create a new on e) as th eir own in a dialectical proc ess of makin g sense of th eir own person al circums tanc es - bas ically, inventin g activist ident ities. I focus my atten tion primaril y on th e de velopment of m obilizin g fram es th em selves and ign or e, for th e m ost part , th e indi vidu al pro cesses of cog nitive liberation . 2. Th ese th ree frames by no m ean s exha us t th ose th at have been elaborated to account for auto mo bile crash- related death and injur y. O ne of them str esses the radically disprop orti on ate involvem ent of yo ung m ales in auto mobile crashes of all kind s, parallelin g very closely th e involvem ent of young m ales in serious crime. Such a "w ild bo ys" frame has received littl e atten tion outside of the expert research com m unity. 3. Ano ther frame for und erstand ing auto mo bile accide nts, akin to that of auto safety , is that of roa d design . As th e idea th at auto mo bile crashes were prevent able became m ore w ides pread, beli ef th at bett er roa ds could redu ce the likelih ood of crashes also spread. For exa m ple, in 1965 th e federal high way adm inis trato r Rex Whitto n said in articulating th e "roa d design " version of the auto safety frame, " I th ink th e majorit y of dri vers, m ost of th e tim e, are performing as well as we can reason abl y expect . . . . Th e dan ger in pur suin g the ph antom of the bad dr iver pr obl em is th at undu e concentra tion on th e suppose d bad dri vers too oft en tak es our attention and energy away from wha t we can and sho uld be doing to make our roa ds and stree ts safer for dri vers" (U. S. Senate 1968,4) . While thi s fram e was and is w idely know n amo ng poli cy experts, it has not becom e wid ely kno wn amo ng the gene ral public. 4. Th e art iculation and institutiona lizatio n of th e auto safety frame is a classic exa m ple of the pr ofession alizati on of reform (see Mo ynih an 1969; McCarthy and Z ald 1977). 5. C rucia l to grasping the poli cy arena sur ro unding the publ ic control of automo biles and driv ers in the Unit ed States is th e continuin g locus of autho rity at th e local level. Whil e the fed eral ro le has grown dur ing the last several decades, dri ver licen sur e, automo bile registr ation , traffic enforce me nt, and crim inal court juri sdi ction rem ain local gove rn me ntal functi on s (see Laure nce 1988). Th e creation of frames of und erstandin g has take n place wi thin this contex t of scattered autho rity . In genera l, auto safety advoca tes have conce ntrated th eir attention m or e at th e nation al level and th ose attemp ting to co ntro l dru nk dr iving more at the state and local levels. 6. Thi s ind ex has been wi dely used as a source for showing tr end s in the coverag e of public issues in th e Unit ed States (for examp le, see Troyer and Markle 1983; Nel son 1984). It is pr ob abl y m or e glacial in its reaction to sho rtterm tren ds th an are dai ly, or even weekl y, newspapers. 7. I igno re the public health frame in w ha t follows . T he essence of the
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161 frame is described by Gusfield (1988a): " Fro m th e persp ective of an int erest in public health , DUI is a facet of th e problems produ ced by beverage alcohol. Th e counterme asures associated with the consumption and distributi on of alcohol are central in this con cern . . . . It is just as logical to control th e institution s th at sell alcohol, to tr eat chronic alcoholics or 'alcohol abu sers, ' and to maint ain hi gh prices on alcohol as it is to prohibit and puni sh DUI as a way of pr om otin g automobil e safety" (116- 17). In this frame , th e alcohol industr y is th e villain as it pursu es profit s at th e expense of publi c health . In th e same w ay th at tobac co firms are portra yed as att empting to ho ok yo ung sm okers in ord er to create a continuous m arket for their pr odu cts, alcohol producers , especially br ewers , are seen as targeting youn g peopl e in an att empt to create a lifelong clientel e of heavy drink ers . It is argu ed that their abilit y to do so should be curt ailed by m akin g alcohol more difficult to get (e.g ., limitin g sales, increasin g price) and reducin g the demand for it (e.g. , restricting adverti sing) . 8. Thi s section dep end s heavily on McCarthy , Wolfson , and Harvey 1987; and McCarth y and Har vey 1989. 9. We have not includ ed certain kind s of gro ups that devot e extensive efforts to the issue of drunk drivin g in our analysis of advo cacy groups . Such groups include locals of Stud ents Again st Dri vin g Drunk (SADD) and Boo st Alcohol Consciou sness Concerning the Health of Univ ersity Stud ent s (BACCHUS) , which are, resp ectively , high school and college student groups . Thes e other local groups have nev er reached th e promin ence or sustaine d level of advocacy of the adult community-bas ed groups . 10. The evidence on whi ch thes e attention cur ves are based is described in more detail below . 11. Dr . Nichol s w as instrumental in making the earliest activi sts aware of one another 's efforts in th e late 1970s; he was th e NHTSA project officer for a series of small grant s that th e agenc y mad e to th e earliest gro ups. 12. The unit of analysis here is communit y year-Ill communiti es over 9 years. The presenc e or absenc e of any newspaper coverage for each year is th e dependent variable . 13. The following analyses as well as det ailed description s of th e m easur es are reported in McCarth y and Wolfson 1992. 14. Ther e is an extensiv e literatur e that assesses the content of media sto ries for a variety of other purpo ses, how ever. 15. A sub sample of th e national data set , consisting of one hundr ed art icles, was coded by pairs of coder s. On average th ey agreed in 86 perc ent of their coding choices . This rang ed from a high of 100 percent agre ement for th e year in which the article appe ared to 78 percent for m ain actor s m ention ed , and 72 percent of major them es m ention ed , and varying from 77 percent to 99 percent for the variou s frame dim ension s. Th ese interrater reliabilit y result s are sim ilar to tho se achieved by other research er s who have focused on this issue arena (Estep and Wallack 1985), and the y are consistent w ith levels of reliability in other studies of collective behavior . It is typical that the m or e com plex th e substanti ve categor y to be cod ed , th e lower th e int err ater reliability . Th ese levels of reliabilit y are well wit hin acceptable limits . 16. Actor s (actors in cluded in general catego ries)
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162 A . Stat e and local offici als: state dep artm ent s of transp ortation, state legislato rs, gov ernor s, state att orney s general, mayor s, local judge s, lo cal pro secutors, lo cal legis lators, stat e poli ce, local police, stat e app eals cou rts B. Fed eral o fficials: U.S. repr esentativ es, U.S . senator s, U.S . General Accounting Offic e, U.S . Depar tm ent o f Transp ortation , U.S . Supr eme C ourt, U. S. Nationa l Transportation Safet y Board, U. S. P resident, U.S. Justice Department , U.S . military , C ent ers for Di sease C on tro l, U.S. courts of app eal C. Federa l drunk drivin g pro gr am s: Alco hol Safety Action Programs, NHTSA , Pre sident 's C o m m ission on Drunk Dri vin g, Nation al Co n feren ce on Youth and Drinking and Drivin g D . Alcoho l indu str y : bar and restaurant owner s, alcohol beverag e distri butor s, alcohol bev erag e ret ailer s, nati on al licensed beverage association , T IP S (Trainin g for Int erv ention Procedur es for Serv ers o f Alcoh ol) , Di sti lled Spirits Council E. Co rpora tions: insur an ce co m panie s, N ational Association of Bro ad casters, N ation al As soci ation of Indep end en t Insurers, Alliance of Am erican In sur er s, Smith and Wesson (m anufactur er of br eath -t estin g equipm ent) , lo cal radio statio ns F. Voluntar y secto r: victims g ro ups, pri vate agenc ies dealin g with alcohol ab use , churc h gr oup s, fratern al o rg aniz ations, tri al lawyers bar, ho spit als, N ati ona l Safet y C ouncil , Am erican Automobile Association , ACLU , Am eri can Ps ychi atri c Association , Am eric an B ar Associ ation , Bo at O pe rato rs Association , SMART (Sto p Mark eting Alcohol on Radio and Television ), Hi gh way Safety Institut e, N ation al C ha rities Inf ormati on Bure au, sport s arena ow ne rs G . Anti-drunk dri vin g citizens g ro u ps: RID-USA , loc al RID chapter s, nation al MADD , lo cal MADD chapters, specific leaders, SADD , C itizens for Safe Dri vin g, Footb all Player s Again st Drunk Drivin g (FAD D), Truck er s Ag ainst Drunk Dri vin g (TAD D), Ph ysicians Ag ainst Drunk Dri vin g, D ealers [aut o] Against Drunk D riv ing H. O ther: hi gh schoo ls (officials , teacher s, students), co lleges and univ er sities (officials, teacher s, studen ts), int ern ation al acto rs, specific victims , drunk driv er s 17 . Th em es (exa m p les o f specific th em es includ ed in gene ral th em e catego ries; aft er Est ep and Wallack 1985) A . Legislativ e activity : law /poli cy passed ; law / po licy defeated; bill/ law/polic y di scu ssed , ex plaine d; im pac t ofl aw disc usse d; histori cal back ground o f law/p oli cy ex plaine d B. Judi cial activ ity: review s o f jud ges' beh avior/ of co ur ts ' pro cessing of D U I cases; co ns titutiona lity of law passed ; cons titutionality o f en fo rceme n t pr actices o f DUI ; rep ort s o f spec ific co nvictions; gene ral tr end s in con victio ns; rep ort s o n j ail/ pri son conditions resultin g from DUI offenders
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163 C . Law enforcement activity : law enforcement strategi es (e.g., roadblock s, breathalyzers); general trends in arrests ; reports of specific arrests D. Drunk driving programs : prevention/education programs ; treatment issues of sentenced DUIs ; community campaigns against DUI ; new ideas for combatting drunk driving E . Public reactions to drunk driving : trends in public opinion ; avoiding arrest and avoiding jail; reports on groups advocating changed laws (e.g., MADD, RID) E Social costs ofDUI: loss oflives; loss of property; individual costs (e.g., victims, personal burdens of injury); task force investigations of social costs 18. Framing questions (answered yes/no by coders) A . Rim talk: Is there any doubt of the "killer drunk" frame? (If anyone or anything besides a drunk driver is implicated as a cause of alcohol-related crashes in general or specifically , the answer is yes). Record quotations of doubting instances . B . Killer drunk : Does the article contain extreme semantics ? For example , is drunk driving described as killing, murder, carnage, and/or drunk drivers as killers? Record quotations . C. Alcohol availability: Is there any statement made by any actor mentioned or the writer of the article that, in any way, alcohol availability needs to change (e.g ., sale hours restricted, sale age increased)? D. Enforcement doubt : Is there any statement made by any actor mentioned or the writer of the article that an enforcement technique is oppressive or unconstitutional (e.g., that it violates the rights of individuals)? 19. There is extensive debate on the issue of the relative autonomy of state actors. See Carnoy 1984 for a summary of earlier lines of contention, and Block 1987 and Skocpol 1985 for more recent discussions. 20. There is good reason to believe (Ross 1985, 1992) that the drunk driving frame mis-specifies the problem of automobile fatalities. It does so in that the solutions that it implies have not been and cannot be very effective . The lack of much reduction in highway fatalities as the result of all of the legislative, judicial, and law enforcement activity that has transpired has led some local activists to seek other directions for solutions to the problem that motivates them .
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167 and Parti cipant Mobilizati on ." In From Structure to Action: Comparing Social Movement Research across Cultures. edited by Bert Kland errn ans, Hanspeter Kri esi, and Sidn ey Tarrow, pp . 197- 217. Vol. 1 of International Social Movement Research. Gr eenwich , C onn .: J AI Pr ess. Snow , D avid A ., E . Burk e Rochfo rd , Jr ., Steven K. Word en , and Rob ert D . Benford . 1986. " Frame Ali gnm ent Pro cesses, M icrom obili zation , and Movem ent Parti cipation ." A merican Sociological Review 51 (Aug ust): 464- 81. Tarrow , Sidney. 1990. Democracy and D isorder: Protest and Politics in Italy, 1965-1 975. New York : Ox fo rd Univ er sity Pr ess. Tilly, Cha rles. 1984. " Social Mo vem ents and N ation al Politics." In Statemaking and Social Movementss, edited by C harles Bri ght and Susan Hardin g, pp . 297- 317. Ann Arbor : Uni versity of Mi chigan Pr ess. Timm on s, Marinelle . 1989. Int er view . Janu ary 16. Troyer, Ron ald J., and Gerald E. Mark le. 1983. C igarettes: Th e Battle over Smoking. New Bruns wick, N.J. : Rut gers Uni versity Press. Un gerleider , Steven , Steven A . Blo ch, and Ross E Co nn er. 1987. " Repor t fro m the Drunk Drivin g Pr eventi on Project ." Int egr ated Research Services, Eugene, Or e. U.S. D epartment of Transportation . N ational Hi gh way Traffic Safety Administration , Offic e o f Alcoh ol C ountermeas ures . 1974. A lcohol Safe ty Action Projects. C hap. 3, Evaluation of the Enforcement Countermeasures Activities. Washin gt on , D. C. U. S. Senate. 1968. C ommitt ee on Gov ern me n t Op eration s. Sub committ ee on Executiv e Reorg anization . Federal Role in Traffic Safe ty . 90th Co ngo2d sess. Verba, S., and N . H . Ni e. 1972 . Participation in A merica: Political Democracy and Social Equality. N ew York : Harp er and Row . Wallack, Lawr ence. 1984. " D rinki ng and Drivin g: Tow ard a Br oader Und erstanding of th e Role of Ma ss Medi a." Journal of Public Health Policy 5:471- 96. Weed, Frank J. 1987. "G rass- Roo ts Activism and th e Drunk Drivin g Issue: A Survey of MADD Chapt ers." Law and Policy90:259- 78. - - - . 1991. " O rg anizational Mortality in th e Anti -Drunk Dri vin g Movement : Failure among Local MADD C hapters. Social Forces 63:851-68 . Wilhelm , M aria . 1981. " A Grieving , Angry Moth er C harg es that Drunk en Dri vers Are Gettin g Away with Murder. " People Weekly 15 (june 29): 24-26. Wilson, John . 1983. "Cor poratism and the Prof ession alization of Reform . " Journal of Politicaland Military Sociology 11 (Sprin g) : 53- 68. Wolfson , Mark . 1988 . " T he C ons equ ences of a Social Movem ent : An O rga nizational Anal ysis of th e Imp act of the C itizens' Movem ent against Drunken Dri vin g ." Ph .D. diss., C atholic Univ ersity, Washington, D .C. Zimring , Franklin E . 1988. " Law, Societ y, and the Drinkin g Dri ver : Som e C oncluding Reflection s." In Social Control of the Drinki ng Dri ver, edited by Michael D . Laur ence , John R. Snortum , and Franklin E . Zimrin g, pp . 371-84 . C hicago : Univ ersity of Chica go Pre ss.
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Chapter 7
Transient Identities? Membership Patterns in the Dutch Peace Movement Bert Klandermans
Among social mov em ent scholars there is a growing awaren ess that movement participants share a number of beliefs that make it possible for them to act collectively (Morris and Mueller 1992). Alberto Melucci introduced th e term "collective identity" to refer to these shared beliefs. He defines collective identity as "a shared definition of the field of opportunities and constraints offered to collective action" (1985, 793) . Th ese shared definitions are developed in interactions betw een individuals. Collectiv e identity , according to Melucci , provides actors with th e " com m on cognitive frameworks that enable th em to assess their environment and to calculate the costs and benefits of their action " (1989, 35) . Verta Taylor and Nancy Whitti er suggest a slightly different definition that stresses "we"feeling. For th em , collective identity is "the shared definition of a group that derives from memb ers' common interests and solidarity" (1991, 1). Both Melucci and Taylor and Whittier emphasize the significance of coll ective identity for collective action to occur . Whereas Melucci is rath er vague about collective identity , Taylor and Whittier elaborate the concept more precisely . They distinguish three factors that contribute to the formation of collective identity: "1) the creation of socially constructed boundaries that insulate and differentiate a category of persons from the dominant society ; 2) the development of consciousness that presumes the existen ce of socially constituted criteria that account for a group's structural position; and 3) the valorization of a group's 'essential differences' through the politicization of everyday life" (1991, 28). Although these factors may be too specific to th e movement Taylor and Whitti er are studying-the lesbian mov ement-no doubt the basic principles of creating boundari es, raising consciousness, and changing the symbolic meanings of everyday life are relevant for collective identity to evolve. Copyrighted Material
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I carry this argument one step further. Where Melucci emphasizes the significance of collective identity as a prerequisite of collective action, and Taylor and Whittier explore the formation of collective identity, I argue that there is no such phenomenon as a stable collective identity which, once formed, governs collective action. Instead, I suggest that collective identities are transient phenomena . Studies that demonstrate that social movements change their character over time abound. There is every reason to assume that the collective identity of movement participants changes over time as the life cycle of a movement evolves . This, by the way, is not in contrast to Melucci and Taylor and Whittier, who both emphasize that collective identity formation is an ongoing affair . In fact, Taylor and Whittier 's argument could be read as an account of the reformulation of the collective identity of radical feminists into a lesbian identity . One of the vehicles for the transformation of collective identity is the changing composition of the body of activists within a movement. As a movement wanders through different stages in its existence, the profile of activists who enter the movement changes accordingly. There are numerous accounts of transient membership: Todd Gitlin 's (1980) study of Students for a Democratic Society, Doug McAdam's (1988) account of the Freedom Summer are only two examples. Because collective identity is generated and maintained in interaction among participants, the influx of new categories of activists may change the collective identity of the people in the movement. To be sure, as long as new activists enter gradually it is more likely for them to adapt to those who are already active in the movement without changing collective identities too much, but if they enter in large numbers, a transition in collective identity is more likely to occur. With a new wave of activists entering a new configuration of shared beliefs evolves. The result may be a transformed collective identity or a division oflabor along identity lines. This process of the changing composition of a body of activists and its consequences in terms of collective identity is the focus of this chapter. The movement from which I draw my evidence is the peace movement in the Netherlands as it developed between 1967 and 1989. During this period, the Dutch peace movement went through a major protest cycle in four stages. It was quiescent in the early 1960s before organizing a successful petition against the Copyrighted Material
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produ ction an d depl oym ent of neutron bombs ; th en it stage d the largest dem on str ation s th e country ha s ever seen an d collected 3.75 million signa tur es in cam pa igns against th e deploym ent of cru ise mi ssiles in th e first h alf of th e 1980s. It end ed in a period of declin e in th e seco nd half of th e 1980s. D ifferent catego ries of activists entered th e m ovem ent durin g thi s cy cle. In th e m eant im e, m an y of th em left th e m ovem en t. Acti vist s did not quit rand oml y; th ey left in gro ups , ju st as th ey h ad entere d a numb er of years befor e. The Data
Th e data stem from four different sour ces: (1) a study conduc ted by B en Schennink (1988) am ong th e 1970- generati on of activ ists of th e Interd enomination al Peace Co uncil (IKV) , th e co re or ganizati on of the Dutc h th e peace mo vem ent ; (2) a study b y Han speter Kri esi and Philip van Pr aag (1988) among 149 co re activists of th e peace m ovem ent in 1985; (3) a panel study a colleag ue an d I con ducted amo ng 119 activ ists from ten different lo cal IKV gro ups, w hich wa s conduct ed at thr ee diff erent tim es (Aug us t 1985 before th e petition camp aign, D ecemb er 1985 after th e petiti on campaign, and June 1987 wh en th e m ovem ent began to declin e); an d (4) in-depth inter views we con duc ted in th e sum me r of 1989 with thr ee categories of activists: nin e w ho were at th at tim e still active in th e peace m ovem ent (pe rsisters) , six form er activists w ho shi fted toward anothe r mo vem ent (shi fters), an d six form er acti vists w ho were no lon ger politi cally active (termin ators) . The Mov em e nt
A b rief ove rv iew o f two decades of peace m ovem ent in the N eth erl and s w ill help put th e dat a in perspecti ve. (See Roch on 1988 and O egema 1991 for mor e ex ten de d descriptions.) H ansp eter Kri esi (1988) distinguishes four curr ents within th e Dutch peace mo vem ent : a Chris tian curr ent with th e IKV as th e cor e o rg an ization ; a socialist cur rent, w hich was establishe d durin g th e petition aga in st th e neutron bomb ; Wom en for Peace; and a radi cal antimilit ari stic tenden cy . O f th e peace or ganizati on s in vol ved in thi s cy cle of the Copyrighted Material
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Dutch peace movement, the IKV is the oldest. It is not unusual to split the twenty years into two periods. The first-consciousnessraising - period lasted from 1967 through 1976. In this period , IKV, a consciousness-raising organization founded in 1966 by the churches, tried to mobilize public opinion. The second-actionperiod lasted from 1977 through 1986. In this period, the three currents that were more action-oriented gained prominence . The IKV was the logical outgrowth of the increasing concern within the Dutch churches about the threat posed by nuclear weapons. As early as in 1962, the General Synod of the Netherlands Reformed Church passed a resolution against nuclear armament. In the course of the 1960s, other denominations followed and became increasingly explicit in their denunciation of nuclear arms. In that same period, Pax Christi-a peace organization within the Catholic church founded shortly after the Second World War-replaced its spiritual, contemplative orientation with a more practical, organizing approach (Schennink, Becker, Bos , and Arends 1988). In 1965, Pax Christi took the initiative to approach the Protestant churches and suggest the establishment of an interdenominational peace organization. The result was the formation of the IKV, a council consisting of representatives of affiliated churches. The council aimed at stimulating discussion of the nuclear arms issue within the uutch churches . The two largest Protestant denominations, the Catholic church, and six smaller denominations participated in the council. They financed a small national secretariat to initiate and coordinate activities around the theme of peace with an emphasis on information and conscious ness-raismg . Beginning in 1967, the IKV organized an annual event known as Peace Week. During Peace Week church parishes focused on themes related to peace and disarmament . The themes of the events indicate that the IKV placed the issue of war and peace in a broad context : "Spread wealth, not nuclear weapons" (1967); "Away with hunger and violence" (1975) . Church members who showed an interest in the issue were asked to help organize the annual event, and those who helped organize were asked to become a more permanent local group. In this way IKV built up its network of core activists. During this period IKV demonstrated a lack of interest in political action. In 1977, after ten annual Peace Weeks, IKV changed its stratCopyrighted Material
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egy . Th e Peace Weeks had lost imp etus. Their objectives had become vague and too gene ral, th e targ et gro up was und efin ed, and th ere was insuffici ent int erest in pur suing con crete action. The collapse of th e Peace Weeks w as on e of the reasons to look for a new str ategy (O egem a 1991) . Anoth er reason was that moral appeals prov ed unsuc cessful in deterrin g nucl ear armam ent . Con cerned about th e decr easing significan ce of nucl ear weapons as an issue, the council decid ed in 1977 to start a lon g-t erm cam paign to forc e the Dut ch gov ernment to abandon nucl ear weapons as a stimulu s to th e proc ess of global nuclear di sarmament. This campaign m ark ed IKV 's dep artur e from its str ategy of ab staini ng from politi cal action . Th e Peace Week gr oup s were aske d to commit th em selves to a ten - year cam p aign w ith th e sloga n " Help Rid the World of Nucl ear Weap ons . Let It Begin in th e N eth erlands ." To m any , th e surpri se of the campaign becam e an eno rmo us success. In 1970 th ere were 220 local groups ; by 1985 th e numb er had grow n to 450 . Th e numb er of cor e activists also gr ew from 4,500 in 1969 to about 20,0 00 in th e 1980s. C ert ainl y , IKV alon e would not have been able to spur such enth usiasm . Two events sparked m ass m obilizati on : th e decision by th e U. S. government to deplo y neutron bomb s in Europ e, an d NATO 's decision to deplo y cruise missiles. B oth decisions brought the nuclear arm s issue home to th e Netherlands . Thi s wa s no long er an issue between sup er powers ; now th e Dutch go vernm ent itself had to decid e on deplo yment in th e N eth erlands . Th e even ts that follow ed are well docum ented (Rochon 1988; O egem a 1991): 1.2 million signatures against the neutron bomb were coll ected in 1977; larg e-scale demonstrations against th e deplo ym ent of cruis e missil es took pla ce in Am sterdam in 1981 and Th e Hague in 1983, with 450 ,000 and 500,000 partici pant s, resp ectivel y ; and 3.75 million signatur es against th e deplo ym ent of cruis e missil es in th e N eth erl ands were collected in 1985. Num erous activiti es took plac e on a small er scale all over the co un try . N everthel ess , to th e activists ' dism ay , th e governm ent decid ed in N ovemb er 1985 to dep loy cru ise mi ssiles . (Th e INF tre aty betw een th e Unit ed States and th e Soviet Union prevented th e deploym ent of th e cruis e missiles.) In th e yea r that followed th e mov em ent rapidl y declin ed. With some simplification , one co uld say th at two years later, on e-third of th e groups had collap sed ; of thos e groups th at wer e still alive, on e-third of th e memCopyrighted Material
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bers had left; and the activity level of the remaining groups was less than one-third of what it had been before. This cycle, and more precisely , the core activists who helped to shape the cycle and engaged in the social construction and reconstruction of collective identity , are the focus of the rest of this chapter. The composition of the body of activists changed during the life cycle of the movement. Some entered in the Peace Week period, others in the era of mass action; some left when the movement was geared to political action, others left when the action was over. These changes can be related to transformations in collective identity. The Changing Composition of Peace Movement Activists
The changes in the composition of the body of activists of the peace movement are investigated in three different ways. First, I compare core activists from 1970, the beginning of the cycle, with core activists from 1985, the year of the People 's Petition, the last mass action of the movement. Then, I investigate turnover among activists between June 1985 and June 1987. Applying a panel design, I describe which core activists left the movement between June 1985, the beginning of the petition campaign, and June 1987, a year and a half after the decision of the Dutch government to deploy cruise missiles and half a year after the start of the negotiations between Ronald Reagan and Mikhail Gorbachev, which rendered the government's decision obsolete . Finally, I discuss results of in-depth interviews with core activists, which were conducted in 1989. Based on their accounts, I reconstruct the changing configuration of core activists in the Dutch peace movement and review the possible consequences in terms of the transitions in collective identity . A
Comparisonof Core Activistsin /970 and /985
Schennink draws the following portrait of the core activist from the Peace Week era (1967-1977): "Almost all core activists are active church members . ... The daily work of the core activist illustrates the consciousness raising characteristics of the network; 41 percent did pastoral work, 18 percent taught, 5 percent worked in adult education, 12 percent studied, 21 percent Copyrighted Material
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had othe r work " (1988, 255). Ind eed , consciousness raising is the main goal of two-thirds of th e cor e acti vists an d alm ost 90 percent were en gaged in such cons ciousn ess-rai sing activities as serm ons (47 percent), discussion group s (50 perc ent) , writing articles in pari sh newsletters (32 per cent), and teaching at scho ols or local Peace Week m anifestati ons (59 percent) . Schennink observ es that gr adually a new category of cor e activists en tered the local Peace Week groups, namely , peopl e wh o wer e parti cip ants of other m ovement or ganiz ation s. Unlik e th e early cor e activists, who pr eferr ed Chri stian D emo cratic parti es, th e new core activist s preferr ed radic al or pacifist left-win g partie s. In th e period of conscio usness- raising, th e pe ace m ovem ent could count on both categori es. In fact , th e IKV had hop ed to brin g th e two to geth er and to win suppo rt from C h ristian D em oc ratic cons titue ncies for view s and p oli cies norm ally advoca ted by radi cal, pacifist constituen cies. Accordin g to Schennink , m an y of th e activ ists from the first categor y dr opp ed out wh en th e m ovement m oved in the dir ection of action m obiliz ation . A comp arison of cor e activist s ofI KV in 1970 an d 1985 confirms this assum ption (Tables 7-1 an d 7- 2). In 1970, one-third of Table 7- 1
Political Party Preferences among Co re Activists Co re A ctivists IKV 1970 ('Yo)
Co ns erva tive s C h ris tia n D em o cr at s Dem o crat s '66 Soc ia l Dem o cr at s R adi cal Left
N
Core A ctivists IKV 1985 ('Yo)
Core A ctivists Peace Movement 1985 ('Yo)
:2
10
1
1 1
13 39
43 56
46 49
479
119
149
35
Sources: IKV 1970: Schennink 1988; IKV 1985: Panel study; Peace Movement 1985: Kriesi
and van Praag 1988. Table 7-2
Church Membership among Co re A ctivists
IKV 1970 IKV 1985 Peace m ov em ent o rga niza tio ns 1985 Ge ne ra l popu lati on 1985
94% 80% 55 %
54%
Sources: IKV 1970: Schennink 1988; IKV 1985: Panel study ; Peace movement and general
population 1985: Kriesi and van Praag 1988
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the cor e activists of IKV pref erred a Christian Democratic part y and half of the activists preferred left-wing parties. In 1985, Christian Democrats are virtually replaced by left-wing ers. At th at time , the political preferenc es of core activists of IKV were similar to those of peace movement activists in general. This is not to say that all church members quit. Although th e proportion of church members dropped from 1970 to 1985, 80 percent of th e core IKV activists represents a substantial numb er . Church m embership among activists of the peace movement in general was 55 per cent in 1985, which is comparable to the proportion of church members in Dutch society . From a church-oriented, consciousn ess-raising organization, the movement turned between 1970 and 1985 into an action-oriented movement against cruise missiles. Consequently, the composition of the body of activists in 1985 differed significantly from that in 1970: conc ern ed Christians were overruled or replaced by pacifists; radical socialists and social democrats shaped th e IKV into a more militant configuration. Turnoveramong Activists
In November 1985, the Dutch government decided to deploy cruise missiles . In June 1987, we interviewed our sample of IKV activists for the third time. At that point 28 percent of the people interviewed had left their group since our previous interview in December 1985, many in reaction to th e government's decision. The failure of the petition campaign was a blow to the movement, and even among those who stayed, 43 percent considered leaving at that time. Three questions come to mind regarding the composition of the body of activists: Who were the people who left? Who considered leaving? And finally , what can we say about their motivations? Our panel study of 119 IKV activists contained several items that collected responses pertinent to the above questions . Because we had measures at three times-before the petition campaign, immediately after the campaign and the government's decision to deploy , and eighteen months later-we were able to trace changing patterns in who left, who stayed, and who considered leaving. We asked whether those who in 1987 had quit or considered doing so were already considering to leave in the years before. We also asked whether they were marginal members of their groups . Copyrighted Material
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We found that thos e who left th e m ovement in 1987 were m or e often already consid ering leaving in D ecemb er 1985, immediately after the petition failed. We arri ved at thi s assessm ent by conducting a number of regression analyses on the relationships between having left the movem ent in Jun e 1987 and having considered leaving with wheth er the y considered leaving in D ecember 1985. Th e analysis reveal ed a strong positiv e bet a coefficient (.36). Furthermore , by two measures , we were able to assess marginality of those who left . We found that thos e who left tended to be m emb ers of the mov ement for a shorter time; also , they tended to be less activ e m emb ers in th eir IKV groups. While their level of activit y incr eased during th e petition campaign , their marginality at its start was apparent. We found that thos e who left were less activ e m emb ers in relativel y activ e groups. In oth er words , within th e context of their own gro up , th ey were mor e margina l memb ers . What can we say abo ut those activists who decided to stay in th e mov em ent? First , the y were n ot th e stereotypical "true believers ." Man y harbor ed doubt s about th e mo vement . Of those activists who were still member s in 1987 (but who were considering leaving) , most had first thought of leaving a year and a half earlier in Dec emb er 1985. Th eir doubts did not necessarily translate into marginality . B y the same m easures used abov e (tim e spent in the mo vement and averag e tim e spent in group activities) we found that these m embers were more active in relativel y mor e active groups , alth ough th e levels of activit y declin ed dramaticall y in subsequ ent years. Giv en th eir levels of incorporation into local IKV groups and despit e doubts about th e movement , which integration into loc al groups apparently help ed dispell , it m akes sense that if thes e activists were to leave at all it would be a collective phenom enon. A locally based , collective identit y as Christian peace activists seems to have carried them through the cycle of growth and declin e. For many activists, defection and th e intention to defect had their roots in th e period imm ediatel y after th e end of th e petition campaign . While all m emb ers experienced the camp aign 's failure, th ere are several shadings of attitudes and actions that warrant examination. For exam ple, what mad e some activ ists consider withdrawing in Dec emb er 1985 whil e oth ers held steadfast? Also, Copyrighted Material
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what made some of them resign whereas others stayed , even as they harbored thoughts ofleaving? We asked a number of questions of our panelists that could provide insight into these differences, and we found a very strong relationship between considering to leave after the failure of the petition and having considered to leave six months earlier (in June 1985). This lends support to our contention that at least some of those who considered leaving were more marginal members in their groups. This was confirmed by the results of a regression analysis with the consideration to resign in June 1985 as a dependent variable. We found that activists who had considered leaving then were less committed to their group, felt less kinship with the people in the movement, and were less motivated to participate in the movement. Six months later, we found the tendency of being more estranged and less motivated was even more apparent. In addition to the feelings of marginality that predated the petition drive, we found two important changes in opinion that seem to have contributed to the intention to leave in December 1985. Those who considered leaving in December 1985 were in June 1985 still relatively optimistic about the movement's future; they became pessimistic in December. We found a strengthening negative relationship between those who considered leaving in December and ratings on the statement "the movement is declining ." Negative beta coefficients dropped from - .12 in June to -.32 in December 1985. Certainly, the failure of the petition campaign made these people lose their faith in the movement. In addition to being marginal and becoming more pessimistic about the movement's future, those who intended to leave the movement in December 1985 were younger, and more often not members of a church. Not surprisingly, they did not have high expectations of the petition campaign in June, before it got under way. All these point to a shared set of characteristics that defined a subgroup of IKV adherents as early as June 1985. This observation is supported by our in-depth interviews, which I discuss below. The second question asks, What made some of those who were considering leaving to take action and quit their IKV group, while others remained in the movement despite their ambivalent feelings? The interviews showed that a combination of even more pessimistic expectations about the future of the movement and a Copyrighted Material
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even strong er estrang ement from oth er participants influenced the decision to leave. Bas ed on int ervi ew s, we cons truc ted a profile of tho se wh o left th e mo vement in Jun e. I. Th ese people left becaus e th ey felt much more pessimistic about the chanc es that the mov ement would survive. It is obvious th at the governm ent's decision to deploy wa s an important factor. Int erestin gly , man y of thos e w ho left mo ved on to other mo vem ent s; perhaps the se m easur es reflect a tend enc y to po st-hoc selfjustification .
2. Th ose w ho were outsid e th e mo vement organization in D ecemb er felt mu ch less akin to th e peopl e in th e mo vem ent than th ey did in Jun e. Thi s respons e was certain ly influenc ed by the failur e of th e camp aign. 3. Th ose w ho left were from th e beginnin g less political. We m easur ed thi s cha rac teristic by eva lu ating th eir reason s for why bein g a core activist m atter s. We asked th em to rate such items as " to mobilize th e peopl e in m y community, " or " to put pressur e on authorities." 4. Th ey were mor e ex pressively m oti vated . This was mea-
sur ed by th eir answ ers to su ch item s as " to demon strate m y indignation" as a reason for being an activist . 5. Th eir own indi vidual contribution wa s felt to be noness ential , as m easur ed by th e statement , " T he re is no need for m e to participat e sinc e the action will be a success anyw ay. " 6. Th ey per ceived the co sts o f parti cip ation to be high er, as gau ged by the tim e spent in th e m ovem ent and th e negati ve reactions of significan t others . Th ese last two ch ara cteristics sugg est that , as a group , those who left inJun e wer e less motivat ed initially to engage in th e petition camp aign. 7. Thos e w ho left had becom e much mor e milit ant in De-
cemb er 1985 as compar ed to Jun e 1985. Again , this reflects the failure of the petition campaign, but it also sugg ests increasingly Copyrighted Material
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strained relations between moderate and radical segments of the movement. Those who stayed, althoug h they continued to consider leaving, may be profi led as follows : They still evaluated the movement positively in Decem ber, even though the petition drive had failed. I.
2. They still felt akin to the other people in the movement in December; they remained that way with no appreciable change when we interviewed them again in June 1987. 3. They abided by the official IKV policy of refraining from more militant action.
The decisive factor about staying seems to be the participant's perspective about the future of the movement . Those who stayed were still optimistic about the movement's future in December even though their belief in the efficacy of the movemen t had waned . By June 1987, however, we found that this optimism had completely reversed . A highly significant positive beta coefficient for the "movement is declining" in December 1985 (.21) was replaced by an even more significant negative one in June 1987 (- .49). In other words, initia l optimism was replaced by pessimism about the movement's future . In view of our earlier findings that pessimism contribu ted to the exp lanation of quitting, one needs little imagination to expect that these activists would be the next to leave. These findings shape our views on the changing composition of the body of core activists. Aft er th e failure of th e petition drive to influenc e governmenta l policy, many activists considered aban doning the movem ent . Th ey were the more marginal group mem bers, the younger activists who were not affiliated with a church, and thos e who were not very enthusiastic about th e petition in the first place. Not all of them left . Thos e wh o stayed wer e still committed to the movement , still beli eved in its future , and abid ed by IKV's policy of refraining from militant action . Those, however, who doubted wh ether th e movement would surviv e, w h o were more expressively motivated , and who had become more Copyrighted Material
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milit ant resign ed in th e m onth s foll owing . A spec ific typ e of core activist distanc ed himself fro m th e m ovem ent after th e camp aign agains t cruise mi ssiles had failed : th e m or e m ar ginal , th e younger, th e more milit an t, th e m or e sensitive to th e mov em ent 's failure, th e m or e oppo sed to th e petition , an d th e less affiliated to a chur ch . This left behind a mor e m od er ate , ch urch-o riented configur ation o f activists. Persisters, Shifters,and Terminators
We observe d th e same p att ern s in th e indepth int erview s w ith twent y- on e peopl e who had been very active in th e peace m ovem ent's heyd ay . Nin e were , at th e tim e of th e int erview , still active in th e m ovem ent (pe rsisters), six shifted to othe r m ovem ent s (shift er s), and six sto ppe d being politic ally active (term ina tors). We were inte res ted in th e qu estion of w hether persister s differed fro m term inators. In addition, we in vestigated wh eth er shifters were different from terminat or s. Alth ou gh th e thr ee gro ups were sim ilar in man y ways-a ll had been a core activist - they differed in four hi ghl y significant dim en sion s. I. Mor e often th an termin ator s and persist ers , th e shifters had been active in othe r m ovem en ts befor e th ey engag ed in the peace m ovem ent . Th ese included th e anti -nucl ear power movem ent, an ti- Vietna m War mo vem ent , en viro n m en tal mov ement, stud ent movem ent , third wo rld supp ort groups, and women's m ovem ent . Mor eover , shifters had particip ated in milit ant prot ests lik e blockad es an d site-occupa tion s mor e th an th e oth er two gro ups.
2. Persister s tend ed to occup y form al positi ons in the peace groups; shift ers wer e mor e oft en inf orm al lead er s; termin ators were neith er of th e two . Term in ators spen t th e fewest hours per week on th e mo vem ent ; shifters spen t th e m ost ; pers isters occupied an int erm edi ate position . J. At th e tim e of th e int erview (sum mer 1989), per sisters and shi fters were still spe nding consi dera ble pr oport ion s of th eir time in movemen t activities . However , shifters were active on a much br oad er ran ge of socie tal issues th an persis ters. Th e in te rv iew s left
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us with the impression that being an activist was a much more central part of shifters' identities than persisters'. For terminators , activism was a more external affair. Though they were more active than the average citizen , activism did not occupy their lives completely. 4. Commitment to a church was stronger among persisters than among shifters and terminators.
In sum, persisters have no personal history of social movement participation. The peace movement often was the first movement they had ever joined. They spent relatively large amounts of time in the movement, they occupied formal positions in the movement, and they continued to be active. They were more likely to be committed to a church. Of the three types, they identified most strongly with the peace movement . Shifters, on the other hand, had a lifelong history as activists. They were active in other movements before they entered the peace movement, and they continued to be active in other movements after they left the peace movement. They spent the most time on movement activities in the past and at the time of the interview. They participated in a broad range of activities, which adds to the image of committed activists. Terminators had a more marginal position in their groups . They spent less time, they assumed less responsibility, and they identified less with the movement . The following picture emerges. Some of the peace movement activists joined a movement for the first time in their lives. They were and still are completely committed to the peace movement. They were the people who stayed in the movement . Some of the activists were less committed to the peace movement as such, but were activists in heart and soul. They participated in the peace movement when there was action, and they left it for another movement when the action was over. Other activists were both less committed to the peace movement per se and less committed to activism. They left the movement without attaching themselves to a new movement. These findings suggest a solution for the somewhat paradoxical result of the panel study that dropouts were both more marginal and militant members. Two different sets of activists left the movement for different reasons and with different destinations. Copyrighted Material
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On on e hand are th e relativel y less active activist s, who, after the disappointing results of th e actions aga inst cruis e mi ssiles, decided to give up activism. On the oth er hand are th e activists who joined the mov em ent to sta ge collectiv e action , who respond ed to the mo vem ent's failure w ith in creasin g militan cy , and who turned to other movem ents wh en th e peace movem ent did not radica lize. Conclusion
Diff erent coh ort s of participants carried the mo vement at diff erent point s in time. It started w ith th e early ch ur ch groups, who might not even have concei ved of th emsel ves as m ovem ent activ ists . Yet, th ey were to a large ex tent responsibl e for th e estab lishm en t of an or ganizational network th at later fun ction ed as th e backb on e of the m ovement. This first gen eration of activists was orien ted toward consciousness-raising ; it had difficulti es when mor e radical activists - often exp erienc ed in unc on venti on al politi cal action - cam e aboard . Som e of th em left th e m ovem ent , othe rs stayed. At th e other end of th e cycle, in 1989, those wh o stayed to ok pr ecedenc e again w hen th e radical activists left th e mo vem ent to join action elsew here . In the middl e period, rou ghl y bet ween 1980 and 1985, the mod erate activists w ho staye d join ed forc es with th e m or e radical activists and sha red w ith th em th e burd en of or ganizing th e mo vement . Yet, th e latt er seem to h ave put th eir stamp on th e public im age of th e mo vem ent. In tho se days, th e mo vem ent turn ed into an action- or iented, antigovern me n t coalition . On e might suppos e that, w ith regret , th e origin al moderat e activists w itn essed direct action taking priorit y over reflection and discussion ; an tigovernm ent demonstr ation s were more import ant th an consciousness rai sing within th e ch ur ches. Aft er the go vernm ent decided to deploy crui se missiles , part of th e activists radi calized ; th ey left when th e mov ement refrain ed from milit ant action. Oth ers stayed , but wh en th e m ovem ent declin ed rapidl y th ey began to leave as well. A cor e of committ ed activists wer e left behind . Th ey were not onl y mor e com m itted to th e peace mo vem ent but also mor e committ ed churc h m emb er s and less milit ant. Th ey lead th e m ovem ent back to its ori gins : con cerne d chur ch memb er s. Th e dat a on fifte en ye ars of mo vem ent activity reveal considerable shifts in the com pos ition of th e bod y o f activ ists. This Copyrighted Material
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brings us back to the question of the stability of collective identity. With such substantial changes in the configuration of activists, just how stable or transient will collective identity be? Collective identity has been described as the outcome of interpersonal interaction of movement participants . Although we were not able to document changes in collective identity, it is very likely that the three phases the peace movement went through not only brought considerable transitions in the body of activists but also brought transitions in the collective identity of core activists . Certainly, the corporate image of the movement changed considerably. Whether this was due to disparate sets of activists taking over at different times, and emphasizing some elements of collective identity and suppressing others, or whether it was a real shift in collective identity is difficult to assess on the basis of our investigations. The reappearance of church-oriented activists in the last period seems to suggest the former, but we may assume that the collective identity of these activists is formed by the previous action period just as by the initial consciousness-raising period. Whatever the dynamics may have been, shifts in the body of activists raise the question of how stable or transient collective identity is and underscore the importance of research into the formation and transformation of collective identity . References
Gitlin, Todd. 1980. The Whole World Is Watching: The Media in the Making and Unmaking of the New Left . Berkeley: University of California Press. Kriesi, Hanspeter. 1988. "Local Mobilization for the People's Petition of the Dutch Peace Movement ." In From Structure to Action: Comparing Social Movement ResearchacrossCultures, edited by Bert Klandermans , Hanspeter Kriesi, and Sidney Tarrow, pp. 41-83 . Vol. 1 of International Social Movement Research.Greenwich, Conn .: JAI Press. Kriesi, Hanspeter , and Philip van Praag , Jr. 1988. "De beweging en haar campagne ." In Tekenen voor de vrede. Portret van een campagne, edited by Bert Klandermans, Dirk Oegema, Ben Schennink, Hanspeter Kriesi, and Philip van Praag, pp . 13-53 . Assen : Van Gorcum. McAdam, Doug . 1988. FreedomSummer. New York: Oxford University Pr ess. Melucci, Alberto. 1985. "The Symbolic Challenge of Contemporary Movements." Social Research52 (Winter) : 789-816 . -. 1989. Nomads of the Present: Social Movements and Individual N eeds in ContemporarySociety. Philadelphia : Temple University Press. Morris, Aldon D ., and Carol McClurg Mueller, eds. 1992. Frontiers in Social Movement Theory. New Haven : Yale University Press.
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Bert Klandermans 184 Oe gem a, Dirk . 1991. "The Dut ch Peace Mov em ent , 1977 to 1987. " In Peace Movements in l# stern Europe and the United States, edited by Bert Kland erman s. Greenwich, C onn .:JAI Pr ess. Rochon , Thoma s R. 1988. Mobilizing for Peace: Th e A ntinuclear Movements in Western Europe. Prin ceton : Princeton Univ ersity Pr ess. Schennink , Ben . 1988. " Fro m Peace Week to Peace Work: D yn ami cs of th e Peace Mov ement in the Netherland s. " In From Structure to Action: Comparing Social Movement Researchacross C ultures, edited by Bert Kl and erman s, Han speter Kri esi, and Sidn ey Tarrow , pp . 247- 81. Vol. 1 of International Social Movement Research. Green wich, Co nn .: JAI Pr ess. Schenni nk, Ben , Marcel Becker, and H an s Bos en Co r Ar ends . 1988. In Beweging voor de Vrede. U?ertig Jaar Pax Christi: Geschiedenis, l#rk wijze , A chterbanen lnv loed, Nijm egen : Studiecen tru m voo r Vredesv raagstukke n . Taylor , Verta , and N anc y E. Whitti er. 1992. "Co llective Identit y in Social Movement Co m m unities." In Frontiers in Social Movement Th eory, edited by Ald on D. Morri s and C aro l McC lur g Mue ller , pp . 104- 29. New Haven: Yale Uni versity Press.
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Chapter 8
Identity Fields: Framing Processes and the Social Construction of Movement Identities Scott A. Hunt Robert D. Benford David A. Snow
Two relat ed but th eoreticall y unconne cted sets of concept s have influenc ed recent social movem ent th eory and res earch . On e set focu ses on framing processes that affect th e int erpr etive schema mov em ent participants construct as th ey make sense of th eir social world s (Gamson, Fireman , and Rytina 1982; Snow et al. 1986; Snow and Benford 1988, 1992; Johnston 1991; Gerhards and Rucht 1992; Tarrow 1992; Benford 1993a, 1993b) . The other set of conc epts dir ects attention toward the personal and collective identities movement actors con struct in their everyday accomplishment of collectiv e action (Pizzorno 1978; Cohen 1985; Melucci 1989; Taylor 1989; Gamson 1992; Friedman and McAdam 1992; Hunt 1992, Taylor and Whittier 1992; Hunt and Benford, forthcoming) . In this chap ter we take a first step in elaborating the conn ections between framing processes and identity constructions , and we sugg est how these linkages can facilitate our understanding of collectiv e action mobilization . Our orienting assumption is that id entity constructions , whether intend ed or not , are inh erent in all social mov ement framing activities . Not only do framing processes link individuals and groups ideologically but they proffer , buttre ss, and em b ellish identiti es that rang e from collaborative to conflictual. Th ey do this by situating or placing relevant sets of actors in time and sp ace and by attributing charact eristics to them that sugg est spe cifiabl e relationships and line s of action . Stud ents of social in teraction h ave long not ed that inter action betw een two or more individuals or groups minimall y requir es that they be situat ed or placed as social objects (see Ston e 1962; McC all and Simmons 1978; Sno w and Copyrighted Material
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And erson 1987). In other wo rds, situa tiona lly spe cific iden tities m ust be establishe d. It is our con ten tion th at wi thin th e realm of collective action pertin en t ind ivid ual an d collective id en titi es are pr offered and affirme d in two analy tic ally distin ct but int erconnec ted ways: thr ou gh engage me n t in collective action itself, such as pr ot estin g and celebra ting, an d thr ou gh fr am in g pr ocesses. In th is chapte r, we are concerne d w ith th e latt er connec tion, th at is, wi th th e linka ge bet ween fram ing pro cesses an d th e esta blishment or cons tru ction of identiti es relevant to collective actio n. To elabora te the conce ptua l connec tions between fram ing and iden tity cons truc tion, we take as our focus socia l move me nt organization (SMO) acto rs' claims abo ut relevant sets of acto rs within th e contexts in w hic h th ey ope rate. B ased on resear ch we had conduc ted on a varie ty of movemen ts since th e mi d 1970s (Benford 1984,1987; Hunt 1991; Snow 1993), an d based on th e conceptu al obse rva tions of o thers regardi n g th e categor ies of acto rs relevan t to social movemen ts (see Gamso n 1990, 14-16; McC arthy and Z ald 1977,1221 -22; Zur cher and Snow 1981,472 -77; Turner and Killian 1987, 216-17, 225-26, 255-58), we sugges t th at movem ent acto rs' claim s abo ut th ese relevan t catego ries of actors cluster aro und three socia lly cons truc ted sets of ide nt ities we conce ptualize as iden tity fields. First, th ere are th ose indiv idua ls and collectivities w ho are iden tified as pro tagonists in tha t they advoca te or sym pat hize wi th move men t values, beliefs, goa ls, and practices, or are th e beneficiaries of moveme n t action . Secon d, th ere are othe r persons an d collectiv ities who are seen as stan ding in opposition to th e protago nis ts ' effo rts, and are thu s iden tified as antagonists. Thir d , still ot hers are perceive d as au diences in the sense that th ey are ne utra l or uncom m itted observers, even th ou gh some of th em m ay respon d to or report on the events they obse rve . We refer to these catego ries o f ident ities as iden tity fields because the ident ities wi thin each category overlap an d h an g together, and because the categories are elastic and expand and con trac t across tim e. We ex plore th e connec tions between th ese ide ntity fields and framing processes wi th data draw n from our ethnog rap hic studies of th e N ichi ren Shos hu Bu ddh ist movement (Snow 1993); N ebraskans for Peace (Hun t 1991); and other local, regiona l, and national nuclear disarm am ent organizat ions (Ben ford 1984, 1987). But first we review extan t trea tmen ts of iden tity, ident ity construc tion Copyrighted Material
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processes, and framing in the social movement literature. This overview provides a baseline for assessing the concepts we intro duce and the theoretical extensions suggested by our analysis. Identities and Social Movements
Although interest in the link between iden tities and movements has recently flour ished, this link has been of long -standing interest to movement scholars . In tracing and critically assessing this interest, Hunt (1992) has discerned at least three tendencies in the way in which identity has been conceptualized and approached in the movement literature. One tendency is to treat identities as products ofbiological, psychological, or social structures. This tendency is evidenced in psychopathology models that suggest primitive instincts or inherent psychological structures produce violence, panics, riots, and other asocial behaviors (MacKay 1932; LeBon 1960; Trotter 1919; Freud 1922; McDougall 1928; Moscovici 1985). In this view, identities are manifestations of innate, asocial biological and psychological structures. These psychopathology perspectives are not the only ones that conceptualize identity as a product of underlying objective structures. Early thinking about ethnic identity, for instance, often treated it "as essentially 'primordial,' meaning some underlying and fundamental set of ascriptive characteristics" determines identities (Olzak 1983, 356) . Along similar lines, "es sentialist" approaches point to physiological characteristics , psy chological predispositions, biological reproduction, and historical sexual divisions of labor as "determinants" of gendered, lesbian, and gay identities (Epstein 1987; Marshall 1991). Strain theorists also suggest that identities are products of maladaptive social structures. For example, Klapp (1969), drawing from both symbolic interactionism and mass society theories, argues that modern social structures produce estrangement that pushes people toward collective searches for meaningful identities . Relative deprivation and status inconsistency approaches suggest similar arguments; they contend that movements emerge when a category of people experiences psychological dissonance stem ming from discrepancies between real conditions and subjective expectations (see, e. g., Davies 1979; Wilson and Zurcher 1976). It is assumed that identities that are products of psychosocial strucCopyrighted Material
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tural strain render individuals particularly susceptible to collective action. Inherent in this tendency to view identity as a product of objective structures are several shortcomings . Because identity is seen as a product or even a symptom, analytical attention is riveted on "discovering" the underlying structures that spawn identi ties. Thus, identity as such has not been the central subject of empirical investigations . There also is a tendency to reify identity concepts . Researchers frequently imply that entire categories of peop le possess uniform identities. Further, focusing on "determinant" structures implies that identities arise from a single dimension, for example, pathological instinct or psychosocial structural strain. Unidimensional arguments overlook a variety of identity compo nents and complexities, especially how actors interpret, construct, and articulate identities (Blumer 1969). A second tendency is to conceptualize identity concerns and changes in identity as manifestations of macro social change. This line of argument has recently been advanced by New Social Movement (NSM) theorists, who contend that changes in industrial societies reflect the advent of a new historical epoch that has given rise to a new set of identities (Pizzorno 1978; Habermas 1984, 1987; Cohen 1985; Gamson 1989; Kriesi 1989; Dalton and Kuechler 1990). According to Melucci (1989), there are a num ber of differences between previous forms of class conflict and today's emerging forms of collective action. In other words, N SM s are said to transcend traditional class divisions and corresponding struggles for control of state and economic institutions. Instead, they concentrate on transformations of civil society and life worlds . Despite notable contributions to the study of contemporary movements, NSM theorists' tendency to view identities as manifestations of macro social change has several limitations. For one thing, this focus is perhaps overly narrow, examining on ly a "subset of social movements that happen to be predominantly white, middle class, and located in Western Europe and North America" (Gamson 1992,58). Second, NSM theory examines only politicalcultural movements with progressive agendas, thereby ignoring other kinds of movements (for example, religious, consensus, right-wing). Additionally, Melucci (1989), among others, argues against NSM theorists' reification of the " new ness" of con tempoCopyrighted Material
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rary movements . Further, in the light of Weber 's (1978) analyses of status conflicts, charismatic leaders, religious movements , and military ord ers, the assumption that all "old " movements wer e class-based seems unwarranted. To soften the assumption by maintaining that the only significant "old " movements were classbased would be simply self-serving . The tendency of NSM theorists to assert that the pivotal role of collective identity is new is suspect, because by definition any self-identified group makes a collective identity claim. Finally, some articulations of NSM theory imply a tautology: NSMs, defined in terms of self-limiting radicalism, identity politics, and transformations of civil society and life worlds , are manifestations of a new, emerging historical epoch, which is characterized by nonrevolutionary radicalism, valorization of devalued identities , and alterations of civil society and life worlds. The implication of these conceptual tendencies, with the exception of Melucci's work (1989), is that movement identities are viewed as being more or less historically determined rather than interactionally accomplished . The third approach to conceptualizing identities treats them as interactional accomplishments. ]oane Nagel (1986), for instance , conceptualizes ethnic identity as political constructions . Constructionist perspectives have countered essentialist arguments as well , by contending that gendered, lesbian, and gay identities are perpetually (re)constructed through social interaction (Ponse 1978; Gerson and Peiss 1985; Margolis 1985; Smith 1990; West and Zimmerman 1987; Marshall 1991). Melucci (1989) also stresses the interactional accomplishment of identity, arguing that " collective identity is an interactive and shared definition " (34). Borrowing from NSM, feminist, and symbolic interactionist theories, Verta Taylor and Nancy Whittier (1992) examine the interactional accomplishment of collective identity in terms of boundaries, consciousness, and negotiation. Symbolic interactionist movement scholars have also had a long-standing , albeit mainly implicit, interest in the construction of identities. Blumer's (1939) emphasis on esprit de corps , morale, solidarity, and ideology points directly to identity construction issues. This focus is echoed by Turner and Killian (1987), who state that the "continuity of group identity" is a key aspect of collective action (224). And recent interactionist studies examine the discourse of personal identity construction in a variety of conCopyrighted Material
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texts (Snow and Machalek 1984; Snow and Anderson 1987). According to these works, personal identity, regardless of its objective constitution, is an interactional accomplishment that is socially (re)constructed. The discourse of personal identity is understood as a rhetoric "constructed in accordance with group specific guidelines" and "redefined continuously in light of new experiences" (Snow and Machalek 1984, 175-77) . At the organiza tionallevel of analysis, SMO actors provide "appropriate" vocabularies and stories for participants and sympathizers to (re)construct their personal identities in ways that link or further commit them to the movement or SMO (Benford 1993b; Hunt and Benford, forthcoming) . This interactionist emphasis on identity and universes of discourse is relevant to understanding the construction, establish ment, and transformation of collective identities . If collective identity is conceptualized in terms of the range of salient characteristics an SMO avows and imputes to other sets of actors, then the construction and affirmation of identities clearly can be linked to framing processes. Frames and Framing Processes
Attempting to elucidate ideational aspects of collective action, Snow, Benford, their colleagues, and others (Snow et al. 1986; Snow and Benford 1988, 1992; Johnston 1991; Gerhards and Rucht 1992; Tarrow 1992; Benford 1993a, 1993b) adapted Goffman's (1974) Frame Analysis to illuminate how movement actors make sense of their social worlds. A frame is "an interpretive schemata that simplifies and condenses the 'world out there' by selectively punctuating and encoding objects, situations, events, experiences, and sequences of actions within one's present or past environments" (Snow and Benford 1992, 137). In the context of social movements, collective action frames not only focus and punctuate "reality " they also serve as modes of attribution and articulation . So conceived, collective action frames focus attention on a particular situation considered problematic, make attributions regarding who or what is to blame, and articulate an alternative set of arrangements including what the movement actors need to do in order to affect the desired change. Snow and Benford (1988) suggest that the foregoCopyrighted Material
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ing functions of collective action frames constitute three core framing tasks SMOs must accomplish in order to affect consensus and action mobiliza tion: diagno stic framing, and prognostic framing, and motivational framing. Diagnostic framing identifies some event or condition as problematic and in need of amelioration, and thereby designates culpable agents. The attributional function of diagnostic framing involves imputing traits and motives for those who are viewed as having "caused" or exacerbated the problem . In other words , it involves casting others into the role identities of villain, culprit, or antagonist. Prognostic framing outlines a plan for redress , specifying what shou ld be done by whom , including an elaboration of specific targets, strategies, and tactics. While diagnostic and prognostic framing are required to affect consensus mobilization, agreement on these definitions of the situation does not automati cally yield collective action. For people to take action to overcome a collectively perceived prob lem or "injustice," they must develop a set of compelling reasons for doing so . Motivational framing addresses this need by keynoting appropriate vocabularies of mo tive or rationales for doing something for the cause (Benford 1993b; see also Mills 1940). Thus, while diagnoses involve the imputation of motives and iden tities regarding antagonists or tar gets of change, motivational framing entails the social construc tion and avowal of motives and identities of protagonists . These shared identities and motives in turn serve as an impetus for collec tive action. In consideration of these processes at the SMO level, Snowet al. (1986) identify and elaborate a set of frame alignment strategies . These are micromobilization processes whereby SMO actors seek to affect various audiences' interpretations regarding the extent to which the SMO's ideology and goals are congruent with targeted individuals' interests, values, and beliefs . In the context of this chapter, these frame alignment processes can be conceived as rhetorical strategies to affect the alignment of collective and personal identities. As used by Snow, Benford , and their associates, framing concepts capture two interrelated qualities of movement actors' interpretive work. One is that ideology or belief systems are interactional accomplishments that emerge from framing processes; the other is that frames are cognitive structures that guide collec Copyrighted Material
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tive action, including subsequent framing processes . This suggests a key recursive relationship: framing processes produce frames which then condition ensuing framing processes . Framing concepts thus underscore the dynamic quality of movement partici pants' belief systems by fixing attention on the dialectical interp lay between interpretive processes and cognitive structures . Personal and collective identities are, in part, a product or outcome of this dialectical interplay. Identity Fields and Fr am ing Processes
A central aspect of the framing process is the avowal or imputation of characteristics to relevant sets of actors within a movement's orbit of operation . Their avowed or imputed characteristics tend to be of two kinds: they assert something about a group's consciousness, or they make claims about aspects of a group's character. In the case of the former, levels or kinds of knowledge or awareness are attributed, values are highlighted, and changes in consciousness are noted or encouraged. The alignment processes of frame bridging, amplification, and transformation are the discursive vehicles through which attributions about consciousness are made. In the case of character attributions, specific claims are made about a group's strategic, moral, and cathectic or relational character. Adversaries, for example, are often personified as irrational, immoral, and devoid of compassion and feeling (Shibutani 1970). Such attributions or claims are not only constitutive of collective identity but they are a necessary aspect of the collective action process inasmuch as they situate and place other categories of actors as targets of strategic action . As noted earlier, most such placements or constructions cluster into one of three generic categories we refer to as identity fields : protagonists, antagonists, and audiences . Each identity field typically consists of a multiplicity of imputed or avowed identities . To date, interest in collective identity has focused primarily on what we call the protagonist field . From our vantage point, this focus is too narrow because it glosses the extent to which collective identities are social constructions, the extent to which the constitution of targets of action is contingent on the establish ment of their identity, and the extent to which the flow of collecCopyrighted Material
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tive action itself is based on the kinds of identities imputed to the various sets of relevant actors . We argue that the identities associated with the antagonist and audience fields are as fund amental to the dynamic of collective action as those that defme th e protago nists. It is in the construction of these identity fields that framing processes are particularly relevant. ProtagonistIdentityField
Protagonist identity fields are constellations of identity attributions about individuals and collectivities taken to be advocates of movement causes. These usually include collective identity claims about "the movement" and allied aggregations and organizations. They also involve a variety of personal identity attributions such as movement heroes and heroines, paid and unpaid staffers , leaders, rank-and-file followers, and star supporters (for example, celebrities and politicians). Also included are collective and personal identity attributions about constituents, such as "innocent victims," aggrieved populations, "future generations," and "the silent majority ." SMO actors also make personal and collective protagonist identity avowals. In this section we illus trate how the construction of numerous identities in a protagonist identity field is contingent on framing processes . Protagonist identity attributions are intricately related to sev eral framing processes. Through backstage negotiations and interactions, SMO actors engage in diagnostic framing, attempting to find the "best" ways, from their point of view , to convey to themselves and others their interpretations of what is wrong with extant conditions . SMO actors also construct prognostic and motivational frames that specify what needs to be done to rectify identified problems and why corrective actions are necessary . These framing processes represent emergent ideologies that advance implicit or explicit identity claims . As Downey (1986) contends, "Social action that implicitly conveys an ideology also communicates a public identity" (360). In the course of framing diagnoses, prognoses, and motiv es, SMO actors locate their organization and its views within a coll ective action field or context . This entails making in-group /outgroup distinctions and assigning other organizations to ideological, geographical , and tactical "turfs" (Blumer 1939; Melucci 1989 ; Benford and Zurcher 1990; Taylor and Whittier 1992) . Such atCopyrighted Material
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tempts to situ ate on e's own organization in time and space in relation to oth er groups can be thought of as boundary framing. Taylor's (1989) work suggests th e importance of boundary fram ing when she argues that boundary maintenance is a key compo nent of abey an ce structure s and movement continuity. To illustrate boundary framing , lead ers of the Nichiren Shoshu Buddhist m ovement would constantly mak e " us" and " the m" kinds of distinct ion s. As explain ed in on e edito rial in th e mo vement's newspaper , "No matter how prosp erous some people may appear or how peaceful th eir famil y and person al life m ay be, it is like a fantas y th at can disapp ear w ith out even a tr ace remaining behind . As cold as it sound s, that is a fact oflif e without faith in the Gohonzon (the all- power ful scroll to which m embers cha n t)." Similarly , another leader 's edit ori al ex plaine d, when referrin g to the rich , that, "they are lu cky and live affluen tly, seemin g unburd en ed by problems , but th ese are on ly supe rficial appearance s. .. . Fortune is not only financial wealth , but m ost important , it is a wealth of true happi ness gaine d onl y from th e consisten t practic e of true Buddhism (the mo vem ent 's br and of Buddhism) ." In th ese and other such instan ces, m emb ers are continu ously remind ed of the m yriad ways in whi ch th ey differ from nonmember s, th us constitutin g and affirm ing sim ultaneo usly th e m ark ers bounding adh erent s from othe rs. Th e need for and refer en ce to boundar y m arkers is also a com mo n featur e of th e oth er mo vements we studi ed . In th e case of N ebr askans for Peace (NFP) , for inst an ce, a nin eteen- year-old m ale Youth for Peace leader in Om aha relied on a boundar y frame to explain hi s or ganization's deci sion to engag e in gu errilla theater tactic s at a planned demonstration at U. S. Air For ce Strateg ic Air C omm and 's (SAC) headqu art ers in Bellevu e, N ebraska . Th ere's a real need fo r our gro up here. We fill a m uch needed niche I thin k . We can go to SAC and burn a SAC flag to show in a powe rful sym bo lic way wh at we th ink of th eir so-ca lled peace mission . W hoever does th at w ill prob abl y ge t arres ted . So w hat? What have any of us go t to lose? O ther gro ups aro und here, I won't m ent ion any nam es, ju st can' t do th at kind of stuff. Th ey'r eju st too hooked into th e sys tem w ith j ob s, rep ut ations, and B .S. like that.
T his stateme n t articulates a bound ar y frame; it dr aws a distin ction between Youth for Peace as a gro up th at can m ake unadulCopyrighted Material
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terated political statements because its memb ers have not gott en "hooked into the system" and other SMOs that tak e fewer "risks " because their members are part of "th e system. " Such boundar y framing differentiates between th e " tru ly committ ed" and those unwilling or unable to make personal sacrifices for the cause . Boundary frames do not emerge ex nihilo , howev er. Rather , such framings are condition ed and constrained by SMO actors' interpretations of world, local , movement, and org anizational histories. Indeed, a central feature of much diagnostic , prognostic, and motivational framing is the embellishment an d reconstitution of relevant aspects of the past. For example, Nichiren Shoshu, not unlike most religious movements , claims that its mission was both preordained and divinely given . As one rank-and-file member, parroting movement leaders and literature , explained: "Ther e is a whole history and theory going back 3000 years that points to Nichiren Shoshu as both the orthodox practice of Buddhism and the correct philosophy and practic e for this time period [referring to the present] ." This and other comparable statements suggest that Nichiren Shoshu sees itself not as some fly-by-night fad or cult but as contributing, instead, to the realization of a kind of cosmic plan that was divinely prophesized years ago. Not only do such claims situate and justify the movement historically, but the y also proffer and affirm identities that confer special status on adherents. While the link to some grand prophesy or moment in the past may be particularly characteristic of religious movements, such framings are also evident in more secular, political movements. During the 1991 Persian Gulf War , for example, a male NFP leader attempted , at a quarterly board meeting, to inspire and justify current action in terms of past organizational linkages and campaigns. " For many people out there , NFp, if it's anything at all, is an anti-war organization . For them , NFP from the beginning was anti-war , against the War in Vietnam. We really need to remember that. We need to be there now for them again. So what I'm saying is we need to really take the lead and make it clear we 're still anti-war. " The foregoing suggests that framings that mark and bound a movement and its activities in space and time are central to th e construction and maintenance of SMO actors' collective and personal identities . This process can be seen even more clearly when Copyrighted Material
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we con sider th e avowal or imputation of aspects of consciousness and/or chara cter. As noted earli er, consciousness claims attribute an "aw areness" and also specify those things coll ectivities and individuals possess awareness about . To illustrate , in the fall of 1990, NFP staff met to decide what the organization 's response should be to th e U. S. military buildup in Saudi Arabia. After the m eeting , on e of the staffers explained: Thi s has caught us off-gu ard, co m pletely off-guard . We knew about the Iran-Iraq war , we kn ew about Iraq 's use of chemical weapons, but we reall y don 't know much about that region, really. All the centuries of conflicts , religious tensions , political tensions , we only kn ow th e surfac e of th ese things. We know enough to know we don 't know enough . We don 't know enough to make dep end able statements on th e issue as an organization. We don't even know enough how to act in th e best ways to promote peace. We just have a sort of kn ee-jerk response . Our military 's involved so we must be against it . Befor e we can tak e definitive action we ne ed to educate oursel ves .
As a result of this meeting, NFP at the state , regional, and chapter levels began a series of forums on the Persian Gulf and the Middle East, relying on knowledgeable members and outside organizations, such as the American Friends Service Committee, to provid e lectures and educational materials . The NFP staffer's response above suggests that the organization needed to have greater awaren ess of the history in the region . In other words , NFP ers recognized the importanc e of consciousness expansion with respect to the issue , thus suggesting a collectiv e identity that included an awareness of ignoranc e. Notice how this consciousness framing led to a preliminary prognostic frame. To overcome the organization's ignorance , NFPers called for educational forums . Before further diagnostic, prognostic , and motivational framings could take place, NFP needed to be educated, to have its consciousn ess enh an ced . In addition to consciousness claims, SMO actors attribute character to individuals and collectivities in protagonist identity fields. In doing this , movement particip ants int erpret individual and collective actions as manif estations of particular cognitive or strat egic , affectiv e, and moral dispositions and prop ensities . SMO members typically point to th eir framings as " evidence" of their individual or collectiv e characters. Similarly , SMO actors usually Copyrighted Material
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do not want to frame situations in ways that might be perceiv ed as incompatible with individual and collective character avowals . The complex relationship between frames and character attribution is exemplified in the following field notes excerpt from the NFP study (Hunt 1991) . During an informal conversation , a statelevel NFP leader discussed the organization's position on the Israeli and Palestinian conflict. There's been atrocities on both sides . I have good friends in NFP on both sides of the issue . People passionately committed to th eir convictions. All of them are good people . People who are committed to fairness and justice. If we took a stance on this as an organization we 'd in effect just be asking some members to leave. We know this wouldn't make sense. We have more in common then we have differences. There 's so much work we can do together here in Nebraska and th ere's so few people working on issues of peace and justice here . To do something that would knowingly reduce our numbers would be damn foolish. So NFP as an organization takes no stand on the issue. We agree to disagr ee among ourselv es and not to take a public stance . .. . I don't think this is a prostitution of our commitment to peace . I think it's just a practical response to a difficult situation. I think this stance of no stance speaks to our commitment to encourage diversity of opinion within our organization.
Several character attributions are made here at both the individual and organizational levels . Individuals (within NFP) "on both sides of the issue" were imputed to be "passionate" and "good people" "committed to fairness and justice." Similarly, NFP's decision to not offer a public framing regarding this issue was characterized as "practical" and ostensibly predicated on NFP's commitment to the tolerance of "diversity." Such post hoc avowals of motive or framings and reframings serve to foster a sense of shared identity among NFP protagonists. AntagonistIdentityFields
Antagonist identity fields are constellations of identity attributions about individuals and collectivities imputed to be opponents of movement causes. These include claims about countermovements, countermovement organizations, hostile institutions, inimical publics, and social control agents. Additionally, numerous personal identity typifications are socially conCopyrighted Material
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struct ed and imputed for specific villains , opp ositional leaders , rank-and-fil e oppon ents , and star adversaries . Collective and personal identity attributions are also mad e about antagonists ' constitu ents such as "big busin ess, " " closet bigots , " "cultural elites," and a ho st of oth ers imput ed to be secret support ers or " conspirators " of " libe ral," " con servative," or "radical " cause s. SMO actor s use a vari ety of fram es and framing proc esses in m akin g identit y claims about an tagonists. Th e most obvious way SMO parti cip ants impute anta goni st identiti es is by identifying and definin g individu als, coll ectiviti es, belief s, values , and practices as being in conflict with prot agonist identiti es and causes (Benford and Hunt 1992 ; Morris 1992) . Such fr aming fost ers the imputati on of person al and collectiv e id entiti es, consisting of conscio usness and charact er attributi ons . To illu str ate, from its in ception in 1977, Mobilization for Surv ival (M FS) bl am ed a host of social probl ems- environm ental degr adati on , third world povert y , th e threat of nucl ear Arma geddon - on "unscrupul ous capit alists. " One MFS brochur e asserted , for instanc e, th at th e U. S. pr ojection of military might has been at th e behest of U. S.-b ased multinati on al corporations . "Since World War II, Ameri can foreign polic y has revol ved aro und developin g its sph ere of influence and maintaining an environm ent conduci ve to investm ent for Am eri can corporations. Th e centr al focus has been in the underdevel op ed - or Third World - countri es. Third World nations pro vid e natural resourc es, ch eap , non-unionized labor , and easy mark ets for larg e multination al corpo rations." Followin g MFS's lead, activists of the Texas Mobiliz ation for Survival (TM) and University Mobilization for Sur vival (UM) harped on the sam e them es: "Wh en Ronald Reagan talk s about 'national defens e, ' he is really talking about defending profits ," a TM activist contended before a campu s audience. Simil arly, at an anti-draft registration rally, a UM lead er ask ed rh etoricall y, " D o you wann a die and po ssibly pr ecipitat e nucl ear w ar to protect th e int erests of multination al corporati ons ?" We sugg est that such diagnostic framings not onl y serv e the obvi ous function of attributing blam e, the y also facilit ate the constru ction of both prot agonist and antagonist id entity fields . By spe cifyin g who is responsibl e for particul ar soci al ills, mo vement actors m ake implicit character claims about themselves, their organiz ation , an d oth ers. For exam ple, the y, unlike their " im m oral Copyrighted Material
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opponents," are not willing to tolerate injustice, human suffering, and the like. Antagonist identity constructions are also important because they guide SMO actors' deliberations about an opponent's vulner abilities and strengths and are therefore key in planning strategies and tactics . To illustrate, prior to national discussions in early 1990 of a peace dividend derived from the thawing of the cold war, NFP had devised a petition campaign modeled after the Freeze initiative to persuade Nebraska senator James J. Exon to vote for reductions in defense spending. An NFP staffer explained the development of this particular tactic: Exon, Mr. SAC , has not had an outstanding voting record on peace issues . But we figured he'd go for modest reductions in defense spending . . . . Why? Because of currents in the Democratic Party , because calls for reductions in defense spending by the Democrats will be used to discredit the Republicans by linking them to Reagan's outrageous increases in defense spending which was a big contributor to our current budget problems . We felt Exon would follow party line . . .. We've tried to guess what level of cuts Exon would support and use figures slightly above that as a basis for our "modest proposal" petition drive . The plan was to then present Exon with large numbers of signatures and organizational endorsements to apply some pressure on him to make sure he carries through with reductions.
This account of tactical development illustrates several aspects of oppositional identity framing. An antagonist identity field is referred to by equating Senator Exon with SAC. Alluding to a less than "outstanding voting record on peace issues" is an oppositional framing that portrays the senator's actions as being in conflict with peace movement goals. These claims also impute a par ticular identity to the senator, one that depicts him as a proponent of military spending but a loyal Democrat. The antagonist identity frame shaped NFP's "modest proposal" campaign . AudienceIdentity Fields
Audience identity fields are constellations of identity attributions about individuals and collectivities imputed to be neutral or uncommitted observers who may react to or report on movement activities . For example, allied SMOs, the media, powerful elites, marginal supporters, sympathizers, and Copyrighted Material
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200 bystander publics can be the subjects of audienc e identity claims . A common characteristic of all imputed audience identities is that they are capable of receiving and evaluating protagonist messages in a favorable light . The construction of audience identities involves audienc e framing, defined as the imputation of observer role to individuals and collectivities. To illustrate, explaining her involvement in a Omaha coalition against racism, an NFPer discussed a need for the organization to link peace politics to struggles against racial prejudice and discrimination . "African Americans und erstand injustice. They have experienced first hand the inequalities brought about by the system. We [NFP] need to work against racism and make connections between militarism , economic injustice, and racism. " The audience framing in this exam ple imputes a consciousness of "injustice " to African Americans . This claim implies that such a consciousness makes African Am ericans a potential audience for traditional peace movement concern s about militarism. Mor eover, the claim advanced here suggest s that African Americans would be a receptive and support ive audience becau se they understand that inequalities are not mere misfortun es but manif estations of an extant social system. In other words, African Americans are imputed to be potential mobilization targets be caus e they share a general diagnostic frame with NFP. Audi ence framing is particularly important because SMO actors use these frames to determine what kinds of other frames will resonate, what kinds of " eviden ce" need to be marshaled to support movement claims, and how audiences ' cultural symbols and narratives can be used in advancing movement claims (Snow and Benford 1988). Imputed audience identities influence the development of particular strategies and tactics. In a formal interview , an NFP male explained the organization's approach to communicating with elected officials . You have got to talk their [elected officials'] language . You can't tell th em we should do x because x is the right thing to do. X is the right thing to do but they won't listen to that . You have to go in th ere and give them figures and statistics that support your position. And , when dealing with politicians , you have to show them the bottom line . You have to talk policies and programs in terms of dollars or they just won 't listen .
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In this case , it is imputed that quantitative data and financial ex pediency resonate with elected officials. Based on this understanding of politician identities, NFP's arguments were often carefull y made with "figures and statistics ," typically translated into " bo ttom-line" dollars . FramingOutsiders' Identity Imputotions
In the course of attributing identities to th e relevant sets of actors within their environm en t, SMO actors are also confronted with interpreting outsiders ' claims about them or other allied individual or group protagonist identities . There are at least four ways in which outsiders ' identity imputations are responded to and framed. One way is to interpret imputations as incorrect . This kind of framing, or "keying" in Goffman 's terminology (1974,43-45), was clearly evidenced during the 1991 Persian Gulf War. Upon reading a letter to the editor in the Omaha WorldHerald, an NFP female commented: This letter says that those demonstrating for peace are unpatriotic. It says we should be grat eful that men were willing to die to guarantee our rights of free speech. It suggests that since we protest for peace , we aren't grateful and we shouldn 't be allowed to exercise our right of free speech that those men died for. Make sense to you? Even though this idea of patriotism has some limits , we are patriotic. We love our countr y and want it to do the right thing. I can't think of an ything more patriotic than taking a despised position and making your voice heard so that your country will do the right thing.
The imputed identity of "unpatriotic " group was framed as an incorrect assessment. Indeed, this person reframed the meaning of the outsider's conception of patriotism to underscore the virtuous, principled character of NFP. A second way to frame outsiders ' identity imputations is to view them as a reinforcement of identity avowals. By this we refer to SMO actors ' interpretations that external imputations are accurate positive portrayals of collective and individual protagonist identities. The following discussion of a charismatic NFP leader in Scottsbluff exemplifies this kind of framing . The Star Herald did a series, I think it was called community leadership series, and X was chosen of 1 of 20 people as communit y leaders . And I think that that 's remarkable because he has only been
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202 here 5 or 6 years. He has touched that many people to have himself in that kind of a position. That is really really remarkable . And X is a perfect manifestation of all our best energy, our best selves. He says what we would all say if we had those words, you know? Claiming that the NFP leader is a personification of the organization - he "is a perfect manifestation of all our best energy, our best selves" -this NFPer frames the Star Herald personal identity imputation as a reinforcement of the Scottsbluff chapter's collective identity . A third way of framing outsiders' identity imputations is to interpret them as misunderstandings based on flawed impression management by the SMO and its adherents. In another words, the imputed identities are not due so much to a faulty reading of the movement but to adherent behavior that lends itself to such a reading and is therefore indicative of poor impression management. The resulting framing thus defines outsiders' imputations as reflections of imag e problems and, in turn, specifies corrective action to remedy th e flawed image. Snow's (1979) discussion of building idiosyncratic credit as an impression management strat egy speaks to this issue. His examination of Nichiren Shoshu revealed that the movement 's leadership was particularly sensitive to its public image, as reflected in the comments of a leader at a movement meeting . "The point to keep in mind is that many non members judge NSA by the way each member presents himself. If anyone of us conducts himself in an obnoxious and disrespectful manner, all who come in contact with us are going to think everyone in NSA is like that one person . We should therefore be aware of how we look and sound to the general public and make a good impression." Snow also found that the movement countered outsiders' claims about the organization's "deviant" qualities by pursuing public activities that would alter the group's public identity. Such activities are constitutive of attempts to build idiosyncrasy credit and thereby secure a more respectable identity in the public's eye. Idiosyncratic credit accentuates "positive" character attributes and thus can be understood as a frame amplification. Finally, a fourth way to frame outsiders' identity imputations is to perceive the characterizations as accurate depictions of "actual" flawed identities. Such framings revolve around SMO actors' interpretations that outsiders' negative identity imputations are accurate accounts of serious identity defects . This kind of framing Copyrighted Material
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usually calls for radical identity or frame transformations. In the NFP study, this kind of response to outsiders' imputations was never widely shared. However, on e m ember 's dissatisfaction with NFP's support of the blockade of Iraq prior to the 1991 Persian Gulf War illustrates this framing process . " I know oth er groups around here must be surpris ed at our support for the [blockade]. I know I am. By international law [th e blockade] is an act of war and NFP is supporting it. Unbelievable, just unbelievable . We'r e not Nebraskans for Peace, we 're Nebraskans for a Little War. " While this member continued to take an activ e part in NFp, his interpretation suggests that the group's support of the blockade represented a serious identity flaw that was reflected in his tonguein-cheek renaming of the organization. Conclusion
In this chapter we have attempted to link framing and identity construction processes. Both have received increasing attention in recent years by social movement scholars , but discussion and research has proceeded as if these processes referred to different orders of phenomena and therefore were essentially unrelated . Clearly that is not the case. As our observations suggest, framing and identity construction processes are interconnected in a dynamic, almost recursive fashion . The linkages between framing and identity construction processes direct attention to SMO actors' efforts to interpret and operate within collective action arenas . Making sense of collective action arenas entails framing situations and attributing identities to individuals and collectivities . We have suggested that identity attributions are claims about consciousness and character that cluster around protagonist, antagonist, and audience identity fields . Further, diagnostic, prognostic, motivational, boundary, history, oppositional, and audience framing tasks as well as frame align ment processes are central in attributing identiti es and communicating relationships between and among identity fields . Moreover, our discussion has suggested how framing and identity construction processes condition micro and mesomobilization activities . For movement participants , frames and identities are part of an obdurate "reality" that conditions, constrains , and enables collective action (see Blumer 1969). That is, SMO actors Copyrighted Material
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204 follow certain lines of collective action rather than others based, in part, on their perceptions of the parameters implied by particular framing and identity constructions . Although we understand framing and identity construction as emergent processes, our approach does not assume that SMO actors operate in a vacuum . Indeed, as our observations show, key factors and events occur that are beyond the control of SMO actors (for example, the 1991 Persian Gulf War). History , social structures, and cultural arrangements constrain SMO actors' interpretive work. How these " realities" condition interpretive work, however, depends on how SMO actors ' perceive history, social structures, and cultural arrangements. Particular lines of collective action emerge or fail to emerge not because objective conditions allow or prohibit them, but rather because SMO actors perceive "objective" conditions as allowing or prohibiting them . In short, to understand the emergence of particular expressions of collective action, analysts need to attend to SMO actors' intersubjective definitions of "reality. " Identifying and elaborating the relationships between and among framing and identity construction processes promises to make advances along these lines.
Acknowledgments: Earlier versions of this chapter were presented at the annual meeting s of the Midwest Sociological Society, Chicago, April 1993, and the International Institute of Sociology, Paris, June 1993. We are grateful to Hank Johnston and Enriqu e Larafia for their insightful comments on previous versions.
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207 Shibutani, Tamotsu . 1970. "On the Personification of Adversaries. " In Human Nature and Collective Behavior: Papers in Honor of Herbert Blumer, edited by Tamotsu Shibutani , pp . 223-33 . Engl ewood Cliffs, N.J. : Prentice-Hall. Smith , Doroth y E . 1990. The Conceptual Practices of Power: A Feminist Sociology of Knowledge. Boston : Nor theastern Univ ersity Pre ss. Snow , David A. 1979. "A Dramatur gical Ana lysis of Movement Accommodation : Building Idio syncra sy Cr edit as a Movem ent Mobiliza tion Strate gy. " Symbolic Interaction2:23-44 . --. 1993. Shakubuku : Study of the Nichiren Shoshu Buddhist Movement in Am erica, 1960-1975 . New York: Garland . Snow, David A., and Leon And erson. 1987. "Identity Work among the Home less: The Verbal Construction and Avowal of Persona l Identities ." Am erican Journal of Sociology 92:1336-71. Snow, David A., and Robert D. Benford . 1988. "Id eology , Frame Resonance, and Participant Mobilization ." In From Structure to Action, edited by Bert Klandermans, Hanspeter Kriesi, and Sidney Tarrow . Vol. 1 of International SocialMovement Research. Greenwich, Conn. : JAI Press . --. 1992. "Mas ter Frames and Cycles of Prote st . " In Frontiers in SocialMovement Th eory, edited by Aldon D. Morris and Carol McClurg Mueller , pp . 133-55. New Haven: Yale University Press . Snow, David A. , and Richard Macha lek. 1984. " T he Sociology of Conversion. " Annual Review of Sociology 10:367-80 . Snow, David A ., E . Burke Rochford, Jr., Steven K . Worden , and Rober t D . Benford . 1986. "Frame Alignment Processes , Micromobi lization , and Movemen t Participa tion ." Am ericanSociologicalReview 51:464-81. Stone, Gregory P. 1962. "Appearance and the Self." In Human Behaviorand Social Processes, edited by Arnold M. Rose, pp . 86-118 . Boston : Ho ughton Mifflin. Tarrow , Sidney . 1992. "Men talities, Political C ultures, and Co llective Action Frames : Constructing Meanings through Action. " In Frontiers in Social Movement Theory, edite d by Aldon D . Morris and Carol McCl urg Mue ller , pp . 174-202 . New Haven: Yale U niversity Press . Taylor, Verta. 1989. "Socia l Movement Con tinui ty : The Women's Movement in Abeyance ." American Sociological Review 54:761- 75. Taylor, Verta, and Nancy E. Whittier. 1992. "Collective Iden tity in Social Move ment Communi ties : Lesbian Feminist Mobiliza tion." In Frontiers in Social Movement Theory, edited by Aldon D. Morris and Caro l McC lurg Mueller , pp . 104-29. New Haven : Yale U niversity Press . Trotter, Wilfred . 1919. Instincts of the Herd in Peaceand War: 1916-1919 . London : Oxford University Press . Turner, Ralph H ., and Lewis M . Killian . 1987. CollectiveBehavior. 3d ed . Eng lewoo d Cliffs, N.J. : Prentice-Ha ll. Weber, Max. 1978. Economy and Society: An Outline of InterpretiveSociology. Edited by Guen ther Roth and C laus Wittich. 2 vols . Berkeley : University of California Press . West, Candace, and Don H. Zimmerman. 1987. "Doing Gender." Gender and Society 1:125-51.
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208 Wilson, Kenn eth L. , and Loui s A. Zur cher. 1976. "S tatus Inconsi stenc y and Parti cipati on in Social Mo vem ent s: An Appli cation of Goodman 's Hier archical Mod eling ." Sociological Quarterly 17:520-33 . Zur cher , Loui s A., and D avid A . Snow . 1981. "Co llective Behavior : Social Movem ent s. " In Social Psychology : Sociological Perspectives, edited by Morri s Rosenber g and Ralph H. Turn er , pp . 447- 82. Ne w York : Basic Book s.
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Chapter 9
Continuity and Unity in New Forms of Collective Action: A Comparative Analysis of Student Movements Enrique Larafia
This chapter revi ews an old and central issue in social mo vem ent s res earch th at focuses on their origins and evolution in ord er to und erstand th e reasons for th eir em ergen ce, the events and or ganizations that made them possibl e, th eir resultin g process es, and their permanence and impact in societ y. This also was the obj ect of my first empirical research on the Free Speech Mo vem ent (FSM) at th e University of California, Berkeley (Larafia 1975). My goal was to explore the discontinuity of the stud ent mov em ent of that campus , one of the centers of stud ent activism in the second half of th e 1960s, ten years after th e FSM . The same topic underlies my stud y of the stud ent mobilizations that took plac e in Spain during 1986 and 1987. This nationwide mov em ent acquir ed remarkabl e strength and play ed a rol e in one of the major conflicts of th e decade. It eme rged from "nowhere," w ithout any historical or organizational antec edents and in an educational sector diff erent from the stud ent mobilizations of the 1960s. Student demands focused on th e syst em that regulates the access to colleg e education in Spain . The movement chall enged th e entrance exam s that th e Department of Education requires of all applicants to a public university. Th e relevance of this conflict for th e analysis of contemporary social movements relates not onl y to its contribution to the knowledge of their em ergence but also to the compl exity of its constituency (high school stud ents who act ed independentl y from political parti es) , and th e peculiar relationship th ey established with another section of the mov ement , integrat ed by uni versity stud ents.
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In spite of thos e features , this m ovement pr esents som e characteristics sim ilar to oth er studen t movements that em erged in different social contex ts an d decad es. I draw a com pa ra tive ana lysis below. Two pr emi ses of thi s chap ter are that con tem po rary social m ovem ent s in com p lex so cieties can be bett er und erst ood through cross - cultura l ana lysis, and th at th e conce pt of " new soc ial mov em ent s" is useful for th e interpretation of cur rent form s of collective actio n in com plex so cieties th at cann ot be expl ain ed by classical perspectives. Alth ough I am aware of th e debat e ab out the validit y of this con cept (Tarr ow 1989; Taylor 1989; Melu cci 1989; see also C ha pter 5), I use thi s term as a me ans to develop anal ytical tools to in terp ret conte m po rary so cial m ovem ent s and as a relative concept th at ste ms from comp ari son s w ith th e form s of class conflict th at were pr evalent in Eur op ean industrial socie ties. I draw two ideas from one of its found er s, Alb ert o Meluc ci (1989). First, th e novelt y of th ese m ovem ent s refer s to m orph ologi cal chan ges in th eir stru ctur e and action as well as in the social cont ext in w hic h the y arise . Second , in order to avoid an epistemo logical probl em in trinsic to th e gro w ing popul ariz ation of th e term - its onto logiza tio n as an abstrac t gene ralization tha t pr event s deeper analysis - resea rch sho uld focu s on th e distin ctive featur es and the spec ific eleme nts of con tem po rary m ovem ent s. Research should stress w ha t is new and its social impli cation s. Alth ou gh th e or ig ins of thi s app ro ach have been located in Eur op ean schol arship (Melu cci 1980, 1985, 1989; Klanderman s an d Tarrow 1988; Offe 1985, 1988; D alton and Ku elchn er 1992), imp ort ant contribution s cam e from such Am eric an soc iolog ists as Ralph Turn er (1969, see also C ha pter 4) an d ]ea n C oh en (1985). As this ap proa ch em phas izes th e role of ideas and cultur al pro cesses in th e eme rgence of con tem pora ry m ovem ent s, th e contribution of fram e analysi s (Sno w et al. 1986; Sno w an d Ben ford 1988, 1992; see also Hunt , Benf ord , and Snow , C ha pter 8) enha nces th e brid ge betw een th e Am eric an and Eur op ean tr aditi on s in thi s field . Thi s brid ge tak es th e form o f a tendency tow ard syn thes is m anifest in th e grow ing int erest in research on identit y b y Am eric an scholars an d an incr easing int erest in frame analys is by th eir Europ ean counterpa rts (Stompka 1992; Mu eller 1993; Ibarr a and Rivas 1993; Lar afia 1993b, 1993c; see also Hunt , Benford , and Snow, C ha pter 8). Copyrighted Material
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In this chapter, I review some assumptions from collective behavior theory about continuities that contrast with my research on student movements; then I focus on some insights from the new social movements (NSM) approach that help to interpret that research and document the need to revise classical assumptions on continuity and unity of social movements. I analyze the relationship between both aspects in the last section of this chapter. The NSM and resource mobilization approaches must address several problems of interpretation that are related to their emphasis on the external, structural factors of movements' emergence and their tendency to neglect cognitive and ideological factors (Snow and Benford 1988; see also McAdam, Chapter 2). I argue that these factors are crucial for the analysis of the formation and decline of contemporary movements. These factors are difficult to investigate using conventional research methods that try to get "hard data ." I also argue that the traditions of ethnomethodology and cognitive sociology contain key insights for research on cultural factors. They may enable analysts to grasp a movement's symbolic functions , as well as to understand interaction as a source of collective beliefs . These symbolic functions, or "dimensions," consist of the ways by which movements achieve or construct their identities: new codes of interpretation and interpersonal relations . I also refer to the "ethnography of speaking" approach that focuses on the actors ' discourse and pays special attention to its social context (Cicourel 1964, 1980, 1982; Briggs 1986; Johnston 1991). The integration of this approach within the field of social movements closes the distance between the macrosociological discourse prevailing in this field and the microsociological analysis that is needed for a better understanding of social movements and their identity dimensions. A step forward in that direction is the growing use of the term "micromobilization" in the literature on social movements since the late 1980s. A similar process of integration is already taking place in social movement theory through the diffusion of frame anal ysis; this integration clarifies the process by which the value orientations of the individual become linked to those of the social moveCopyrighted Material
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m ent organization (SMO) (Goff man 1974; Snow et al. 1986; Snow an d B enford 1988). The integration of these approaches enables th e an alyst to ground useful macrosociological assumptions about NSMs in cultur al analysis of participation through the observation s of everyda y int eraction in social movements (johnston 1991, 1992) . The collectiv e behavior persp ectiv e considers th e existence of org anizational and temporal continuiti es as a defining characteris tic of social movem ents . A so cial movement is "a collectivity acting with certain continuity to promote or resist changes in the soci ety or in the group it is part of" (Turn er and Killian 1987, 222). Continuity ref ers to the acti vities as a social mo vement develops to achieve its goals and lies in strategy and organization, in leadership and role structure, and in collectiv e identity . The amount of time necessary to consid er a collective mobilization as a social movem ent seem s to dep end on variable and common -sense criteria , which exclude such events as an organiz ed demonstration that lasts a few hours or a three-week occupation of a building. A special coll ectiv e dimension and continuity over time are considered intrinsic attribut es of these phenomena that allow us to distinguish th em from other forms of collective action such as migra tions, strik es, or prot est demonstr ations (Gusfield 1970). Although both are collective events , protest demonstra tions are spont an eous and ephemeral , and migrations lack a symbolic element that provides actors with a certain homogeneity in values and beliefs. This unifying component is express ed not only in a movement's orientation toward goals but also in its coercive capacity over individual behavior (Durkheim 1978). Some conceptual problems arise if we apply those criteria to the investigation of student mobilizations in compl ex societies. Thos e taking plac e during the 1960s wer e categorized as "rebellions ," "revolts ," and " uprisin gs" in ord er to highlight their spontaneous and unpredictable nature . These terms accentuate difficulties in establishin g continuitie s among th em and in conceptualizing th em as social mo vem ents (Drap er 1965; Lipset 1965; Wollin and Schaar 1970) . Two decad es later (1986-1987) " m obilization" w as the most common term used by th e Spanish media to ref er to prot ests again st th e official educational policy. Th e meaning of th e later term enh an ces th e id ea of th eir spont aneou s an d unpr edi ctable char acter , as well as th e perc eption of them Copyrighted Material
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as more normal or everyday phenomena. However , the student movements of the 1960s were the first cases of new social movements and had crucial implications not only for the theories of collective action but also for sociological theory because they con tributed to the questioning of Marxist and functionalist theories of order and conflict (Hacks 1967; Giddens 1979; Larafia 1982, 1993a). In the 1980s, important assumptions about collective action were revised in part because of the proliferation of new social movements in complex societies during the preceding three decades and the need to use more precise criteria in analysis. The current trend in sociology is to move from the construction of broad theories to detailed knowledge of the social mechanisms that lead to the emergence of collective phenomena (Elster 1989). This seems related to investigations that highlight the role of nonvisible networks, where movements "incubate" befor e they emerge into the public (McAdam 1988; Melucci 1989, see also Chapter 5;Johnston 1991, see also Chapter 11; Perez Agote 1987).1 In his well-documented study of student activism in Mississippi during the summer of 1964, McAdam (1988) locates the starting point of the 1960s student movements in this collective experience; it was the source of social relations between future leaders and activists as well as the source of feelings of solidarity and collective identity . McAdam credits white racial prejudice for the emergence of these movements on the white university campus and locates it in the main organizational structure of the civil rights movement , the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC). His work shows the need to distinguish between the discovery of the movement by the mass media and its organizational and cultural origins (SNCC and the white students ' program called Freedom Summer) . McAdam asserts that an organiza tion of black students gave way to the student movements of the 1960s; his research poses an important question about the emer gence of social movements. Researchers distinguish between "latent" and visible phases in the formation ofNSMs (Melucci 1989). That distinction makes problematic the issue of the origins of social movements as defined by conventional criteria in classical theories ." it shows the need to explore the social networks that exist before the public appearance of an NSM (McAdam 1988). The need to differentiate both phases of a contemporary social movement and the investigation of social networks in periods of Copyrighted Material
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"latency" becom es an essential tool in identifying continuities in collective action . The difficulties involved in studying stu dent movements mak es them a strategic platform for research on con tinuities because the very condition of being a student is transitory and because recent movement histories present important discontinuities . Verta Taylor (1989) has researched th e women's movement in the Unit ed States during a period of absence of mobilizations (1940-1960) . She uses the notion of "abeyance structures " to explain sustained activi sm in nonreceptive political environments . This approach is a useful tool for explaining organizational and cultural aspects of movements . I use it to look at the student mobilizations at Berkeley . A current probl em is that the professional interpretation of social movements usually focuses on the visible phas es of soci al mov em ents, neglecting the cycles of decline in activism (Taylor 1989; Melucci 1989). This emphasis led to a sup erimposition of the political over cultural meanings of a movement. This tend ency is also manif est in th e sup erimposition of the analyst 's rational categories over those of th e mov ement's actors , which I address in the following section . The " political-professional point of view" is the dominant view for describing social conflicts ; it is spread by th e mass media and is responsible for shaping the public image of movements (Baudrillard 1974). How ever, distinguishing betw een that imag e and the image th e movement has for its m embers (or between the coll ective and the public identity) is an initial methodological premise for sociological research on new social movements . McAdam argu es (see Chapt er 2) that the anal ysis of social networks has a tradition in the investigation of coll ective action sin ce th e 1970s in the United Stat es. Unfortunatel y, it pres ents a "structural bias" becaus e the analysis cent ers on th e explanation of preexisting organizations and their resources. This bias is related both to th e influ enc e of approaches that focus on the visible aspe cts and political meanings of mov ements and to the lack of emphasis on their cognitive and sym bolic elements . William Gamson (1988) consid ers this bias an important factor in the "underdevelopm ent" of research tools in this field . My research on the continuity of student mov ements indicates that its exist ence cannot be an assumption prior to empirical investigation , nor can th e research er focus on organizational reCopyrighted Material
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sources or determin e continuity according to common-s ense notions . Continuity is produc ed not onl y by the persistence over time of organizations but also through the enduranc e of som e cultur es that allow prot est mov em ents to reem erg e (see McAdam , Chapter 2) . Melucci 's work (1989,1990, see also Chapter 5) dev elops the theoretical relationship that exists between organizational and cognitive aspects of continuiti es in social mov em ents, exp an ding the an alysis by stressing th e imp act of changes in social movement s in comple x societies . He sug gests that cont emporary social mo vem ents are be coming centered in social networks th at are establish ed betw een persons and groups without publi c visibility in everyday life, and wh ere their coll ectiv e identity is produced (see also Mu eller, Chapt er 10). Thi s is a helpful contribution to the knowl edg e of th e sociocultur al m echani sms that lead to th e forma tion of coll ectiv e action .? How ever, in thi s field we need mor e empirical, microsociological research documenting th e emerg ent proc esses that occur in th e daily life of th e mov em ent s. In th e spring of 1974, student mobilization s em erg ed in order to prot ect a radical School of Criminology at the Berkel ey cam pus of the Universit y of California . Th ey pro vid e evidence of th e relationship betwe en latency and continuity of a social mo vem ent that was supposed to have disappear ed at the beginnin g of th e decade . At a period characteriz ed by th e absenc e of mobilizations , we witn essed larg e demonstrations and th e occupation of two university buildings in respons e to th e chanc ellor 's decision to suppress th e school. Student action was the result of dail y work in nonvisible networks during th e academic ye ar. Th ese networks created both th e SMO and its alternativ e fram e of referenc e.4 This frame provided a radical int erpr etation of cur ren t politi cal and university issues and was produc ed by several gro ups through weekly m eetings and non credited lectures by N ew Left intell ectuals. They involv ed diverse topics , from th e social sourc es of crime to the U. S. role in the world to th e ene rgy crisis . Thes e stud ent groups are also an example of th e " abeyance stru cture s" of th e New Left that account for its continuit y in the period of thi s movement's decline since 1969. In addit ion to this organizational continuity, the goal to " save the school " constitut es th e mov ement's cultural counterpart because it corr esponds to th e demand for student control through participation in decision making in th e university. Th ese mobilizations docum ented how th e non visibl e Copyrighted Material
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interac tion within submerged networks produced new co des of interpr etation as well as the social relations (Melucci 1989) that gave way to the mobilizations against institutional decisions . The tendency of stud ent mov ements toward discon tinuity anticipat es a frequent featur e of new so cial movements that has been relat ed to two factors : (1) th e m eans by which personal identification amon g social actors em erg es and the goals of the move m ent constantly cha nge, and (2) the fact that th eir actors do not bel ong to a single social category , nor do they maintain the same attitud es for all th eir lives (Melucci 1989) . I draw from Melucci the idea that th e chan ges in contem po rary movements demand the revi sion of traditional assumpti ons and research categories . The em phasis of mor e recent approach es on visible , structural , and org anization al aspec ts mi ght negl ect research of earli er periods of developm ental and cultura l aspects of movement formation , w hich are cru cial to our und erstanding of what has been going on in th e social networks w here movem ents are produc ed . Classical th eori es assum e th at continuit y and unit y are intimatel y related aspec ts of a social mov em ent becaus e th e latter explains its persisten ce in tim e. Althou gh the unity among th e differ ent elem ents of a m ovem ent is a puzzl e to be solved, th e tend ency to presuppos e unity as soon as a mov em ent exists and to focus on ex tern al causes may h ave produc ed sim plified interpretations. > In th e follow ing section I refer to an epistem ological qu estion that I consid er related to th ese prob lems of interpretation, and which shows th e need for an expan sion of this field 's boundaries . Rati ona l Assump tions in t he Explanati on of Collectiv e A ct ion
Sinc e the mid 1980s, the growing inter est in th e symboli c and co gnitiv e aspe cts of social mov ements h as been develop ed within th e persp ectiv e of symbolic intera ctionism throu gh fram e ana lys is. This tr adit ion has provid ed a consi stent analysis of th e em erge nce of personal identit y as a product of social int er action , whi ch en abl es som e of its author s to link frames and coll ectiv e identit y (see Hunt , Benford, an d Snow , Ch apter 8; and Johnston , Larafi a, and Gusfield , Chapter 1). Both are essential concepts for th e resear ch develop ed from a soci al cons truc tivist persp ecti ve that m ay overco me som e of the Copyrighted Material
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problems of interpretation mentioned above. I suggest that a further step to understand the cognitive processes underlying social movement formation will come from the analysis of the discourse employed by movement actors. Although there is a rich material on the theoretical grounds and the methods of discourse analysis, it is hard to find studies using sociolinguistic techniques in this field.6 Discourse analysis is a fashionable concept in sociology today and it is employed from different perspectives, but the one I am referring to here places special emphasis in the context of speech and stems from ethnomethodology (Cicourel 1964, 1982). The points of convergence between ethnomethodology and social constructionism may be found in their conceptions about the nature of social movements and in the way to study them. They both consider social movements not as a "thing" or an integrated whole, nor the result of the characteristics of their social contexts, but as social processes that emerge and develop, though in periods with different degrees of visibility. We must investigate these processes in such a way that we can grasp the exchanges, negotia tions, and conflicts going on inside them that generate collective definitions about limits and opportunities for action (Iohnston, Larafia, and Gusfield , see Chapter 1). In order to study a movement's collective identity, and the webs of meaning where it develops, the analysis of the discourse used by actors to describe their experiences and motivations becomes a strategic tool that completes and enhances the qualitative methods traditionally used by symbolic interactionist scholars. A premise of the ethnographyof-speaking approach is that social discourse is always framed in a larger social context and its analysis provides substantive clues about the structure of the social interaction within the networks in which collective identity is constructed . A central assumption of the ethnomethodology approach is that a social movement is not an object to be categorized by analysts' frameworks . Instead, it is a temporal event, a process selfordered on the basis of the members' knowledge and know-how, a collective and gradual production not only of the actors but also of receivers and observers. Its organizational capacity lies in the ordinary practices of its members, and it reveals an internal order that provides identity and meaning for the participants (Quere 1987). This element of internal rationality highlights the role of Copyrighted Material
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the human agenc y that tends to be ne gl ected in structural appro ach es; this eleme nt originates in th e "structures of meaning" that em erg e in dail y int eractions (Cicourel1 964) , within the social networks wher e collective acti on is built. A probl em for th e interpr etation of soc ial mov ements lies in th e tend enc y to ex plain th em w ithout explorin g th ese cognitive stru cture s an d apply ing stand ard m easur es and patt erns of ratio nalit y comm onl y used by scien tific discours e. This problem is related to th e go al of analyst s to make social mov em ents intelligible by usin g th e pr evalent categories in th e rational ex planations of the soc ial orde r. Conformit y w ith tr aditional norms is taken for gran ted, despit e th e fact th at the w ill to transform som e of th ese norm s is often a centra l ch ar acterist ic of soci al mo vements (Turn er 1969; Gus field 1970 , 1973). Thi s probl em is also manifest in th e tend ency of " po litical-pro fessio nal" persp ecti ves to focus onl y on the vis ible aspec ts of m obilizati on s and th eir inability to per ceive even ts from th e acto rs' point of view. Th ese perspectiv es are gro unde d in th e soc ial move me nts th at eme rge d in Eur op ean soc ieties sinc e th e Indu stri al Revoluti on , w hose m ain referenc e was th e wo rk ing - class m ovement (Melucci 1989). But the existen ce of co n tinuities in th e past does not pro ve th eir occurr ence in th e pr esent , an d assumi ng con tin uity might lead to int erpr etations that take for gra nte d stabi lit y in th e forms of co llective action. Wh en these forms chang e and co ntinuity becom es mor e pr obl ematic, th e searc h for th e latt er becom es a bypr oduct of th e sociologist's ration al ex pe cta tions. This is rel at ed to th e so ciolo gist 's tr aditi onal rol e as int erpret er of collective ph enom en a, th at is, one w ho mu st ren de r th em me anin gful by sho win g th e logical order und erl yin g th eir appa re nt incoh er en ce. " But fr om th e ethno me thod ol o gic al per sp ecti ve, m ovem ent s are n eith er or ganiz ed stru ctu res arra nge d acco rding to comm on scien tific assum ptions, nor are th ey th e co nse que nce of certain feature s of th e so cial or ganization; in stead , th ey co ns titu te tempor al social proc esses, self-generated on th e ba sis of th e daily pr acti ces of acto rs both am ong th emselves and wi thi n th e con tex t (Qu er e 1987). An oth er probl em in th e stud y of so cial m ovem ents comes from tak in g fo r gra n te d th at socia l m ovem ent s have an int ernal unit y , w hich is man ifeste d in the ho m o gen eity of b eliefs and values of act ors, the ir con sens us on dem and s, and the ro le of org anizatio ns where stra tegic decision s are ma de. Th is assum ptio n was Copyrighted Material
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also present in the Marxist theory of ideology as a unifying force for the working-class movement (Turner and Killian 1987). Carol Mueller (1993) points out that modern perspectives have often ignored conflicts between the organizations and groups that constitute a movement. More recent research does not share the assumption of unity and stresses the relevance of internal conflict as an important factor in the emergence of, or a crisis in, a movement's collective identity (Melucci 1989; Mueller 1993; Larafia 1993a). The recent history of the women's movement in the United States provides very interesting information on the relationship between internal conflict and collective identity. This con flict has been related to the discriminatory practices toward women by their male colleagues in the New Left. Sara Evans (1980) provides an in -depth account of the impact that this conflict had in the development of a feminist identity and the radicalization of the younger branch of the women's movement (see also Mueller, Chapter 10). In order to document this argument and my previous analysis, I now refer to the student mobilizations in Spain (1986 -1987) and to the discontinuity of the student movement in the United States during the 1970s. These cases provide empirical information on the relationship between ideology and identity in a social movement, and they allow the study of the implications of the conflict between public and collective identities. The Public and Collective Identities in the Movement against Selectividad
The mobilizations against SelectividaJ8were characterized by the heterogeneity of their demands, forms of action, and organizational structures, as well as the diversity of attitudes and ideas of the actors in high schools and universities . The first mobilizations in high schools provided the social base of the movement, and few university students supported them or were attracted to the events." However, this was not only a "high school movement." An important role was per formed by some college students in shaping the public image of the movement through the mass media . The organizational structures of the high school and university students were autonomous . The role of college students did not go beyond a representa Copyrighted Material
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tive functi on , nor did th ey provide the mov ement 's master frame or its discour se. 10 Th ese mobilizations show ed th e str ength of the media and th e power of th e public over th e collective identity (see Johnston , Lar afia, and Gusfield, Chapter 1). By shaping the movement's public imag e, university students fulfill ed th e role of "e pistemologi cal lead ers" and spok esmen of a mov ement whos e social base was not yet in th e universiti es but wa s characterized by the expectati on of ent ering them . This is on e of the defining characteristics of this mov em ent : its public image was produced by a politiciz ed gro up of universit y student s that had a diff erent status than the m ovem ent's constituenc y , that did not adequatel y express the movem ent's moti ves or its demands, that did not use the same languag e, an d that had a diff erent ideology . My research shows a sha rp contr ast between th e public image of the movement and the meaning it had for its participants. This contrast wa s manifest in th e langua ge, goals , and opinions of student s in both sectors . Th e peculiar division of labor am ong ages and social status in this mov ement creat ed a doubl e leadership: " de facto " and symbolic. Whil e a group of univ ersity students played th e role of spok esp erson , high school lead ers perform ed daily organizational activities with less notori ety and public visibility. This was not th e only factor explaini n g the divergences between the way the mov em ent was framed by public opinion and by high school support ers . Th e most wid espread images show ed th e violenc e of students and depicted the mov em ent as irrational and destruc tive.!' but those images did not reflect th e natur e of th e movement according to my data and dir ect obs ervations . Although there wer e demonstrations of considerable violenc e (Gonzal ez Blasco 1987), thos e actions came from small groups of ultra-ri ghtist ideolo gy and hooli gans that were not repr esentativ e of the mov em ent. If we draw from M ax Weber 's conc eption of social action as som ething that dep ends on the m eanings indi viduals reciprocally attribute to it , th e dist an ce betwe en th e m eanings this mo vement ha d for its actors and tho se assig ne d by th e mas s m edi a illustrates th e natur e of th e m edi a and th e stereot yp es it tends to generate in publi c opinion . Althou gh this distortin g fun ction has long been cons idere d intrinsi c to th e int ervention o f th e m ass media (Baudrill ard 1974) , in thi s case it w as exace rba ted by th e plur ality of Copyrighted Material
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intervening elements in this conflict and by the delegation of the spokesman function to some university students. This case also highlights the complexity of contemporary movements and the need to analyze the divergences and conflicts among its constituent elements (Melucci 1989) . In my view, the contrast between "identity confusion" and the collective identities of this student movement produced a "confusion" that was a decisive factor for its discontinuity in high schools three months later, together with the success it had through governmental acceptance of the need to change the exams of Selectividad and increase the educational budget. My analysis is based on data on the sharp differences in the discourse used by university and high school students , the negative conception of politics among th e high school students and their reactions to the increasing politicization of th e conflict , and the presence of trade union leaders in the demonstrations. A wide spread feeling of being manipulated by political, nonstudent interests and organizations played an important role in the discontinuity of the movement , as did signs of good will toward some grievances by the Ministry of Education. If we consider the strong differences in discourse , social positions, organizational structures, values, and goals of each sector, the questions are: Why did they ally? What factors made their collective action possible? These features might prevent treating those mobilizations as if their main actor were a single social movement. 12 One of the problems in understanding the natur e of current movements is that we tend to think in terms of old assumptions that may misguide the perception of those movements . In this sense, Melucci (1989) argues the need to abandon the conception of social movements as characters who play their roles on the stage of history, an idea inspired by the analogy between social life and dramatic representation . Movements were traditionally studi ed taking for granted that they constitute a "unified empirical datum," a homogeneous collective phenomenon that has its roots in the social conditions of the conte xt where they arise. Environmentalist , peace, women's, and youth movements are thus vaguel y described and often studied as if they were composed of individuals who share goals, values, meanings , and attitudes. Howe ver , th e changes that are taking place in cont emporary social movem ent s demand abandoning this conception and approaching them as a Copyrighted Material
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system of action and social relations to be explor ed. Instead of assum in g the existence of an ex tern al social dynamic, rooted in the mod e of production or in the value syst em shar ed by m embers and promoting unity of action , Melucci propos es a differ ent, social constructionist appro ach in which the causalit y of collectiv e action is situated insid e the movements and in their int era ction with the environm en t. If th e social mov em ent do es not constitut e an entit y whos e elem ents are relat ed by an ex tern al logi c, the question is to know how and why the y are unit ed. Unity is not a prior condition to the existence of the mov ement but is th e result of th e negotiation , int eraction, and conflict among differ ent elements (Melucci 1989, 1990; see also Mu eller , Chapter 10). The case of student mobiliz ations m enti oned abov e is better understood with the help of som e conc epts from fram e analysis. " Frame bridging " refers to th e process by which em erges "the linka ge of two or more ideologic ally con gru ent but structurally unconnected fram es on a particul ar issu e" (Snow et al. 1986, 467). Th e mass media is a ch aracteristic instrum ent for this reframing . Th e reasons for th e "converg enc e in action" between the two sectors of this mo vement are found in the diffusion of a cognitive fram e that provid ed a link betwe en dissimilar goals and ideas in high school and un iversit y stud ents that allow ed them to overcome th eir differenc es. This ong oing cog ni tive pro cess ju stifies the use of th e term " move me n t" to refer to mobilizat ions in both sectors ; it had its ro ots in the wid espre ad unr est about the quality of public educational institutions and in th e importanc e attribut ed to these institutions for future occupational opportunities . This unrest was th e main motivation al factor of th e conflict . Its detonator was a diagnostic frame that had a high resonanc e in high schools and universiti es. In a countr y wh ere 96 per cent of all univ ersity students are registered in stat e educ ational institutions , the government was consid ered responsible for their low qualit y and for the arbitrary nature of th e exam s to en ter th em . The delegitimation of official authorities was ground ed in th e every day life of students in tho se institutions . The eme rgen ce of th e main griev ance, the rejection of th ese ex am s, and the convicti on about th e need to act collectively was a result of framing pr oce sses simil ar to th e ones th at have char acteriz ed Catalan nation alism sin ce the 1960s (johnston 1991).13 Fram e bridgin g took place throu gh a cognitive relationship Copyrighted Material
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between the issue of efficacy in educational institutions and the principles of social justice establishing equal opportunities for all citizens. Student mobilizations related to demands for more efficient educational institutions have been taking place in other Western countries as well (see Melucci, Chapter 5). But the difference with the ones analyzed here lies in a process of frame bridging and frame extension that produced the generalization of the movement throughout the country by linking the dissatisfaction with education, with its importance in contemporary societies , and with the sociopolitical implications of the selection system to enter universities. The rejection of this system became an issue of social justice that propelled the transformation of a specific demand-for more efficiency in the educational institutions-and a restricted frame into a broader one that had important political implications and generated Widespread support in high schools , at some universities, and among parents of students. This reframing process had a dual impact in the movement: Initially , it extended its social support, but later it become a factor of "identity confusion" (Erikson 1972) among high school adherents as a result of a conflict between the public and the collective identities. This process can be better understood through the concept of "frame extension," which refers to the expansion of the boundaries of the movement's primary framework "to incorporate interests and points of view that were incidental to its primary objectives , but of considerable salience for potential adherents" (Snow et al. 1986, 472). High school students were initially mobilized against what they perceived as a particular problem of efficiency in the selection system, that is, its arbitrary, lotterylike character that had dramatic consequences for those who were not selected. This sector's grievances did not oppose any selection exams per se, just the existing ones, whose nature was the object of daily experiences in the preparatory courses. However, the rejection of any required exams to enter institutions of higher learning became part of the movement's program and a defining characteristic of its public identity. This was a result of the role played by university spokespersons, who extended the movement's frame demanding a university "public, free, and open to everyone. " These "media leaders" attributed a political meaning to an "antipoliticist " movement and acted as an instrument of apparent Copyrighted Material
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ideol ogical unity between both sectors . But, according to my data, this unity did not exist. I use the term "convergen ce in action" to refer to the pragmatic alignment of two mov ement sectors with differ ent fram es and discourses . If pragmatism and a search for dem ocratic reforms are central characteristics of n ew social movements (see Johnston, Laraiia , and Gusfield , Chapt er 1), this concept might be mor e useful th an the usual meaning of "unity " becaus e th e latter can become a self-explanatory concept that takes for grant ed internal consensus. In this case, th e consequ ences of th e imposition of a " politicist public id entity " from abo ve promot ed its rejection by the y ounger sectors. This imp osition was crucial in th e br eakdown of th e con verg ence in action betw een the diff erent status groups and th e discontinui ty of th e mo vem ent in high schools thr ee month s earlier than in the uni versities. Inst ead of consensus around the mov ement 's public id entity , th ere was an initial pragmatic alignment with a politic al fr am e th at did not respond to the moti ves for mobilization in high school stud ent s who soon came to feel m anipulated by nonstud ent organizations and interests . These feelings wer e related to the rol e pl ayed by some political organizations and trade unions that used th eir access to th e mass media to exploit the students ' dissatisfaction as an opposition instrument to th e gov ernm ent (Gonzalez Blasco 1987) . This case docum ents the conflicti ve relations that can arise betw een collective and public identit y and their impact on the mov em ent . Stud ent lead ers from th e univ ersity defin ed th e movement 's fram e and its discours e with explicit terms that did not reflect the sym bolic and often non verbaliz ed elements of the mov ement's coll ective identity in high schools . They also provided information on th e delegitimation of conventional political institutions and th e distrust toward politics in the youn ger const ituen cy , a widespr ead feature of new social mov ements (Offe 1985; Laraiia 1992) . It is n ot by chanc e th at th e concept of " antipoliticism " also defin ed th e work ers ' mov em ent fr am e during the premod ern period of soci al movements in Spain (from the 1850s to th e Civ il War of 1936; see Alvar ez-Junco , C ha p ter 13; Laraiia 1993b) . Th e revival of this fr am e in a milder fashion among the yo ung er con stitue nc y might account for applying th e theory Of postmod erni sm to new social mo vem ents , to the ex ten t that they qu estion som e elem ents of cont empor ary societies through a reCopyrighted Material
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225 tum to older, premodern meanings and ideas. The contempt for parliamentary politics, the hostility toward political power , and the indifference toward the political form of the state are central characteristics of the old frame that reemerged in th e high school stud ent mov ement of 1986 and 1987. This is another reason to study movement continuities beyond visible phases of mobilization and locate the search in a larger historical conte xt (Larafia 1993b). The existenc e of these kinds of continuities cannot fit in the theoretical perspective of th e apocalyptic anal ysis of new social movements as a " revolt against modernity , " a p erspective that rules out their novelty by distorting the essen ce of the dialectical process involved in the historical evolution of social movements (Mannheim 1936). Ideology and Pluralism in Student Movements
Comparative research on other student movements is useful to further understand the reasons for convergenc e betw een the different sectors that support a social movem ent (Melucci 1989; Turner 1969, see also Chapter 4). This consensus often resembles Erving Goffman 's notion of " working consensus" (1959) .14 Inst ead of taking for granted th e existen ce of shar ed values and ideas among participants , " consensus mobilization " (Klandermans and Oegema 1987) is a social construction of each group. It tends to emerge in relation to the movement's pluralism , its capacity to integrate very diff erent political orientations, and its abilit y to produce new definitions of the situation that account for individuals ' alignment with th e proposed frame of reference . Those elements are very differ ent from traditional ideologies of mobilization . To the extent that this potential is associat ed with the group 's collective identit y , it tend s to be stronger when it is bas ed on symbols and linguisti c categories that const itute th e group 's boundaries ; and it is amplifi ed to th e maximum in those ethnic communiti es with th eir own languag e, as is the case of th e Basqu e or Catalan nationalis t m ovem ent (Linz 1980; Perez Agot e 1987; John ston 1991). A s shown in research on the recent evolu tion of wome n 's mo vem en ts in th e U nit ed Stat es and new so cial mo vem ent s in Mil an durin g the 1980s (Melu cci 1989; see also Mu eller , Ch apt er 10), thi s m ob ilization po tentia l Copyrighted Material
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arises through daily int eracti on in social networks wher e movements are incubated; it is expr essed in th e m eaning s, symbols, and collective beliefs that em erg e from p articipati on in th e movement and allow m embers to put aside their ideological differences (Larana 1993a). Th e wide supp ort given to th e Free Speech Movement in Berkel ey or to SDS , th e main stud ent SM O of the 1960s , was relat ed to th eir capacity to integrate front group s and individuals with differ ent ideologi es (Drap er 1965; Sale 1974; Wollin and Schaar 1970, Larafia 1975). As in the 1987 studen t mobilizations in Spain, th eir collective action was po ssibl e becaus e internal debates centered on strat egic and not ideological issues, on which consensus m obiliz ation would have been ex tre m ely difficult . A similar pragmatic orient ation mad e po ssibl e th e em ergen ce of a unitary ma ster fram e amo ng th e oppositional mo vem ent s to Franco 's dictat or ship iri Spain (Johnst on 1991) . This fram e's characteristic " politicism;" an d its associated patt ern of m ovem ent subordination to political partie s, stands in contras t w ith th e ant ipoliticist frame of th e earlier period and w ith th e featur es of cont empor ary new social mov em ents. Th e hi storical stages in the evolution of social mov em ent s in Spain pr esent sharp discontinuiti es because of refr amin g pr oces ses that cann ot be ex plaine d onl y by changes in th e political conditions o f th e country (Lar afia 1993b ; Johnston 1991; see also Alvar ez-Junco , Ch apt er 13). Th e student mo vem ents I h ave stu died not only sho w important weakn ess in functionali st social theori es but also qu estion the validity of Mar xist assum p tions that were very influ ential in man y Eur opean m ovements until th e en d of th e 1960s. The y qu estion th e notion of class cons ciousn ess as a pr econditi on for unit y of the social mov em ent th at is cons idered the "a gency of his tor y ." That unif orm element rarel y eme rge s in new social mo vem ents , and classes are no lon ger th e soci al basis for th e m ajorit y of th e mobilization s; instead of an ob stacle, th e id eol ogical plur alism of these m ovem ent s becom es decisive for th eir con ver gen ce in action (D raper 1965; Lar afia 1975 , 1993a) . The pr esen ce of this plur alism in ma ny con tem porary m ovem ent s since the 1960s confirms the rol e of studen t m ovem ent s as pr ecur sors of new so cial movem erits. It also supp ort s th e use of th e N SM con cept as a tool to identif y com mo n featur es in cont empor ar y m ovem ents and points to th e cha nges th ese m ovem ents im ply in referen ce to th e work er's Copyrighted Material
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movement (see Johnston, Larafia, and Gusfield , Chapter 1; Larafia , 1993c; Melucci 1989; Offe 1985). The Spanish student movement of 1986-1987 provides us with an example of the need to revise both traditional and modern assumptions on the unity of social movements . It addresses a central question in ongoing research: How are collective identities related to the movement's frame and to the role that traditional ideologies of mobilization may play (Melucci 1985, 1989; see also Mueller, Chapter 10)? The absence of the traditional leftist ideology among high school students strengthened the mov ement and enabled it to integrate different tendencies, in spite of the fact that university student leaders promoted a political frame based on Marxist assumptions . This process was already emerging in the student movements of the 1960s. Although they presented a peculiar version of the traditional revolutionary ideology and the socialist utopia , these elements had an essentially symbolic m eaning as an alternative worldview and social project for the younger generation. Marxism and its socialist utopia were mainly selfaffirmation symbols used by students to express their rejection of the adult order and impel democratic reforms and their own participation in social institutions . This ideology was only part of the alternative cognitive structures from which the young New Left tried to build its collective identity . This analysis is reinforced if it is formulated in the opposite way. A fundamental factor for discontinuity in th e U.S. student movement in the 1960s was the internal conflict arising around what model of society the movement was striving for. This ideo logical issue was related to the identity of students as an agency of radical social change and to what strategies should be used to achieve this goal (Ashley et al. 1970; Sale 1974). This conflict had a turning point in the SDS national convention of June 1969, when several groups advocated profound ideological and strategic changes; the abandonment of some basic New Left ideological and organizational principles such as ideological pluralism , autono mous and decentralized organization , and faith in democratic principles; and a turn toward traditional Marxist assumptions (Jacobs 1970; Sa1;::1974; Larafia 1982, 1993a). Those elements , which anticipated some of the main features of new social movements , constituted the "identity resources" of this movement (see Johnston, Larafia , and Gusfield, Chapter 1; Melucci 1989). The triCopyrighted Material
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umph of th e proposal of som e Marxist groups produced a shift in the politics of the N ew Left and the withdrawal of the wide support this movement had among coll ege students . Thi s shift was intimately associated with the distinctive character of the " new politics " and had strong cultural and generational elements (Larafia 1982). The 1969 SDS convention exem plified the depth of the disintegrative process in the collective identity of th e movement . The crisis was a result of four interrelated factors: repression, lack of legitimation of political institutions and democratic id eals, growing radicalization , and separation between the political and cultural sectors of the student movement (Larafia 1992). For one movement sector close to the New Left ideas, the crisis affected the available means to achieve th e democratic prin ciples , not the principl es them selves or th e valu es supporting them . For the contending groups , th e crisis includ ed those principles and the prevailing social model as a whol e. That debate trigg ered the disintegration of th e movem ent after New Left groups abandoned SDS and the Weatherman group went underground, becoming th e " suicidal vanguard " who se mission was to bring th e liberation wars in the Third World to th e Unit ed States (jacobs 1970; Sale 1974). This group was one of th e first to en gage in th e widespread terrorism of the 1970s and 1980s in European countries , which arose from the breakdown of stud ent movem ents (Larafia 1993a) . They constituted a bloody expr ession of the kind of continuities that can em erge in movements that were initially motivated by liberaldemocratic ideas and later followed totalitarian ideologies . Notes Acknowledgments: Thi s chapter's findin gs are the result of research fund ed by th e Ce ntro de Investigacion es Sociologicas and the Cornit e C onjunto para la C oo peraci6n C ultural entr e Estado s Unid os y Espana . I th ank Aaron C icourel and Hank John ston for their insightful com me nts on th e early version s of this chapter. 1. Thi s tenden cy could be a consequence of m or e mod erate analytical ambition s on th e part of researchers after recogni zing th e limit s of social science. Thi s scaling down has been considered necessary for th e developm ent of the field (Ci courel 1964; Shibut ani 1960). 2. Thi s term is used here to refer to Marxist and collective behavior theories of social movem ent s and conflict . 3. Accordin g to Melucci (1989), th ese net work s fun ction as laboratori es
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229 for the development of alternative codes of behavior, interpretation , and interpersonal relations . Produced through daily interaction, these codes are the " cognitive resources" of the movement for maintaining unity and allowing confrontation with structures of political and institutional power. They are the source of a collective identity that is the fundamental factor of unity and continuit y in new movements . It substitutes in the role of "ideology," which was the unifying factor of collective action in Marxist theory, and gives the movement a large part of its mobilization potential (Larafia 1993a). The daily construction of alternative cultural codes nurtures the antagonistic character of the movement (Melucci 1989, see also Chapter 5). 4. The Criminology School Defense Committee was an ad hoc group of criminology students and members of several neo-Marxist organizations stemming from SDS, such as the Radical Student Union, the New American Movement, and the Young Socialist Alliance . 5. This is another reason why the validity of these assumptions is being revised by current research . This process follows the historical path for the development of science (Cicourel 1964). 6. A relevant exception to the neglect of discourse analysis in this field is Hank Johnston's (1991) research on the nationalist movement in Catalonia . 7. This argument could be applied to my research in the mid 1970s of the student movement in Berkeley, where the lack of visible action contrasted with its intense public presence during the second half of the 1960s (Larafia 1975). 8. Seleetividadrefers to the required exams to enter Spanish universities . They have a twofold function : to insure that all university students have a certain competence , and to redirect students with poor results to other studies that do not have high registration enrollments . 9. In the high schools, the demonstrations started in November 1986, almost simultaneous with similar ones in France, and ended in the last weeks of February 1987. In some universities, demonstrations started in January 1987 and ended on different dates, even as late as May . 10. Part of my research was conducted in a popular , middle-class high school located in the center of Madrid. I observed a considerable lack of knowledge about the role of university students in the demonstrations ; a noncongruent situation with the possibility of a shared leadership. 11. The best known are the pictures of an individual the media called cojo Manteeas,a handicapped student who was transformed into the symbol of the demonstrations after a photo showing him breaking a street lamp with his crutches was widely displayed, and those of young people who covered their faces with scarves to protect their identity when committing violent acts against the police or public property . 12. As happens with the analysis of continuities in collective action, this is not simply a formal question but a substantive one that concerns which theoretical model is used to analyze a social movement . 13. In his work on the Catalan nationalist movement, Johnston (1991) shows how a similar process of frame extension integrated a new social sector (immigrants) in the original movement constituency and has had parallel implications for the spread of the nationalist frame in Catalonia since the 196Os.
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230 14. Thi s conce pt is an import ant contribution to count erb alance the function alist and Marxist th eori es on social conflict. It refers to th e pr ocess in social inter action by w hich individua ls adapt th eir definition of th e situations to that of the gro up, thr ou gh a pragm atic agreeme nt considered essen tial for th e construc tion and continuity of social gro ups (Go ffm an 1959).
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232 McAdam , Dou g. 1988. Freedom Summer. New York: Oxford University Press. Mannheim , Karl. 1936. Ideology and Utopia. New York: H arv est Books. Melucci , Alberto. 1980. " T he New Social Mov ement s: A Th eoretical Approach ." Social ScienceInformation 19, 2:199-22 6. __ _ . 1985. " T he Symbolic Challenge of Cont emporary Movements ." Social Research52:789-816 . _ _ _ . 1989. Nomads of the Present: Social Movements and Individual Needs in ContemporarySociety. Philadelphia : Temple University Pr ess. __ _ . 1990. "C ollective Action as Social Construction ." Paper presented at the World Congre ss of Sociology, Madrid, July 9-15 . Mueller, Carol. 1993. "Th e Organizational Basis of Confli ct and Identit y in Contemporar y Feminism . " Paper pr esent ed at th e 21st Congr ess of the International Institute of Sociology , Paris, June 21-25 . Offe , Cl aus. 1985. " Ne w Social Movements Challenging the Boundari es ofInsti tutional Politics ." Social Research52, 4:817-68 . --. 1988. Partidos politicos y nuevos movimientos socials. Madrid: Sistema . Perez Agot e, Alfonso . 1987. El nacionalismo vascoa la salida delfranquismo. Madrid : C entro de Investiga ciones Sociol6gicas. Qu ere, Louis , et al. 1987. " C om m ent com prendre Ie mo vement ?" Raison Presente 82: 9- 16. Sale, Kirkp atri ck. 1974. SDS. New York: Vintag e Books . Shibutani, Tamotu . 1960. Sociedad y personalidad. Bu eno s Aire s: Paid6s . Snow , David A., and Robert D . Benford . 1988. " Ideolo gy , Frame Resonance, and Participant Mobiliz ation ." In From Structure to A ction, edited by Bert Klanderman s, Hanspeter Kri esi, and Sidney Tarro w . Vol. 1 of International Social Movement Research. Gre enwich , Conn .: J AI Pr ess. -- . 1992. "Mast er Frames and Cycle s of Protest ." In Frontiers in SocialMovement Th eory, edited by Aldon D. Morris and Carol McClurg Mueller . New Haven : Yale University Press. Snow , David A., E. Burke Rochf ord , Jr. , Steven K. Worden, and Robert D. Benford . 1986. " Fram e Alignm ent Proc esses, Micromobilization , and Movement Participation ." Am ericanSociological Review 51:464- 81. Stompka , Piotr. 1992. " Toward a 'T hird Sociology ' of Social Movem ents. " Paper presented at the First European Confer ence on Social Movement s, Wissenschaftszentrum Berlin fur Socialforschung , Berlin , October 29-31. Tarrow , Sidney . 1989. Struggle, Politics, and Reform: Collective Action, SocialMovements, and Cycles of Protest. Ithaca : Cornell Univer sity, Center for International Studi es. Taylor, Verta. 1989. " Social Movement Continuity: Th e Women 's Movem ent in Ab eyance . " American Sociological Review 54,5 :761-75 . Turn er, Ralph H . 1969. "Th e Them e of Contempor ary Social Movement s." BritishJournal of S ociology 20:390-405 . Turn er, Ralph H ., and Lewis M . Killian . 1987. Collective Behavior. 3d ed . Englewood Cliffs , N.J. : Prenti ce-Hall. Weber , Max . 1944. Economia y Sociedad. Mexico C ity : Fondo de C ultura Econ6mica . Wollin, Sheldon, and John Schaar. 1970. Th e Berkeley Rebellion and Beyond. New York: Vint age Book s.
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233 Zald , Mayer N ., and John D. McCarth y, eds. 1987. "Socia l Movem ent Ind ustries: Co m petition and Co nflict amo ng SMOs ," and " Religious Gro ups as Cru cibles of Social Movement s. " In Social Movement s in an Organizationa l Society . New Brun swick, N.J. : Transaction Books.
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Conflict Netwo rks and the Origins of Women 's Liberat ion Carol Mueller
In creasing cross -fer tiliza tion of social moveme nt th eory h as occurre d from both sides of the Atlant ic over th e last five years. The Eur op ean " new socia l movem en ts theory " and th e N o rth American th eory of "re source mobiliza tion ," developed since th e tumultu ous 1960s, have been the major cont ributo rs. 1 Resour ce mobi lization th eor y is based in a strategic approach to the stu dy of socia l m ovem ents ; it em phas izes th e mobi lization an d alloca tion of reso urces by mo veme nt actors in th e con tex t of oppo rtunities an d cons trai nts impose d b y the social an d po litical env iron me n t . Particular attention focuses on the role of forma l social move me nt organi zatio ns as the key socia l actors planni n g stra tegies an d mo bi lizing resour ces. Grieva nces are treated as a given pr eferen ce struc ture in some of th e m ost powerful stateme nts of th e theory . N ew soc ial move me nt th eor y h as, stra ngely, em pha sized issues th at are largely ign ored by resour ce m ob ilization . Ins tead of bein g tak en as given , gr ievan ces are at th e cen ter a th eor y th at locates th eir sour ce in both soc ial struc ture and th e social psycholo gical pro cesses underl yin g th eir identifi cation an d developm ent as part of mo vem ent culture . For man y N orth Am eric an scholars, th e str ength of new social m ovem ent th eor y lies at th e int erm ediate and th e ma cro levels o f ana lysis. N ew socia l m ovem ent th eory has point ed to the need for a soc ial psy chology based in th e social inter action of m ovem ent acto rs as well as th e need to ident ify th e so urce of grieva nces and collective actors for parti cul ar social m ovements in th eir hist oric ally va riable stru ctura l con tex t, parti cularl y th e chang ing class stru cture an d sym bo lic env iro n me nt of postindu strial , capitalist soc ieties. Whil e th e latt er con tributio n has been lar gely ign or ed," int erest in the int erm ed iate level of analysis wh ere social conditi ons are defin ed as grieva nces and per son al misf ortun es are tr anslated into a collective sense of injus tice has Copyrighted Material
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coincided with a developing focus on the creation of meaning by social movement actors among those who seek to expand the resource mobilization paradigm." As contributions to social movement theory increasingly merge into a more comprehensive whole it is important to explore the components of each theory more carefully and to "test" it against empirical studies on both sides of the Atlantic. Particularly important to scholars interested in developing the new emphasis on social construction processes has been the work of the Italian new social movement theorist Alberto Melucci . Melucci 's (1989) theory develops the role of "submerged networks " in the process of creating collective identities, interpreting grievances , and evaluating the potential effectiveness of collective action . Despit e this interest (see works by Gamson 1992; by Klandermans 1986, 1990, 1992; and by Taylor and Whittier 1992) and the publication of Melucci's book Nomads of the Present, Melucci's theory of "collective identity" and "submerged networks" has not been systematically evaluated in the context of North American social movements . This chapter rectifies this omission through a critical examination of Melucci 's theory as applied to the origins of women's mobilization in the United States during the period from 1960 to 1970. It will then be possible to assess its role in a broader theory of the social construction of social movements . Of primary interest is Melucci's contribution to the intermediate level of analysis where social movement culture is generated and dominant cultural codes are challenged. Melucci's Theory of Socially Constructed Collective Identities
Melucci's point of departure is what he characterizes as the false unity attributed by observers to collective action . He argues: The collective phenomenon -whether a panic , a social movement, or a revolutionary process-is treated as a unified emp irical datum, which , supposedly, can be perceived and interpreted by observers . It is supposed that, first , individuals ' behaviour forms a unitary character or gestalt. Second, this assumption is then transferred from the phenomenological to the conceptual level and acquires ontological consistency: the collective reality is seen to exist as a thing . (1989, 18)4 Copyrighted Material
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Melucci attribut es the error of false unity to a model of analysis that gr ew out of the class struggles of the nineteenth century and th e actions of the supposedly unitary working class as it [sic] demanded the expansion of citizenship rights to encompass suffrag e, political association, free speech, and so forth (1989, 19). The working -class mo vement , in this historic context , was tied to th e idea of social movements "as historical agents marching toward a destiny of liberation " (1988, 330) . It is this perc eption of a social movement as ossified in a unitary "collectiv e identity " that Melucci seeks to correct with his own th eoretic al model. He attempts to explain social movements at an intermediat e level of social processes that occur in face-toface int eractions. These proc esses connect the sense of personal misfortune that people experi ence in their everyday lives with a collective int erpr etation of th ese conditions as injustice or grievances that justify coll ectiv e action . He seeks to identify those groups pro cesses "by which individuals evaluat e and recognize what the y have in common and decide to act together" (1988, 339) . Thus, he seeks to creat e a theory th at links the stru ctured practic es of social life with th e collective action of a social movement through th e intermediate steps of face-to -face interaction and m eaning con stru ction . There are thr ee key features of his th eory: (1) the content or outcom e of the proc ess of social construction , the " collective identity" of the mov ement that comes to exist as a part of the movement culture; (2) the social proc esses by which the collective identity is created in "submerged networks" of small groups concerned with the ongoing routines of everyday life; and (3) the em otional investments that enable individuals to recognize them selves as the " we" in a collective identity . The first feature of Melucci's theory is his conception of the coll ectiv e identity, which he defin es as "nothing else than a shared definition of the field of opportunities and constraints offered to collective action: 'sh are d' means con stru cted and negotiated through a rep eated pro cess of 'activation' of social relationships connecting th e actors" (1985, 793) . For Melucci , th e content of th e collective identity or sens e of " we" consists of a social resolution of thr ee ord ers of orientation: "the ends of actions (i.e. , the sense th e action has for th e actor); thos e relating to th e means (i.e., th e poss ibiliti es and the limits of action) ; an d finall y thos e relating Copyrighted Material
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to relationships with the environment (i.e ., the field in which the action takes place) " (1988, 33). In other words, people will interact in "submerged networks" where they will arrive at a new defini tion of their situation . This definition is different from the ordi nary outcomes of daily social interaction in that it is action oriented, and it includes a goal, tactics, and a strategy for collective action on behalf of shared grievances. The incubation period during which new collective identities are formed occurs in submerged social networks out of view of the public eye. Melucci argues that by the 1980s when he conducted his research on three different movement groups in Milan, collective actions were created within networks composed of many groups that were dispersed throughout the urban landscape . They are fragmented in terms of their relationships with each other and they were invisible because of their immersion in every day life. Not only are the networks submerged in the sense that their cultural experimentation is not readily visible to the wider public but they are transitory in that individuals have multiple memberships with temporary and limited involvement (1989,60). The submerged network is a system of small, separate groups engaging in cultural experimentation, and it is also a system of exchange in which persons and information circulate freely within the network. These networks act as "cultural laboratories " submerged within civil society (1989, 60). Some agencies , such as local free radios, bookshops, and magazines provide sources of unity (1985, 800) . In these cultural laboratories, new collective identities are constructed from the expressive interactions of individuals experimenting with new cultural codes, forms of relationships, and alternative perceptions of the world . The creation of the collective identity occurs in the midst of tensions created by the inadequacy of the means currently available for reaching personal and collective goals . From these tensions, as well as the close face-to-face interaction, develops a heavy emotional investment that encourages the individual to share in the collective identity . As the collective identity is created to address these tensions, both leadership and organization attempt to give permanence through their tentative resolution. This process involves the negotiation of the three orientations given the constraints of resources and political opportunities within emotionally enriched relationships. Copyrighted Material
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For Melucci , the hidden networks become visible only when collective actors "confront or com e into conflict with a public policy ," that is, when they confront the state (1989, 90) . This confront ation adds to a state of tension and enhanced emotional investment. Melucci argues , for instance, that th e massive peace mobilizations of th e 1980s wer e bas ed in the submerg ed networks of wom en , young peopl e, ecologists, and alternati ve cultures . Thus, Melucci 's sub me rged networks point to what he calls the relationship betw een the latency and visibility poles of collective action .5 Whil e Melucci associat es th e subm erg ed networks in which collectiv e identiti es are form ed with th e relativel y quiescent period of the 1980s in both Europe and th e Unit ed States, other scholars have identified similar incub ation networks in periods prior to mass mobilization . Aldon Morris (1984) , for instance , describ es th e " halfw ay houses " throu ghout the south ern United Stat es that served as laboratori es for working out a collective id entit y of ends (civil right s an d racial int egration) , means (nonviolenc e), and environment al relations (th e developm ent of a network of alliance systems linking North an d South) prior to th e publi c phas e of the civil rights mov em ent that began in th e mid 1950s . Doug MeAdam's (1982) political proc ess th eory also posits a stage of " cognitive lib eration " that pr ecedes m ass mobilization . Similarl y , Verta Taylor (1989) describ es th e " abeyance pro cesses" that link th e periods of femini st activism in the Un ited States from the suffrag e mov ement of th e early tw entieth centur y to the contemporary mov ement. Although Melucci argues that this proc ess of constructing collective id entities is a uniqu e charact eristic of highl y comple x societi es, he may also underestimat e how universal the process of cultural transformation has been as a prelude to pr evious periods of mass mobilization. Th e development of a collectiv e identity center ed on class consciousness among th e working class in England (1780-1830) , Fran ce (1830-1833) , and Russia (1900-1914) point to a similar combination of social anal ysis contained within a new coll ectiv e identit y and institution building w ithin submerg ed networks as prelude to collective action (see this ana lysis and a compari son with political consciousn ess of African Americans by Morris in Morris and Mueller 1992). Th e basic thrust of Melucci 's conc eption of submerged netCopyrighted Material
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works is th e proposition that the initial chall enge to th e pr ev ailin g ord er takes place principall y on sym b olic ground s. Th at is, th e status quo must be chall eng ed at th e cultural level in term s of its claims to legitimacy befor e m ass co llective action is feasibl e. Thu s, Meluc ci ar gu es that submerg ed networks " ch allenge and ove rturn the domin ant code s upon w hi ch so cial relationships are found ed . Th ese sym bolic challen ges are a m ethod of unmaskin g th e dominant co des, a differ ent w ay of perc eivin g and namin g th e wo rld " (1989, 75). B y concentrating onl y on th e visible, publi c signs of a social mo vem ent 's chall en ge to th e exis tin g ord er , pr evi ou s th eories of so cial mo vem ent s h ave failed to appr eciate th e con tribu tion of th ese cultural transformations . Melu cci argue s, for inst an ce, that our con cep t of succ ess should be ex pan ded to en com pass these cultural ch an ges. This is th e in vestment of the nasc ent mov ement in what h e calls a " laten cy phas e" as dominant cultur al codes are unmask ed an d overturn ed. Melu cci contributes to a grow in g interest among stud ents of social mo vem ents in th e way that cultural cod es are chall eng ed ; in th e conn ection of social structur e to cultu re throu gh a so cial psycholog y that identifies face-to-fa ce patt erns of int eraction and their lo cation in submer ged net works w he re cultur al ex pe rime ntation actu ally occurs ; and in th e n ew cultural cod es th at can serve as th e basis of collective action . Th ese are important contribution s that have been too littl e app reciated. In addit ion, it has been too littl e realized that the tensions and emo tion al investm ent s asso ciated wi th the process of gen eratin g coll ecti ve identitie s and initi ating collective actions is oft en accom panie d b y int ern al dissensi on and org anizational segm ent ation . N everthel ess , there are unr esolv ed issues in Melu cci's th eor y that must also be identifi ed before it can be succ essfull y appli ed to a case study . While Melucci is uniqu e in pointing to th e role of extern ally deriv ed tension in th e development of new cultur al configurations within social mo vements, his focus on resourc e and environmental constraints as th e major source of tension fails to consid er the important rol e of int ernal conflict and comp etition as an additional dynamic contributing to the generation of new collective identities (see, as ex am ples, Mueller 1987; Tarrow 1989; Taylor and Whittier 1992). Th er e are other unresolv ed issues in Melucci 's th eor y as well, but th e most important for pr esent purposes is his dis avowal of th e rol e of the coll ective identit y as hi sCopyrighted Material
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240 toric actor. In his focus on an intermediate level of analysis, the face-to-face interactions wh ere collective identities are forged, he unn ecessarily abandons the cultural level of analysis at which the product of th e submerg ed networks enters political culture . It is at this point that the social mov ement em erges as historic actor and agent of political change. These two concerns-the role of internal conflict in shaping the collective identity and the level of analysisare brought togeth er here in the course of applying his theory to a specific case, the origins of the contemporary women 's movement in th e United Stat es. This application may also suggest the utility of Melucci 's theory for read ers who do not have access to his Italian case materials (see an evaluation of these materials in Johnston 1991). Collective Identity and the Mass Mobilization of Women
To demonstrate the importanc e of submer ged networks in challenging dominant codes and creating ne w coll ectiv e identities that facilitate mass mobilizations , it is necessary to document that this configuration of the new identity was not already widely available . This seemingly simple condition is oft en ignored in em pirical demonstrations of cultural innov ations but is essential for the curr ent case study of the creation of a new collectiv e identity for women. In the United States, th e decade after World War II was characterized by later feminists as th e "decade of domesticit y" because of its high birthrates an d its emphasis on hom e, family , and women 's traditional roles. So pervasive was the dominant cultural code prescribing a narrow set of rol es for wom en that few social scientists recognized its existen ce. To characteriz e women 's condition as one of inequality much less as oppression would have been regarded as her esy . Yet, in 1951, an article app ear ed in an American sociological journal strangely titled , " Wom en as a Minorit y Group " (Hack er [1951] 1979). The author, Helen Hacker, took th e lonely position that wom en 's chara cteristic behavior and position of social inferiority paralleled that of Jew s and Negroes , groups well recognized as "minorities " in U .S. culture . Hacker 's article can be tak en as a benchmark for its characterization of women according to the dominant cultural code of the United Copyrighted Material
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States in the 1950s. Despite its poor reception at the time, it brought to consciousness a set of cultural assumptions that were largely taken for granted . After itemizing discriminatory patterns against women in economic, political, and social life, Hacker noted that , although women showed no conscious self-awareness of their inferior status, other aspects of their behavior supported the analogy . She cited data from the World War II period indicating high levels of selfhatred associated with the status of being a woman. In surveys, women showed high levels of dislike for other women, women expressed a preference for working under the direction of men, women had misgivings concerning the value of participation in public life, and high proportions of women, compared to men, wished they had been born in the opposite sex. Hacker showed parallels in the castelike behavior and treatment of women and Negroes. She noted, for instance, high social visibility and frequent attributions of an inferior intelligence, a smaller brain, irresponsibility, emotional instability, and moral weakness (514). Like the Negro, the woman accommodated to her inferior status with smiles, laughter, rising inflection in conversation, and downward glances. She cultivated an appearance of helplessness and pursued her goals with a flattering manner and " fem inine wiles ." Yet, after Hacker identified a deeply repressed sense of inferiority, she issued no call for women to overcome their condition and seemed to see little possibility for change. Instead, she pointed out that there were a few women, like those in nontraditional, professional occupations, who broke the dominant cultural code and recommended that these should be studied (520). Although there were other women who had long challenged the assumptions of the dominant code among minority women (Hooks 1981) and among a small group of feminists who had pursued the Equal Rights Amend ment since 1922 (Rupp and Taylor 1987), both groups were largely invisible because the challenge they represented had been marginalized and assimilated. Hacker was not the only one who saw little potential for a change in women's collective identity. More than ten years later , at a conference called by the prestigious American Academy of Arts and Sciences, a dozen of America 's leading intellectuals contemplated women 's condition (Lifton 1967). Many of the leading male scholars celebrated women's traditional virtues . Erik Erikson Copyrighted Material
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not ed that women inhabit a special "inner space ," while Robert J. Lifton praised women's possession of insight and wisdom. David Riesman noted that the gre ater resourcefulness of the contemporary gen eration of young women was possibl e "without storming the barric ades at home or abroad " (Riesman 1964, 97) . Carl Degler, a historian , point ed to the revolutionary chang es taking place in women 's growing paid em ploym ent , but he not ed that women would prob ably remain in segregated and low -paying jobs because ther e was no strong feminist push to improve their condition . He was pessimistic about any such chan ge because , "The whole truth is th at Am erican societ y in general, which includ es women , shuns lik e a disease any feminist ideolog y " (D egl er 1967,203). That is, in Melucci 's terms , th e mal e scholars eith er saw no need for a collectiv e identit y for wo me n or, like Degler , found it impossible to imag ine th e conditions und er which such a profound cultural transformation mi ght be brought about . Th ere was one m emb er of this august gathering , however , who was soon to achi eve a cert ain notoriety for her paper, " Equality betw een th e Sexes: An Immod est Proposal. " The author, Alice Rossi , drew on Helen Hack er 's pap er from the 1950s to call for uncompromising equality in th e socialization , schooling, and adult responsibilities of men and women (Rossi 1967, 98-143) . Her pap er was received with littl e enthusiasm by either male or femal e participants at the conferenc e. Degl er (1967) responded to Rossi's "immodest proposal" by asserting that, "in America the soil is thin and the climate uncong enial for the growth of any seedlings of ideology" (210). Although this conf erence indicated the incr easing concern with women 's status in soci ety, at this level of discourse where scholars and intellectuals bring issues to public awareness, only Rossi's paper suggests a potential for cultural reconstruction and a new collective identity . Clearly , some of th e best informed leaders of American intellectual life were unaware that they were sitting on the brink of a massiv e shift of consciousness in the culturally prescrib ed roles for wom en and an unprecedented mass mobilization. How did it happ en? Did scholarly discourse on the plight of women escalate from pap ers like that giv en by Rossi at the Academy of Arts and Sciences confer enc e? Did women 's organizations disseminate persuasive communications on what should be done? Copyrighted Material
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Did young women defy the advice of their elders and take to the barricades? Did small groups of women get together in submerged networks removed from the public eye and renegotiate their identities as women and consider tactics and strategies that would challenge the dominant cultural code? Clearly, all of these things happened, but paramount place must go to the submerged networks where a transformed collective identity developed in the tense atmosphere of disagreement and conflict over the nature of the collective identity that would become the basis of a new set of goals and programs for change. Once this collective identity had been created, however, it would take on a life of its own as historic actor and source of political influence. The process by which the collective identity is created demonstrates the basic value of Melucci's theory. The Origins of the Women's Movement
While the origins of women's mobilization in the United States are well documented," two different explanations have been proposed to account for the beginning of the movement. The first explanation corresponds to the structural theories of the European new social movements literature that attempt to link changes in the objective condition of the mobilized group with changes in consciousness. Survey research is the tool usually employed with the goal of correlating clusters of attitudes reflecting a new collective consciousness with the subgroup defined by the objective condition. The key proponents of this approach for the U.S. women's movement have been Joan Huber (1976) and Ethel Klein (1984).7 The second explanation corresponds in many ways to Melucci's emphasis on the generative role of submerged networks. Major contributors to this approach are Jo Freeman (1973) and Sara Evans (1980) . A review of these theories suggests both the strengths and the weaknesses of Melucci's conceptions of submerged networks and collective identities in an understanding of the origins of the U.S. women's movement. To make these theories accessible to a European audience, I characterize them as the structural and the submerged network theories.
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StructuralTheories
Explanations based on changes in technology and th e division of labor argue that "th e decline in fertility an d th e shift of productive work from hom e to factory in th e past two centuries has ups et th e equilib rium of sex stratification in indu strial societi es, " thu s paving the way for a shift of conscious ness and th e mobilization of women (Huber 1976, 372) . Based on a historic analysis of women's work and child -car e responsibilities , Hub er docu ments that , after 1940 , the fem ale work force was in creasin gly com posed of m arri ed wom en with childr en. She argu es that the doubl e burd en of paid work and dom estic work was so on erous th at wom en were compell ed to see that th ey were treat ed unjustl y by societ y (1976, 372). From Hub er 's perspectiv e, th e cont emp or ary wom en 's movem ent is th e " unplann ed result " of the technological ch anges th at transform ed women 's work and child- care responsibiliti es. She pr edict s th at th e mov ement will continu e as long as wom en bear this double burden . Althou gh Hub er describ es obj ectiv e conditions that might logicall y lead wom en to develop an "inju sti ce frame ," she does not demonstrat e em pirically that the women experiencing these chang es wer e, in fact , developing a new consciousn ess (or collectiv e identity). For this kind of data , it is necessary to tum to Klein (1984) who ha s m ade this conn ection betw een stru ctur al position and cha n ge d consciousn ess. Looking at thr ee different dimensions of wom en 's traditional rol es -domestic em ploy me n t, motherhood, and marriag e-sh e, like Hub er, describes chang es brought about through mature industrialization. She links thes e objective, structur al chang es to shifts over time in public opinion toward gr eater tol erance for women 's work outsid e the hom e, for reduced fertilit y and family size, and for th e social acceptabilit y of either singl e status or divorce . Despite th e mom entous ch ang es occurrin g in wom en 's lives throughout the century , she not es, it was not until th e 1960s that public opinion poll s ind icated lar ge numb ers of wom en were en dorsing a nontr aditional role. Klein 's (1984) an alysis is b ased on th e overtim e data from the Nati onal Elect ion Stu dies, w hich have been gathere d since the 1950s by th e Survey Resear ch Ce nter at th e Uni ver sit y of Michigan . Th ey in dica te th at , b y th e en d of th e 1960s, th e majorit y of women wer e in favor of nontr aditi on al roles for wo me n based on socia l equality , and an inc reasi ng nu m be r felt th at wome n faced Copyrighted Material
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discrimination (91). Klein characterizes this cluster of attitud es as a " fem ini st consciousness ." Her data indicated that, b y 1972, women who were psychologically more likely to support nontra ditional roles for women were themselves found in structural positions where they were more likely to work outside the hom e, to have a job with high occupational status, to achi eve more than a high school education, to be single , divorced, or separated , to live in a large metropolitan area, to have a mother who had worked , to be politicall y liberal, and to be little involved in organiz ed religion (106-19) . The more of these characteristics a woman possessed , the more likely she was to have a highly develop ed feminist consciousn ess . Klein's data reveal a paradoxical finding, how ever. Despit e the sharp increase in feminist consciousness among women, it was even higher among men. By 1972, men were even more likely than women to believe that society rather than nature or biology was responsible for women 's roles; to support an equal role for women in business and industry; and to endors e equal employment treatment (100). Yet, needless to say , men did not create the women 's movement nor did they encourag e wom en 's mass mobilization . This anomalous fmding points to the limitations of the structur al explanation of the origins of th e wom en's move ment. Despite Klein's careful connection of structural chang es in women's roles to changes in public consciousness, to some ex ten t, changes in social structure affected the con sciousnes s of m en and women similarly . The structural th eories and Klein's careful documentation of the rise of a feminist consciousness help to account for the larg e public support for the wom en's movement during th e 1970s and , also, its considerable political influence after the period of mass mobilization beginning in 1970, but it cannot explain the origins of the movem ent for two simple reason s: (1) a new consciousnes s that is shared equally by men and wom en cannot explain wh y women rather than men formed a movement; and (2) widespr ead support among women for greater equalit y do es not exp lain wh y some few specifi c individuals of the millions of American wome n affected by structural chang es did , in fact , create a mov em ent . To try to explain the ori gins of the mov ement with a structural analysis alone faces th e sam e limitation s that Melucci has iden tified in some of th e Europ ean literature on new soci al m ovem ent s: Copyrighted Material
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246 "Approaches based on the structure/motivation dualism view collectiv e action either as a product of the logic of the system or as a result of personal beliefs" (1989, 21). The basic problem is that "both th e macrostructural factors and th e individual variables imply an unbridgeable gap betw een the level of explanation proposed and the concr ete process that allows a certain number of individuals to act together " (1988, 332). Melucci's proposed solution is an intermediate level of analysis in which submerged networks are studied as the source of new collective identities that enco m pass the definition of specific possibilities and limits of action. At the sam e time, relationships are activated within localized, submerged networks and particular individuals make commitments to act tog ether in pursuit of specific goals (1988, 332). Applied to the origins of women's liberation , a generally diffus e feminist consciousness, while perhaps necessary, is not enough . To explain origins, specific individuals must be identified who have formed em otional bonds from their interaction , negotiated a sense of group membership , and made a plan for change (or series of plans) , howev er tentative , with goals, means, and a consideration of environmental constraints : a collective identity. The Submerged Networks
Previous scholarship on the women 's movement has provided many of the pieces necessary for the kind of analysis that Melucci proposes . Freeman's (1973) and Evans's (1980) work on the origins of the U.S . women 's movement are best known in this tradition. As Freeman indicates, the movement originated simultaneously in two different social locations in the mid to late 1960s from their respective sources among, first , the "older branch" of women active in national politics who were involved in the new State Commissions on the Status of Women, and a, second, "younger branch" of wom en who had been participants in the civil rights movement and the New Left. Freeman (1973) argues that the origins of the movement in these two branches can be expl ained by the availabilit y of compatible communications networks, a series of "cris es" that focused each branch of women on feminist issues , and experienced organizers in the young er branch who could weld together local groups into a national movement . It was the older br anch that created the Copyrighted Material
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247 National Organization for Women (NOW), which eventually became the major social movement organization for the movement . The younger branch developed the small groups, consciousnessraising, and the less conventional tactics of the movement. Evans (1980) provides an in-depth study of how the younger women were radicalized by the humiliations they experienced from their male colleagues in the social movements of the 1960s. In the course of describing what Melucci would characterize as "submerged networks ," Evans also indicates the degree to which conflict and struggle played a role in developing collective identities in the submerged networks of both branches of the movement . It was in part the struggle over the notion of the emerging collective identity that led to cultural innovation, organizational segmentation, and the spread of movement groups in the five years preceding the Women's Strike. This event, in August 1970, marked the symbolic beginning, the public "coming out," of the movement. The proc esses of negotiation and identity construction in the two branches reflected the very different political cultures of electoral and movement politics in the mid 1960s. The older branch , or what came to be called "equal rights feminism ," was based in the policy debates, organized interests, and campaign obligations of political actors in state and federal governments . The conflicts that led to changes in women's consciousness arose from policy debates regarding women's rights. In this context, the collective identity that developed followed the model of the civil rights movement in emphasizing the source of women's problems in systematic patterns of discrimination that could be eliminated or mitigated primarily through appropriate legislation, regulations, litigation, and enforcements but not excluding marches and demonstrations. Through conflict with Commission members , congressional representatives, officials, and the media over the Equal Rights Amendment, the interpretation of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act, employment policy , the enforcement practices of the Equal Employment Opportunities Commission, and a host of other policies, a relatively small network of politically well-connected women developed a conception of gender equality or collective identity that was thoroughly radical in its implications " (see Hole and Levine 1971, 15-107 ; Carden 1974, 103-47; Freeman 1975, 44-102) . Copyrighted Material
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Th e conflict that occurred over the formulation of this identity among equal rights women led to a proliferation of organiza tions devot ed to effo rts on behalf of specific constitu encies, issues, or polici es. In 1967, for instanc e, wom en from the United Auto Workers were forced to withdraw from NOW because their union oppos ed inclusion of the Equal Rights Amendment in the NOW Bill of Rights (they formed th e Congress of Labor Union Women). Further segmentation occurr ed with inclusion of abortion in the NOW Bill of Rights , which led women mor e concern ed with issu es of economic discrimination to leave and form the Women's Equity Action Leagu e (WEAL). Further division occurr ed when youn ger wom en from the New York NOW chapter charg ed th e national organization with an elitist decision making structur e and formed the Octob er 17 Mov em ent (later known as Th e Feminists) . In 1968, two of NOW 's lawyers walked out in disgust over th e inefficienc y of th e organization , taking two of its most important cases. Th ey th en form ed oth er social movement organizations-fir st, Hum an Rights for Wom en and, later, the Legal D efens e Fund-to support sex discrimination cases (Freeman 1975, 80- 81). Th e prolifer ation of equal rights organizations reflected not onl y important differ enc es of em phasis am ong women searchin g for political solutions to multipl e sour ces of discrimination but also the pursuit of an area of action where individual wom en could creat e a highly personal interpretation of th eir collective identity . Unfortunately , for present purposes , accoun ts of these conflicts are devoted almost exclusivel y to the polic y provisions invol ved in th e debates and tell us little about the face-to-fac e proc ess of collective id entit y construction as it occurred. In con trast, th er e is a rich literatur e on the evolution of collective identity in th e submerg ed networks of youn ger wom en who came to con stitut e the wom en 's lib er ation branch of the movement. Wh ereas th e old er branch id entified wh at th ey came to und erstand as th e " overt " discriminati on against wom en that appeared in em ployme n t, politi cs, credit , and edu cational opportuniti es, th e young er branch turn ed to the personal politics that Helen Hack er ([1951] 1979) h ad associ ated with wo me n' s status as a minorit y . Th e collective identity th at eme rge d had no pr ecursor in th e lib eral politic s of th e early civil rights m ovem ent. It came to be identifi ed as " wome n's liber ation. " Copyrighted Material
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249 Prior to 1970, women's liberation had been a "movement of friends" in the submerged networks of civil rights and the New Left. Several detailed historical accounts indicate the intensity of the social interactions and the high level of emotional investment of the young people who were experimenting with th e creation of new social forms of living as well as the means of achieving political goals . From 1964 to 1967, isolated pairs or small groups of activist women began to voice a sense of uneasiness to each other about what they perceived as a different and unequal role for women in the actual day-to-day activities of these movements. As Evans (1980) points out, attempts to articulate this uneasiness about women's assignment to the mundane and routine activities of kitchen work, mimeographing, typing , and cleaning evoked reactions of scorn and fury from the male radicals-first in the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCq, the major youth organization of the civil rights movement, and soon after in Students for a Democratic Society (SDS), the leading student organization of the New Left in the United States throughout the 1960s. The younger women were rebuffed time after time as they tried to discuss their concerns regarding gender differences within the limits of debate prescribed by the leaders of the civil rights and New Left movements. Conflict, ridicule , and exclusion greeted their attempts to extend the emotional bonds forged during the early 1960s to the sense of injustice and grievances arising from women's personal experiences within the movements . As they continued to receive rebukes and scorn from the male radicals-at a SNCC staff meeting in the summer of 1964; at the SNCC Waveland Retreat in November 1964; at an SDS conference in December 1965; at a 1966 SDS convention; and, finally and most dramatically, at the first nationwide gathering of New Left groups in Chicago , the National Conference for a New Politics (NCNP), in September 1967 -women 's confusion and search for a new identity turned to rage and alienation (Evans 1980; Hole and Levine 1971, 109-16) . The submerged networks of women that had developed within the New Left organizations moved outside to begin an autonomous existence in major cities in th e East Coast and the Midwest . The transitory processes that Melucci describ es of conflict , segmentation , and dissolution of organizations is illustr ated in Figure 10-1, which represents one year in the life of the New York Copyrighted Material
Conflict and Segmentation among New York "Wo men's Liberation" Gro ups, 1968
Figure 10-1
RADICAL WOMEN / NEW YORK RADICAL WOMEN Recrui ts from Prin ceto n SDS Meeting
Defection of 300500 wome n in Washington , D .C. , from Jeanette R ankin Brigade
•
•
Joint actio n wi th women from Ne w Jersey, Washington, D .C. , and Florida
Action: "Burial of Tra ditional W oman hood " at W ashington , D .C. , antiwar de mo nstratio n Spring 1968 direc ted at J eanette R ankin Brigade. "Sisterhood Is Powerful" first used .
Action: published mimeograp hed j ournal, " N ot es from the First Year," --. Jun e 1968 • article "T he Myth of the Vaginal O rgasm " • dialogue "W om en R ap about Sex"
read throughout th e country
Accion: Miss Ame rica Co nte st Demo nstration, Septem ber 1968 --. • live sheep crowned bras, girdle s. high heels, cu rlers dum ped int o Freedom T rashcan .
first national medi a coverage
WITCH fall 1968 W om en 's Int ern ational Co nspiracy from H ell
/ r" ~
San Fran cisco
C oven s
NYC
disint egrati on
GR OUP I Co unt erInauguraJ Action , Janu ary 1969
THANKSGIVING MEETING IN CHICAGO N ovemb er 1968 200 wo me n/ 37 states
REDSTOCKINGS • Wi de use of consciousness- raising • "Pro W om en Line" • "W oman as a Political C lass"
disintegration 1969 Source: H ole and Levine 197 1, 115- 58 .
FEMINI ST S • Ti-Grace Atkinson • Th eo ry Action • " R adical Feminism " • Atta ck on sex roles • R ot ation of leadership • Anti-mal e • Anti -" starm akin g"
disintegration 1969
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NY RADICAL FEMINISTS T hree- stage structure: • C o nscio usness-
raising • Brigade membership • Mass organization
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women 's liberation gro ups after they separated from the New Left in 1968. The collective identity that came to be associated with "women 's liberation " in the early 1970s developed out of this process of conflict and negotiation . Figur e 10-1 illustrates sch ematically how this process occurred in on e location . The upp er left-hand colum n indicates the process es of repeat ed conflict and segmentation of the New York radical feminists which, at th e same time, gave rise to a series of coll ecti ve actions that symboli cally depicted the common understandings developing within the network . In contr ast to the older branch of equal rights feminists, the radicals challenged th e personal charact eristic s and patterns of social interaction assign ed to women by the dominant cultural code throu gh public actions and confrontation s that increasingl y gained national m edia coverage and public att ention . By fall 1968, the Atlantic City demonstrations against th e imag e of women por trayed in the Miss America bathin g suit con tests brought front page cover age throughout th e country . A live she ep was cro wn ed Miss America and bras, gird les, and oth er " in stru me n ts of tor tur e" were dumped into a Freedom Trashca n . Youn g women , with their op en disr esp ect for" Miss Am erica " and th e image of wom en it celebrat es, were soon dubb ed " bra burn ers " by the mass m edi a. Despite this distortion of th eir collectiv e actions (or becaus e of it), their numb ers continu ed to grow. B y Novemb er , a nati on al meeting gave a sens e of comm on purpose whil e contributin g to the formation of ad ditional radic al groups that continue d the pro cess of conflict , segm entation , an d dissolut ion through out 1969. At the sam e tim e, th e rudim ents of a ne w collective identit y were takin g shape. Although N ew York dr ew on an unu su ally lar ge con stitu en cy of radical wome n, th eir ex pe rien ces reflect ed a mi crocosm of centers of mobilization around th e coun try . Th rou gh out th e year, an und erstandin g of wo me n 's oppr ession (in con tras t to dis crimin ation) devel op ed am ong th e N ew York wo m en that em ph asized a politic s of interpers ona l relations ; th e bo nd ing of wo me n as an oppr essed class; th e use of rapping (later , "co nsc iou snes s raisin g " ) to brin g out th e emot ion al pain of wom en 's lives; a fear of leadership an d hi erar chy ; and th e creation o f n ovel and innova tive tactics to voice wo me n's ange r aga ins t th e sy m bo ls of conven tiona l femi ninit y . T hese common und erst and in gs grew in an emo tio na l atm osph ere o f tension an d conflict over m aj or poin ts of disagreeCopyrighted Material
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me nt wi thin th e eme rg ing identity of radical femi nists. Every action and every organ izat iona l split reflected bot h a conflict over identity and the eme rge nce of a new basis of understa n ding . Throug h the processes assoc iated wi th identity cons tru ction, the mo vem en t ex perience d ex trao rdina ry growt h bet ween 1969 and 1970 . By mid 1970, No tes from the Second Yt?ar, a feminist journa l of 126 pages , sold over forty th ous and cop ies (Hol e and Levine 1971,158) . T he numb er of move me nt perio dic als incr eased from two in 1968 to sixty -o ne in 1972. Sma ll gro ups pr olif erated througho ut the count ry, an d region al conf eren ces to coo rdinate their activ ities ha d beco m e com mon place by 1970 (Ca rden 1974). By August 1970, th e hi ghl y diver se subme rge d netw or k s of equal rights femin ists and wo me n's liber ation were read y to em erge as womanhoo d united, th e histo ric actor. The Women 's Movement as "Histo ric Actor "
Melu cci h as rig h tfully pointed to th e origins of soc ial m ovem ents at an intermedi ate level of ana lys is: th e subme rge d net work s of face-to -face in teraction s like th ose of th e N ew Yor k radical femini st s wh o created the basis of a new collective iden tity durin g a short period of cultural ex peri me nta tion. In th e pr oc ess of testin g new repr esentations thr ou gh coll ective actions, expe rience s of conflic t, int ern al dissension, an d o rganizat io nal segme ntation and diss oluti on , new under stand ings were devel oped th at b ecam e the basis for challengin g the domin ant cultur al cod e at its roots . As this identit y develope d, h owever , it gath er ed incr easing supp ort from the structural ch anges th at had alter ed th e lives of U. S. wom en throughout the twenti eth centur y an d led to a m assive shift in consciousne ss amo ng both m en and wom en. As th e two br an ches of the m oveme n t in creasin gly engage d in common actions durin g th e sum mer of 1970, th ey fou nd th at th e collective id entit y th ey repr esented has ma ssive appea l. Like othe r n ew m ovem ent s, th e wo men' s m ovement in the Unit ed States fir st achieved w ides prea d nati on al recognition and po litical influ en ce at its point of init ial mass m obi lization . Women's Strike for Equ alit y D ay , August 26, 1970, m arked the symboli c start ing point for th e cont emp or ary wo me n's m ovemen t in Copyrighted Material
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the United States . Sponsored by a broad coalition of wom en 's movement organizations and coordinated by the N ational O rga nization for Women (NOW) to commemorate th e fiftieth anniversary of the Suffrage Amendment, tens of thous ands of wome n went "on strike " for equality. It was the largest prote st on beh alf of women in U.S . history (Hole and Levine 1971, 420) . Women across the countr y marched and picket ed , held rallies and att end ed teach-ins . In New York , women set up a child-car e center in City Hall Park; in Chicago, sit-ins were held at restaurants barring women (Deckard 1975, 343) ; in New York, feminists went to th e editor of the New York Times to protest an editorial titled " Henpecked House, " against th e Equal Rights Am endment (ERA) ; and in Minneapolis , a guerrilla theater group portrayed the parts of key figures in the universal abortion drama for downtown audiences (Hole and Levine 1971, 263, 299) . The most memorable event in media coverage , however , was the unpr ecedented outpouring of tens of thousands of women who marched down Fifth Avenue in New York carrying signs that read, " D on' t Cook Dinner -Starve a Rat Today!" " Eve Was Framed , " and "End Human Sacrifice! Don 't Get Married!!" (Hole and Levine 1971,78; Deckard 1975, 343). Despite its label as "Equality Day, " the protests, demonstrations , guerrilla theater, chants, and banners that marked the day represented not only the discrimination issues of equal rights feminists but also the personal politics of women 's liber ation. Equality Day marked a turning point in terms of women 's political influence and the nature of the women's movement. The size of the mobilization made it clear that the movement would now have to be taken seriously (Freeman 1973, 84). Only after Equality Day did Congress act on behalf of women . During the 1960s, Congress had considered 844 bills concerned with women's issues and passed only 10 (Klein 1984, 22). The Ninety -second Congress passed more women's right legislation than the total of all previous legislation combined (see Freeman 1975, 202-5) . By 1980, 71 bills had been passed on behalf of women (Costain 1988, 161). In addition to political influence in Congress , media intere st in women began a sharp upward trend after Equality Day as well (Cancian and Ross 1981) . Public awareness of the new mov ement almost immediately reached 80 percent of adult Americans (Hole and Levine 1971, 269) , and public opinion polls began to show a Copyrighted Material
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marked increas e in support for improvements in the status of women . Women began to win elections to local, stat e, and federal office in unprec edented numbers (Muell er 1987). Th e mov ement itself was transform ed by the publicity associated with th e Strike. New m emb ers had be en recruit ed primarily thr ou gh person al netw ork s of acti vists in th e peri od from 1965 to 1970, but after th e Strike , contact with th e m ovem ent through the media played an in crea sing role (C ard en 1974, 32-3 3). B ecau se of its great er visibilit y and respectabilit y , th e ne w recruit s flood ed th e m ode st N O W offices in m ajor cities . Ch apt er s often expanded by as much as 50 to 70 per cent in a few m onth s (Freem an 1975, 85). Th e N ation al O rga niza tion for Wom en mu shr oomed fro m a m emb ership of several th ou sand in 1969 to fift een thousand by 1972 (C ard en 1974, 194). B y th e en d of th e decad e, it h ad becom e a m ass m emb ership orga niza tio n of several hund red th ou sand (Cos tain an d Cos tain 1987). For thr ee yea rs after th e Equ ality D ay Strike, th e Women 's Movem ent acquire d th e cha rac ter of th at m ythic al, hist or ical actor th at Meluc ci has typifi ed as a " un ified em pirical datum " or collective reality th at is seen to exist as a " thing" (Melu cci 1988, 330; 1989, 18). T his " thing ness " of th e m ovem ent 's collective identit y in th e eyes of the n ational m edi a, Co ng ress, th e state legislators , and, prob ably , th e gene ral public is ana thama to Melucci because it deni es th e diver sity an d the tent ativeness of th e " real" social m ovem ent that he has obse rve d in subm erg ed n etworks . Yet, th ere is con siderable eviden ce to sug gest th at Th e Mo vem ent as historical actor was th ought to repres ent an aroused and ang ry womanho od. Congress yielded to its demand for equality in th eir passag e of legislation on behalf of wom en. " For a bri ef moment , a very bri ef mom ent , wom en em erged as historic actor w ith a seemingl y homog en eous id entity cent ered on a wide-r ang ing quest for equality . Despite the impr essive evidenc e th at a homog en eous an d unitary movement was demon str ated by th e Equ alit y Day march es, both femini st activi sts at the core of th e mo vem ent th en and scholars wh o have studi ed the movem ent sin ce h ave realized that Th e Movem ent was a hi ghly div erse aggr eg ation of wom en with man y differ ent grie vanc es, programs of action, and vision s of the futur e. As Melu cci has claim ed for th e Europe an "n ew social moveCopyrighted Material
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ments, " at the level of interpers onal , face-to-face relation ship s, th e mo vem ent was not th en , nor has it ever been , a unified w hole. 10 Yet , a mor e compreh ensive an alysis would enco m pass n ot onl y the int eractions and meanings of th e core actors w ho created the mo vem ent or even those who wer e recruit ed to it but also it s contributions to pub lic discourse an d politic al cultur e. To und erstand th e political influ enc e of th e mo vem ent would requir e consideration of th e impr ession of unit y creat ed by th e Equal ity Strike and its m edia coverag e as a major datum to be explaine d. Such an anal ysis wou ld draw from much of th e n ew work on so cial constru ction that seeks to explain th e cons equ en ces as well as th e origins of soci al mov ements . To addr ess this level of publi c di scourse and political influ enc e is not to den y that origins of mo vements lie in subm erged netw orks and must be ana ly zed w ith a different set of conceptual an d empiric al to ols . N everthel ess, it requir es an anal ysi s th at includes but ex ten ds bey ond Melucci 's important con trib ution s. Conclus ion
Th is case stud y focus es on tw o mom ent s in th e life of the contem porary wom en' s movem ent -th e first mass mobilization of U .S . wom en in th e Women 's Equalit y Day Strike of August 1970, and the five-ye ar period pr ecedin g th e Strik e-when th e two branche s of cont emporar y U .S. feminism were constructing a new id entit y throu gh a proc ess of int ernal conflict and organizational segm ent ation . Thes e two stag es in th e development of th e movem ent point to both th e stren gths and the weaknesses of Melucci 's int erm ediate level of analysis for a compr eh ensive th eor y of social con stru ction . Melucci 's theory is most telling wh en it calls atten tion to that level of face-to-fac e int eraction w he re coll ectiv e identiti es are develop ed in subm erg ed n etworks through a proc ess of social negotiation . It is at this point that structural sour ces of personal injury -such as th e contradiction that younger branch women felt betw een their high levels of education and th e low status they experienced in th e personal politics of the 1960s mo vements - are translated into a shared sense of injustice focused on gri evanc es that are articulated as part of a program for change. Th e case study also demonstrat es, however , that the creativ e tensions that fuel Copyrighted Material
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256 these negot iations spring as m uc h from int ern al compe tition and conflict w ithin m ovem en t ne two rks as from the inadeq uacy of mea ns for realizin g goa ls. Altho ug h th e new collective iden tity of wo me n continue d to cha nge in th e submerged net work s of the m ovem ent and to be challenge d b y coun termove me n ts such as th ose th at aros e in th e mid 1970s to op pose early fem inist victo ries in abor tion rights an d the Equ al Ri ght s Am endm ent , th e collective identit y soon took on a life of its ow n. T he ind ependent exi stence or " thingness" of the id ent ity of "wo me n" th at exis ted in the early 1970s sugges ts that a compr ehen sive theory of social mo vem ent con stru ction cann ot restrict its atten tion to th e int ermed iate level of subme rge d networks if it is con cerne d wit h th e political influenc e and cultural changes achie ved by th e m ovem ent . Th e collecti ve ident ities creat ed within subme rge d networ ks achieve an ind ep end ent ex istence once the y be com e public thro ug h th e m ovem ent 's explana tory apparatus of m anifestos, progra ms, pr ess conference s, bann er s, slo gan s, insig nia, cos tumes, an d gue rrilla th eater th at attem pt to account for the mo vem ent and its collective actions. Thr ou gh th ese devices , a collective identit y becom es publi c th at has a pot ential for political influ enc e. It is th en subjec t to attem pts at dis tor tion and marginali zation of state, m edia , an d count ermov em ents . (See Gitl in 's [1980] description in his ex cellent stud y o f m edi a tr eatment of Students for a De m ocratic Society [SD S] durin g th e 1960s .) At this public stage of mov em ent developm ent , w he n the collective identity becom es a hist oric actor , it would be an em pirical as well as a theoret ical mistake to equate th e public pers on a of this collective identity (an obje ct of political culture and public discourse) with the collective identity of Melucci's subm erge d networks (an object of continuing negotiation and rene gotiation am id fluid but intense faceto-f ace int eractions). The distinction between thes e two levels of anal ysis is impor tant not only for our appr eciation of Melucci 's streng ths and weaknesses but also for locating his contribution within the developing work on the so cial mov ement of social movement s. As this work has proliferated , it h as become incr easingl y import ant to identif y th eor eti cal contributions in terms of appropri ate levels of analysis . Th e most comprehensiv e attempt to spe cify th ese levels is Kl anderrnans's (1992) essay in which he distinguishes three levels of social construction : (1) public discours e an d the form ation and Copyrighted Material
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transformation of collective identities; (2) persuasive communication during mobilization campaigns by movem ent organizations, their opponents, and countermovement organizations; and (3) what he terms "consciousness raising " during episodes of collective behavior. At the first level, he combines the two construction processes that have been distinguished here: public discourse such as William Gamson 's (1988) work on " issue packaging " by the media and Melucci 's (1989) conception of the construction of collective identities in submerged networks . The second level of persuasive communication by social movement organizations and their opponents encompasses Klanderrnans 's (1984) own work on consensus mobilization and the work of David Snow and his associates (1986) on frame alignment . At the third level, Klandermans includes the changes of meanings and perc eption that occur during the course of experiencing collective action as described, for instance, in the work of Rick Fantasia (1988) on industrial strikes. Klandermans distinguishes these three levels in terms of two implicit criteria: the number of people involved and the degree to which social construction is purposive or spontaneous. Public discourse is a diffuse process encompassing major media of communication for a society or sector of society . Social constructions created by social movement organizations are purposive and reach a more limited audience th an public discourse. Finally, construc tion processes involving the participants and spectators at a collec tive action event are even more limited by the situational opportu nities for direct participation or observation . While Klanderrnans's typological distinctions are extremely useful in ordering this growing field of research, our lengthy consideration of Melucci's theory of coll ective identity suggests several modifications . After Melucci has so carefully indicated that the submerged networks are part of the latency phase of social movements, an " in visible process" out of the public eye , it is inappropriate that this process should be considered a part of public discourse. In fact, as Melucci argues, it is partly the freedom from public scrutiny that permits people to interact in small groups where experimentation and negotiation of identities can result in the development of new social codes and goals for action . Thus, when selecting groups for study in Milan, Melucci deliberately chose the most grass -roots level of participation because, he noted, leaders were more likely to present , what was to him, a Copyrighted Material
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258 falsely unified version of the collective identity if they had to interact frequently with public actors such as media representa tives or officials (1989, 242) . It was only at the grass -roots level, he felt , that such false presentations (which should properly be considered part of public discourse) could be avoided and maximum heterogen eity in experime n tation and negotiation be observ ed. On the oth er hand, our case study of th e public phase, or " com ing out," of th e wom en 's mov ement at th e Women's Strike for Equ ality Day indicat es that collective identities do become a part of public discour se and, potentially, historic actors if the mov em ent attempts to bring about social or political chang e. At this public level of an alysis, a differ ent set of social and political actors , parti cularly th e repr esentativ es of formal organizations , w ill atte m p t to influ en ce th e nature of the collectiv e identit y and fit it to th eir ow n int ere sts and systems of me aning . Th ese observation s suggest th e utility of four rath er than thr ee levels of analysis : public discourse , persuasive communica tion initiated by m ovem ent organizations, "consciousness raising" from particip ation in episodes of coll ectiv e action, and the creation of collective ident itie s in subm erg ed netw orks . To th e ex tent that the four levels of an alysis have a natural sequ encing in a cycle of protest , it seem s likely that social movements based on a major reconstruction of collective identitie s will requir e either a length y o r an intensiv e peri od for the gestation o f th e new identit y . An ideal typical sequence would pr ogress from least to most public awarenes s (and , undoubt edl y , back again). Groups of ind ividual s in subm erg ed networks would experiment w ith new collective ident ities and action proposals , incr easin gly taking th eir new social con structi ons into confli ct w ith targets of chang e or pot ential converts out sid e their own sm all circle just as the New York radical femini sts crow ne d a sheep "Miss Ameri ca. " As a collect ive identit y tak es shape, pot enti al activists m ay come to geth er and create a so cial m ovement organization with a public declaration anno uncing th eir new collectiv e identit y lik e the wome n from th e State Co m m issions on th e Statu s o f Women w ho form ed the N ation al Or ganization for Women an d dre w up a Bill of Right s for wom en in th e mid 1960s . Coll ectiv e action s such as those assoc iated w ith wom en 's Strike for Equalit y D ay offer opportunities for dir ect ex pe rience of action and perceptu al ch ange bas ed on Copyrighted Material
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259 the newly revealed collective identity . Finally , the national media may be attracted by the newsworthine ss of the confrontation or the importanc e of the values at stake , and the social reconstru ction represented by th e new collective identit y may become a part of public discour se. (See Freeman on the " grand pr ess blitz " of th e wom en 's mov em ent , Janu ary through March 1970 [1975, 148-51].) O ver the course of an y social movem ent , th ese proce sses of social construction will cycle back and forth betw een levels in incr easingly com plex patt erns depending on th e degr ee to w hich all sectors of society become invol ved and how quickl y th e mo vement is controll ed . Yet, the search for stag es is somewhat prem atur e in a field that is only now beginning to distinguish one level of anal ysis from another. In this chapt er , I have attem pted to distingu ish two of these levels and to suggest that Melucci 's contribution lies in highlighting an intermediat e level of analysis in a latenc y ph ase that may pr ecede th e creation of formal organizations . His work sugg ests the importance of th e op ening skirmishes between members of submerg ed networks and symbolic repres entations of th e dominant cultural code through collective actions that begin a more public phase of the movement. Although the political fortunes of any subordinate group, such as women , demand that it enter a public phase to challenge the cultural order dir ectly and to influence public affairs , such an analysis would not explain how women came to develop and id entify with an analysis of women as a minority group and to share what Gamson and his colleagues (1982) call an "injustice fram e" and McAdam (1982) terms " cogni tive liberation. " To und erstand how several hundred women throughout th e United States constructed the new identity of women as historic actor that became an influential political force for chang e in the status of wom en , it is necessary to understand the origins of the women 's movem ent in the preceding decade . It is here that Melucci's th eory is most convincing . Notes 1. Increased awareness began with the New School volume, edited by Jean Cohen in 1985, whi ch was followed by a series of pape rs by Bert Kland erman s and Sidney Tarrow (see Kland ermans 1986; Klanderrnans and Tarrow 1988; Klandermans 1990).
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260 2. But see From S tructure to A ction, in w hich Kl and erm an s, Kri esi, and Tarro w attem pt to co nne ct so cial struc ture to co llect ive actio n. In th e introduc tion , Kland erm ans and Tarr ow (1988) indi cate tha t th e vo lume seeks to " bridge tha t gap bet ween struc tu re and par ticip ation " (10). 3. Im port ant repr esent ation s o f thi s developin g int erest in soc ial m ovem ent culture and pr ocesses o f socia l cons truc tio n as applied to soc ial m ovem ent s are found in con tribu tio ns to Frontiersin Social Movement Th eory, edite d by Ald on Morri s and Caro l Muell er (I 992). 4. Later , I argue that th e " unified em pirica l datu m " is not necessarily a false reification but is inst ead a cultura l artifact th at serves to enha nce o r detr act fro m th e m ovem ent 's politi cal in fluence. A sim ilar per cepti on of unit y in crow d behavior b y obse rve rs is also a sta rting point for rece nt th eori es of collective behavior (see th e first editi on o f Collective Behavior [Turn er and Killian 1957]) . 5. Th e latent /manif est distin ction refers to th e differ en ce bet ween th e private, "s ubme rge d" life of th e m ovem en t in g ro u ps an d co m m unities that experi m ent an d negoti ate cha llenges to th e domin ant cultur al code and th e visible, publi c cha llenges to th at co de th at usu ally b egin in collective action events o r in sym bo lic insigni a o f dr ess o r beh avior (see also Taylor and Whitti er 1992) . 6. Th e m ost autho ritative acco un ts are th ose b y Hol e and Levin e (1971); Ca rden (1974); Freem an (1973, 1975); Dec ka rd (1975); C asse ll (1977); Evans (1980); and Ferr ee an d Hess (1985). 7. Co rres po n ding ex ampl es for th e new socia l m ovem ent appr oa ch in Euro pe are In glehart 1977 and Ba rnes, Kaase, an d All erb eck 1979. 8. Ju st h ow radically dif fer ent th eir collective ide ntity h ad b ecom e from wo me n ou tside th e m ovem ent cou ld not be appreciated until it was incorpor ated int o th e Co ng ress ional hearin gs th at becam e th e basis for int erpr etin g the impli cations o f th e Equ al Right s Am endm ent (see Brow n et al. 1971). Th ese im plication s, includin g th e o bligation o f wo me n to perfo rm milit ary service and to surre nde r th eir (larg ely inop erati ve) su ppo rt pr ero gatives in divor ce pro ceedin gs, becam e th e tar get of attack in a fero ciou s cam paign in th e mid 1970s by conse rvati ve wo me n th at un derm ine d th e impr ession o f th e wo me n's m ovem ent as united wo ma nhoo d, a hi stori c actor (see M an sbrid ge 1986). 9. M ar garet Heckl er w as Republi can leader of th e Co ng ress io nal Wom en's Ca ucus th rou gh out much of th e 1970s. Sh e was one of two wo me n first appoint ed to th e C abin et by Pr esident Ron ald Reag an in an atte m pt to woo the wo me n's vo te. 10. N everth eless, th e po wer o f th e unitar y ima ge is reveal ed in com ments by Freem an (1975) , who notes , " T he plur alistic nature of the women 's liberation mov em ent is a ch aracte ristic that has not been adequately appreciated eithe r by th e mov em ent' s participants or by it s critics " (150).
Reference s
Barn es, Samuel H ., M ax Kaas e, and Kl au se R . Allerbeck . 1979. Political Action: Mass Participation in Five Western D emocracies. London : Sag e. Br own , Barb ara A ., Thomas I. Em er son , G ail Falk , and Ann E . Freedman .
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26 1 1971. " T he Equ al Righ ts Ame nd me nt: A Co nstitut iona l Basis of Equa l Right s for Wome n ." Yale Law j ournal 80:955-62 . Cancian, Francesca M ., and Bonni e L. Ross. 1981. " M ass Media and the Women's Movem ent: 1900-1 977. " jo urnal oj App lied Be havioral Science 17:9-26 . Ca rden, Maren Lockwood . 1974. T he New Feminist Movement . New York : Russell Sage Found ation . Cassell, Joan . 1977. A G roup Ca lled Women. New York: David McKay . Cohen, Jean , ed. 1985. "Soc ial Movem ents." Social Research 52 (Winte r) . Cos tain , Anne N . 1988. "Women 's C laims as a Special Interest ." In Th e Politics of the Gen der Gap, edi ted by Caro l M . Muel ler, pp. 150-72 . Beverly Hill s: Sage. Cos tain, Anne N ., and Do ug las Cos tain . 1987. U npubli shed calculations on fem inist members hips ma de available to the autho r. Depar tment of Political Science, U nive rsity o f Co lorado, Bo ulder. Decka rd, Barb ara . 1975 . T he Women's Movement. N ew York : Harper and Row . Degler, Ca rl. 1967. "Revo lution wi tho ut Ideology: T he C hang ing Place of Wome n in Am erica." Th e Woman in America, edited by Rober t Jay Lifton , pp . 193- 210. Bosto n : Beacon Press . Evans, Sara. 1980. Personal Politics. N ew York: Vintage Books. Fantasia, Rick. 1988. Cu ltures of So lidarity: Consciousness, Action, and Contempo rary A merican Workers. Be rk eley: Un iversity of Ca lifornia Press. Ferree, Myr a M arx , and Be th B . Hess. 1985. Co ntroversy and Coa lition: T he New Feminist Moveme nt . Bos to n: Tw ayn e. Freem an , Jo . 1973. " T he O rigin s of th e Wome n 's Liberation Movem ent ." Amer ican journal of Sociology 78:792-8 11. --. 1975. T he Politics of Women's Li beration. N ew York : David McKay. --. 1979. " T he Women' s Liberation Movem ent : Its O rig ins , Orga nizations , Activiti es, and Ideas ." In Uilmen: A Feminist Perspective , edited by Jo Freem an , 2d ed ., pp . 557-74. Palo Alt o, Ca lif.: M ayfield . Gam son , William A . 1988. "Po litical Di scour se and Co llective Action ." From St ructure to A ction: Co mp aring S ocial M ovement Research across Cu ltures, edited by Bert Klanderma ns, H anspeter Kri esi, and Sidney Tarro w, pp . 219-47 . Vol. 1 of International Social Movemen t Research. G reenwic h , Co nn .: JAI Press. --. 1992. " T he Social Psyc ho logy of Social Mov em ent s. " In Frontiers in Social Mo vement Th eory, edited by Aldon D . Morri s and C aro l McClur g Mueller, pp . 53-7 6. N ew Haven : Yale Uni versity Press. Gamson, William A ., Bruce Fireman, and Steve Rytin a. 1982. Encounters w ith Unj ust A uthority . Hom ewood , Ill.: Do rsey. Gitlin , Todd . 1980. T he Whole World Is Watching: Mass Me dia in the Mak ing and the Unmakin g of the Ne w L eft. Berkele y : Uni versit y of Ca lifornia Pre ss. Hacker, Helen Mayer. (1951) 1979. " Wom en as a Mi nority Group ." In Women: A Feminist Perspective, edited by Jo Freem an , 2d ed., pp . 505-2 0. Orig inally publ ished in S ocial Forces 30 (1951): 60-69 . Heckler , M argar et. 1977 . Talk at Wellesley C ollege. Wellesley , M ass. Hole, Judith , an d Ellen Levine. 1971. Rebirth of Feminism . New York: Q uad rang le. Hooks , Bell. 1981. Ain't I a Woman? Bost on : South End P ress.
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262 Hub er, Joan . 1976. "Toward a Socio-Techno log ical Th eor y of th e Wom en 's Movem ent ." S ocial Problems 23:371- 88. Ingleh art, Rona ld . 1977. Th e S ilent Revolu tion: C hang ing Ullues and Poli tical Styl es among Western Publics. Prin ceton : Prin ceton Univ ersity Pr ess. John ston , Hank . 1991. " Movem ents, Method s, and Melu cci." Paper pr esent ed at the annual m eetin g of the Pacific Sociologi cal Association , Irvin e, Ca lifornia, April 14- 17. K1and erma ns, Bert . 1984. " Mo bilization and Parti cipation : Social Psycho log ical Exp ansion s of Resour ce Mobili zation T heo ry ." Am erican S ociological Review 49:583- 600. -- . 1986. " New Social Movem ents and Resource Mobiliz ation : Th e Eur opean and the Am erican Approac h. " In ternationalJ ournal of M ass Em erg encies and Di sasters 4:13- 39. - - - . 1990. " New Social Movem ent s and Resour ce Mobili zation : Th e Eur opean and th e Am erican Approac h Revisited . " D epartm ent of Social Psycho logy . Vrij e Uni versit eit , Ams terdam. --. 1992. " T he Social Co nstruc tion of Prot est and Multi or ganizational Fields." In Frontiers in S ocial Move ment T heory , edited by Ald on D. Morri s and C aro l McClur g Mu eller . New Haven : Yale Un iversity Pr ess. Kland erman s, Bert , and Sidney Tarrow . 1988. " Mo bilization int o Social Movement s: Syn thesizing Europ ean and Am erican Approac hes. " In From S tructure to Ac tion: Co mpa ring Social Mo vement Research across Cu ltures, edited by Bert Kland erm ans, Hanspeter Kri esi, and Sidney Tarro w , pp . 1- 38. Vol. 1 of Int ernational Social M ovement Research . Greenwic h , C onn .:JAI Pr ess. Klein, Eth el. 1984. G ender Politics: F rom Co nsciousness to M ass Polit ics. Ca m bridge: Harv ard Uni versity Press. Lifton , Rob ert J., ed . 1967. Th e Woman in A merica. Bos to n: Beacon Press. O riginally publi shed as a special issue of D aedalus: Th e Jo urnal of the American A cademy of A rts and Sciences (Sprin g 1964). McAdam , Dou glas. 1982. Political Process and the D evelopm ent of Bla ck Insurg ency, 1930-1 970. C hicago : Univ ersity of C hicago Pr ess. Man sbrid ge, Jan e. 1986. Wh y 1M:L ost the E RA . C hicago : Uni versity of Chicago Pr ess. Melu cci, Alberto . 1985. " T he Symbol ic Challeng e of C ontem porary Movem ent s. " Social Research 52:789- 816. --. 1988. " Getting Involved : Identit y and Mobili zation in Social Movem ents ." In From St ructure to A ction : Co mp aring S ocial Movement Research across C ultures, edited by Bert Kland erman s, Hansp eter Kri esi, and Sidney Tarrow, pp . 329- 48. Vol. 1 of Int ernational So cial Mo vement Research. Greenwi ch , Conn .: JAI Pr ess. --. 1989. N omads of the Present: So cial Mo vements and Ind ividual N eeds in Co ntempor ary Society . Phil adelphi a: Templ e Uni versity Pr ess. Morri s, Aldon . 1984. Th e O rigin s of the C iv il Right s M ovement: B lack Co mmunities Orga nizin gf or C hange. New York : Free Pr ess. Morris , Aldon D., and Ca ro l McClu rg Mu eller , eds. 1992. In Front iers in Social M ovement Th eory . New Haven : Yale Univ ersity Pr ess. Mu eller , Ca rol McClur g . 1987. "C ollective C onsciousness, Identit y Transforrn a-
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263 tion , and th e Rise of Wome n in Public Office in th e U nit ed States ." In T he Women's Mov ements of the Unit ed Sta tes and Western Europe, edited by Ma ry Fainso d Ka tzens tein and Caro l McClu rg Mueller, pp. 89-108 . Phi ladelphia: Templ e U niversity Press . Reism an , David. 1964. " Two Gene rations ." In Th e Woman in America, edited by Rober t Jay Lifton , pp . 72-97. Bos to n : Beacon Pr ess. Rossi, Alice. 1967. " Equality between the Sexes: An Im m od est Proposa l. " In T he Woman in America, edited by Rob ert Jay Lifto n, pp. 98-143. Boston : Beacon Press . Rupp, Leila J., and Verta Taylor. 1987. S urvival in the Do ldrums: Th e Am erican Women's R ights Movem ent, 1945 to the 1960s. New York: Oxfo rd Un iversity Pres s. Snow , D avid A ., E . Bur ke Rochfor d, Jr., Steven K . Worden, and Rober t D . Benford . 1986. " Frame Alignm ent Process es, Mi cro m ob ilization , and Movem ent Participatio n ." American Sociological Review 51 :464- 81. Tarrow , Sidne y . 1989. Democracy and Disorder. New York: Oxfor d U niversity Press. Taylor, Verta. 1989. "Soc ial Movem ent Co ntinu ity." American Sociological Review 54:761- 75.
Taylor, Vert a, an d Nan cy Whitt ier. 1992. " C ollective Ident ity in Social Movement Comm unit ies: Lesbian Femi nist Mobil ization ." In Frontiers in Social Movement T heory, edited by Ald on D . Mo rris and Caro l M cClur g Mu eller, pp. 104-29 . New H aven : Yale Uni versity Press. Turner, Ralph H ., and Lewi s M . Killian. 1957. Co llective Behavior. Eng lewoo d Cliffs, N .J.: P ren tice-Hall.
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Part III
Collective Action and Identity in Changing Political Contexts
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Chapter II
New Social Movements and Old Regional Nationalisms Hank Johnston
Alongside the growth of New Social Movements (NSMs) in the 1970s and 1980s, there has also been a proliferation of ethnic nationalist movements. In Spain and Canada, ethnic nationalisms challenge the integrity of the state; in what was Yugoslavia, they have destroyed it; and in several former Soviet republics , nationalism has become the fundamental principle of state power. Sometimes nationalist sentiments are so strong and pervasive that they subsume feminist , ecological, and peace agendas under the banner of the nation, as occurr ed in Quebec, the Basque region, Catalonia, Estonia, Latvia , and Lithuania . Although ethnic nationalisms do not constitute a new social force by any means , it would be incorrect to say that they are characteristic only of less developed social structures . Ethnic movements have flourished in highly industrialized regions such as Catalonia, Euzkadi, Quebec, Flanders, and in the Baltic states where industrial development and standards of living were superior to those in other Soviet regions. The substantive goals of NSMs and ethnic nationalisms are widely divergent: NSMs focus on the individual search for identity in the context of global programs for social change, while nationalist movements reflect political and cultural aspirations of communities that are subordinated by a core region. Nevertheless, there exists an unexpected convergence of emphasis concerning two key points. First, regarding motivations to participate, the goals and activities of ethnic nationalist movements are thoroughly embedded in the identity of their proponents, although the emphasis is on ascribed characteristics such as culture and language rather than life-style. Second, patterns of participation are anchored in the everyday lives of their adherents. Insofar as theorists of NSMs discuss their ethnic movements , the concept of identity-search is appended to conventional explanations, such as unequal nation-state development, without much Copyrighted Material
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268 empirical support. Alberto Melucci and Mario Diani (1983) ob serve that ethnic movements are a combination of both residues of communal identity from the nation-building process and a reflection of identity needs arising from the demands of a complex social system. Melucci (1989, 90-92) also suggests that they in part reflect the need for an integrating identity that arises in response to the disparate role constellations that confront the individual today. " Ethn ic solidarity also responds to a need for identity of an emi nently symbolic nature . It give s roots " (93). This perspective , he suggests, must be added to the better known explanations of ethnic nationalisms: age-old communal conflict, competition for scarc e resources, and political contention in multinational states. The student of contemporary social movements is left with something of a dilemma. " O ld " ethnic nationalisms proliferate alongside "new" movements that are conceptualized as unique products of postindustrial social structure . This could be easily explained if these two types of movements occur among groups occupying different positions in society, but this is not always the case since, as mentioned above, it is common that NSM issues are " nested " within nationalist agendas. As an initial attempt at conceptual refinement , I take a comparative approach to the ethnic movements in both Spain and the several former Soviet republics. I focus on two areas of similarity: identity formation and the role of everyday life experiences in participation . I conclude by relating my tentative findings to the NSM model. In Spain, I refer to Catalonia and Euzkadi under the Franco regime, leaving aside the weaker Galician nationalist opposition. The newly independent states of Ukraine, Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania and the Transcaucasian states of Armenia, and Georgia are the comparative foci. Each of these nations maintains a strong cultural and linguistic heritage that has survived alongside (and competed with) more extensive, world-status languages and cultures: Spanish and Russian. These regions also share memories of independence or autonomy, passed from one generation to another, which combine with remembrances of war, repression, and exile to foster am0ll;g the minority populations antipathy toward either Russians or "Spaniards. " What makes the movements in Spain and the former Soviet Union especially interesting is the force with which they were reasserted after long periods of state repression. In both cases, Copyrighted Material
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269 latent sentiments of nationalism were reaw akened by cautiou s attempts at liberalization by the stat e. Aft er 1985, p erestroika and glasnostprovid ed opportunities for nation alist expre ssion that wer e unfathomable a decade earlier. Spain 's tentati ve apertura (op ening) in th e 1960s und er Manuel Fraga Iribarne pr ecipit ated the growth of nationalist groups and several import ant mobiliz ations . Onc e rekindl ed , th e forc e of protest gath ered mom entum in both cou ntries. It continu es in the form er Sovi et republic s, whil e in Spain , it has been for th e most part channel ed by democrati c comp etition and regional decentralization . In both cases , questions about iden tity and everyday life were played out under conditions of considerable personal risk . That nationalist sentiments survived in virtu al dormancy to burst forth onc e repression was eased suggests an analytical focu s on thos e aspects of social life wh ere ethnic identity can be nurtur ed out of the view of the state , namely, the inn er recesses of primary relations with family and friends . Identity Recei ved: Socialization in Nationalist Subcultures
Leaving asid e biol ogical influenc es on personality , a person 's iden tity can be conceived as a thoroughly social construct. In analyzing its social components, it is useful to distinguish betwe en primary and secondary socialization , between identity formation based on intimate relations -family and close friends -and that which is based on impersonal relations outside the orbit of parents and ascribed social ties. Primary ties are characteristic of Gem einschaft, second ary ties of Ges ellschaft; and it is generall y agreed that as societies develop and differentiate, the relative emphasis shifts from pri mary to secondary socialization as the fundamental inputs to adult social identity. The NSM perspective implicitly extends this dichotomy to postindustrial society by locating key identity -formation processes in temporary groups of erstwhile strangers. NSMs are said to reflect system incongruities that appear as society develops , and which are experienced on th e individual level as conflicting role alternatives (Melucci 1985, see also Chapter 5). Attempts to forg e new identities therefore comprise a " bott om -up " mechanism whereby the need for structural adjustments in the social syst em Copyrighted Material
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are point ed out by th e coalesc enc e and coll ectiv e action of likeminded folk in NSM s. Social identit y is for ged in th e con tex t of particip ation in group s unit ed by shar ed but n evertheles s illdefined answer s to identit y conflicts . In th ese gr oups new lifest yles an d new identiti es are forg ed , radicall y der acin ated -at least for the tim e bein g -from ant eced ents of famil y an d prim ary ties. It is on thi s point that m y ow n thinkin g about identit y in nation alist m ovem ent s takes a sha rp detour. Althou gh there is con siderabl e deb ate abo u t th e actual str en gth of ethnic identit y in mod ern societ y (for exampl e, Nag el an d Olz ak 1982; Na gel 1986; and See 1986 argue th ey are attenua ted), th e Spanish and Soviet cases indi cate th at primar y ties compr ise important channels in keeping nationalist sentim ent s alive, and for som e participants , stro ng factors in the ir particip ation . D ata for C atalonia and Euzkadi stron gly point to the existenc e of articul ated sub cultures w he re ethnic iden tification and na tionalist sen tim ents were passed from on e gen erat ion to anothe r. 1 Whil e th e data are still ske tchy an d prelimin ary , th e survival of nati on alist sentim ents in th e form er Soviet Republic s over fort y years of severe repr ession , and th eir rebirth in th e form of N ationa l Fronts, strongl y suggest the pr esen ce of th ese sorts of sub cultur al patt ern s and inte grated soci al relationships , especially in th e Baltic and Transcaucasian region s. Nationalist sub cultur es are based on relativel y perm anent social ties and a well-d evelop ed syst em of symbols , valu es, and beliefs derived from the minorit y cultur e. Be caus e the y embod y an altern ative to th e offici al realit y en do rsed and promot ed by the stat e, th ese subcultur es con vey th e illegitimac y of the state at a very basic level. While m any people may carr y antiregim e and nationalist sentiments, not all are int egrat ed into these subcultures. For thos e on th e outside , the main differenc e lies in th e absenc e of int erp erson al and organizational linkag es by whi ch a more developed set of oppositiona l symb ols are maintained , and, more important , by which th ey are passed to new gen erations . These subcultur es can be analyzed in term s of th eir cultur al content and of th e relations that sustain them . On th e on e hand, th e cultural cont ent typically is a mi x of relig ious , politic al, and national ideas and sym bols. Much of it reflects ideologic al continu ity with a tim e prior to the curr ent regim e when many of the values and symbo ls of the subcultur e were publi c an d widely pracCopyrighted Material
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ticed. In Catalonia and the Basque region, the Statutes of Autonomy under the Second Spanish Republic (1932-1939) served as guideposts for political debate . Religious traditions, holidays, and shrines took on subliminal oppositional and political significance. The Monastery of Montserrat in Catalonia and the Marian cult located there were prominent oppositional symbols, just as the Hill of Crosses at Siauliai, Lithuania , and the Cathedral at Etchrniadzen in Armenia are symbolic of their respective national tradi tions. The church also played an organizational role in both the Catalan and Basque nationalist opposition (johnston and Figa 1988; Johnston 1989), as it did the Catholic church in Lithuania, the underground Uniate church in the Ukraine, and to a lesser extent, the Lutheran church in Estonia and Latvia. A second aspect of the nationalist subculture is the way this cultural content is passed and refined between generations. A key locus of this process is the primary socialization that occurs in the family. This is especially true with respect to family religious practice and traditions whereby antiregime attitudes were fused with religious symbols and beliefs are passed from one generation to another. In Catalonia, nationalist militants frequently came from religious homes in which nationalist symbolism was closely tied to the Montserrat Monastery (johnston 1989,1991) . The subculture was further articulated in the context of youth activities such as schools, catechism classes, and even boy scout troops that took place under church auspices and away from the scrutiny of the regime. In the Basque region, the religious link was also strong . Schools called ikastolas that clandestinely taught the Basque language were frequently located in churches. Through these processes, a small but important proportion of the population was schooled in antiregime values, assuring generational con tinuity of nationalist and oppositional sentiments. Although there are important differences between the Basque and Catalan cases, especially concerning the direction that Basque youth took their nationalism (see Perez-Agote 1986; Zulaika 1988), national subcultures can be identified in both regions. In Catalonia, there are indications that a disproportionate number of future political leaders emerged from this group . Concerning Soviet nationalisms, a good starting place is Lithuania, where a close identification of nationalism with Catholicism dates to the nineteenth century and suggests a subculture in Copyrighted Material
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the Basque and Catalan mo ld. Lithuanian samizdat p ub lications during the 1970s were almost w ho lly from Ca tholic secto rs. Despite the severe repression of th e church under the Soviets, estima tes of the Ca tholic faithfu l ran ge be tween 50 perce n t an d 80 per cent , even among Lith uanian youth (see Bourdea ux 1979; Vard ys 1978, 217) . The persis tence of Cat ho licism among the yo unger genera tion who had no t only never exper ience d religious free do m bu t also had been subjec t to intensive an tirel ig ious pr opagan da and sanctions raises the que stion of how it was accomplished . T he answer , I suggest, is to be fou n d in the pr im ary socialization accomp lished by th e fam ily and closest frien ds. For the mos t part, this in teraction was beyon d pene tra tion by the KGB and the Communis t party. If we can draw pa rallels from the Bas que and Ca talan cases, some families no t on ly passed religio us trad itions but also secular accou nts of civil socie ty prior to the loss of in dep end en ce or autonomy. This was repor ted by some Ca talan m ilitants, altho ugh other respon dents spoke of frustra ting quiescence in th eir own fam ilies abou t civi l wa r politics . Alf on so Perez-Ago te (1986, 88-92) hol ds tha t silence on th ese matters was especially cha racteristic in the Basq ue region an d can par tly explain th e sing ular extr em e course of Basq ue nationalism. In the Ba ltics, littl e was said officially abo ut the pe riod of " bourgeois inde pen dence" altho ugh, privately , the secret Mo lotov -Ri bben trop accords th at ro bbed the Ba ltics of thei r inde pendence were well know n . Beginn in g in the late 1960s, Lithu ani an stude nts b egan to form "e thnogra phic study gro ups" in or der to ex plore th e mut ed- or offi cially distorted aspec ts of recent his tory . T hese gro ups function ed as cover or ganizatio ns for nation alist activi ties, much lik e ex cursio nis t groups (hikin g and ou ting club s) in Ca talo nia and Eu zkad i. In C atalonia, excursionisme displayed a st ro ng nat iona list o rientatio n prio r to the C ivil War. Aft er th e wa r, m ost were close d, but th e ones that were able to rem ain (eith er b y dupli cit ou s assent to Francoist ideology or th e patron age of well-placed ind ividu als) of ten pro mo ted the cland estin e stud y of histor y , literatur e, and the Ca talan ton gue un der th e inn o cuou s cove r of ma p-m aking, geograp hy, or archaeolo gy classes (joh n ston 1985) . To a lesser ex ten t, sim ilar strategies were foll owed by the Ba sque ou ting g ro ups called mendigortz ales. In Lithu ani a, studen t ethnog ra ph ic gro ups, in addi tion to the Copyrighted Material
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"bourgeois " promotion of national culture , collect ed docum entation on the period of independence and on the anti-S ovi et resistance. Eventually their cov ers were penetrated by th e secr et poli ce, and they were suppressed (Vardys 1978, 173). There is also evidence of a subcultur e in the western Ukrain e that persisted despite th e most int ense repression. Th e Ukr ainian Uniate church , a Catholic church of the Gr eek rite , w as outlawed by Stalin after World War II, but rath er than acquiesce to its man dated incorporation into Russian Orthodo xy , Uniat e rit es were adminst er ed in the deep est secrecy b y pri ests-at gr eat per sonal risk -for forty years . Onl y in the late 1980s have their clande stine practices becom e widel y known. With neither buildings nor for mal organization , the central locus of th e Uniate church was the family an d close circl es of friends (Marku s 1975 , 108). Like Lithuania , Ukrainian nationalists see the Un iate chur ch both as a symbol of national subordination and national resiliency. Even nonbeli eving nationalists and dissid ents have adopt ed the Un iate cause because of its close identification with th e people of the region (Bociurkiw 1975, 73). While the intense repr ession direct ed at the Uniat e church distinguishes it from Euzkadi and Catalonia (where the church enjoy ed privil eges under the Franco regime), and from Lithuania (wher e repression , while severe at times, was generall y less blatant) , in all cases church -ba sed groups carried strong oppositional cred entials , and th ere were linkages between the religious and secular oppositions . In Latvia and Estonia, the merg er of Luth eranism and n ation alism is ind icated by the presence of Lutheran clergy and human rights groups at nationalist rallies. While th e na tionalist-r eligious link was evident prior to Gorbachev (parming 1977, 30-31), it seems weaker than in Catalonia, Euzka di, or Lithuania. This may be due to its mor e recent origin , dating the period of independence between 1923 and 1939. Prior to independence, German clerics were common in Estonian and Latvian Lutheranism, and th ey held positions of power in th e ecclesiastical hierarch y .2 German influence in the Lutheran church par allels the subordination of the Autocephalous Georgian Orthodo x church under the Russian Patri archy bet ween 1810 and 1917 an d m ay accoun t for a weaker religionationalist linkage there as well (Zeigl er 1987, 27; Melia 1971 , 237). Nevertheless, like Estoni a and Latvia, a deCopyrighted Material
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gree of symbiosis does seem to be pr esent . On e description of Geor gian nationalism states that many of th e int ellig entsia have been baptiz ed and display religious icons in their homes . Also, reli gious rites are commonly ad m inistere d at burials. Th e report charact eriz es these vestig es of Geor gian Orthodo xy as reflections of nation al consciousn ess (Kolack 1987 :40), rath er than measures of fealty to church do ctrin e." Th ere were stron g religiou s overton es in a 1981 nationalist prot est comm emor ating th e restoration of Georgian as an official language . In Arm enia, th e ind epend en ce of Arm eno-Gr egori an Christianity from both Rom e and Orthodo xy has fost ered a strong linkage between church and nation . Thi s has been reinforc ed by centuri es of religiou s an d nation al pers ecution by th e Ottoman Turks . Communal prid e is foster ed b y the kn owl edg e th at Armenia 's conver sion to Christianit y in A .D . 301 pr edat ed Constantin e's con version of Rom e by fift een years . D espit e th e stren gth of the religious-nationalist link , an d - pa ra doxi cally - be cause of it, the Communist party app arentl y held Arm enian Christianity to be less of a thr eat than Islam, Catholici sm , Luth eranism, or Judai sm becaus e it did not impl y allegianc es beyond Soviet borders. Also, the Arm enian church had tradit ionall y been pro-Russian in respons e to th e Islami c thr eat to the south an d east. Thus , th e Armenian church was not onl y tolerated but support ed w ithin limits that were liber al by Soviet standards . Church-stat e relations in Armenia pr esent a pattern much closer to th e Catalan and Basqu e Spanish cases during th e Franco regime . In August 1953, Spain sign ed a Concordat w ith the Vatican whereby the church was granted virtua l fr eedom from state control. At th e national level , thes e lib erties wer e purchased by the church 's legitimizing blessing on Francoism, but in Euzkadi and Catalonia it had the delegitimizing effect of fre eing lo cal churches to more openly promot e national culture and to serv e as one of th e few plac es wher e the nascent opposition could escape police surv eillanc e. In Armenia, subordin ation of th e church to the state was greater, and it has been noted that most Armenians were reconciled to subordination to Mosco w as long as th eir church survived in on e form or another (Dadrian 1977, 328 ; see also Wixman 1982, 150). But like Catalonia and Euzkadi , this allow ed the
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church to serve as a crucible of national culture where elsewh ere similar manifestations of "bourgeois nationalism" were prohibited. Activities at Montserrat provided opportunities for nationalist expression during the severest years of Francoist repression , such as the anniversary celebrations of Virgin of Montserrat in 1947, the Eucharistic Conf erence in 1952, and the "rutas de Montserrat" pilgrimages . In a similar manner, Armenian pilgrimages to Etchmiadzin , Caesarea, and Tcharchaban combined religious practice and ethnicity, and no doubt a modicum of secular discussion in the atmosphere of discontent that prevailed in the 1980s. This brief review strongly suggests patterns of ethnic identification in several republics of the former Soviet Union that parallel those in Catalonia and Euzkadi . It presents a picture of ethnic identity that derives from primary socialization in national , cultural, and religious values . In the words of one Lithuanian observer, "Preschool education , generally accomplished in the home, is done in such a way as to nurture and develop a national consciousness: to teach the language, th e customs , and the national character " (Finkle stein 1977, 64) . Th ese are the social processes by which nationalist movements maintain continuity with th e past. While they were not found in all families, and while th ere were variations in what was passed on , it makes sense that, in the East as well as the West, this kind of socialization played an important role among young adults who wer e particularly adamant about their national id entity , and who demonstrated a prop ensity to some form of militancy . The key point concerning the new social movem ent perspective is that here, a central aspect of identity is ascribed by virtu e of the web of social relations one is born into instead of defin ed in th e course of p articipation in the movement . Nationalist subcultures provide networks of association that can serve as vehicles of recruitment and often persist into adult life. Insof ar as nationalist movements remain social forces in modern societies, the cultural and social media of primary socialization must be factor ed int o the theoretical equation. While it lies beyond th e scop e of this discu ssion to specify how variations in the organization and substance of these subcultures might affect mobilization , this is an important area for further study .
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276 Group Identi ty, Grievance s, and Everyday Life
W ithin N SM s, th e definit ion of id entit y wi thin den se networks of adheren ts is a key motivation fo r participation. NSMs provide "new soc ial spaces" where (predominan tely yo ung) like- m in ded persons seek th eir own indivi duality in a comp lex and often contradic to ry wo rld. They ex periment in new life- styles as assertions of their indi viduality th at lie ou tside accepted models . These activit ies com bine into a way of life th at, altho ug h typ ically in volvin g only a sho rtterm comm itme nt, never theless provid es a socia l arena where many are able to define w ho th ey are . T his is a view th at sta n ds in sha rp con tras t to th e mo del of social moveme nt pa rtic ipa tion b ased on ration al choice. Bri efly, th e ratio na list model proposes that an in div idua l chooses to participate in a moveme nt if the per ceived ben efit s of action outweigh th e cos ts . O lson (1965) p redic ted th at in lar ge m ovem ent s, most peo ple wo uld not p arti cip ate if no t for " selective in centi ves" such as ancilla ry be nefi ts of associa tio n an d cama ra der ie. Th e rational acto r und er stand s that the additio n of on e othe r person to the mo vem ent often has littl e effec t on th e m ovemen t' s suc cess. Furth erm or e, ma ny peopl e w ill w ithho ld partic ip ation because they w ill enjoy th e fru its of th e m ovem ent' s su ccess anyway; th ey become " free - ride rs" on th e backs of active m ovem ent parti cipants. This is an app roac h th at do es not really deal w ith qu estions of identit y, alth ough selective inc ent ives of solidarity and cam araderie impl y th e salience of social aspec ts of identit y bas ed on participation . B y the sam e tok en , th e self-int er ested indi viduali sm of the ration al-ch oi ce m od el suggest s th at participation wo uld be quickly termin ated if th e gro up failed to m eet one's identi ty needs. Both th ese approa ches deemph asize th e n oti on of injust ice as a force beh ind gr oup formation an d solida rity. Resea rch by Gamson , Fireman , and Rytin a (1982) dem on str ates th e close affinity between an em ergen t sen se of inju stice an d grou p cohe siveness. Base d on a seri es of in genious ex pe rime ntal situatio ns, th ey show th at an em erge n t " injus tice frame" pro vides a vehicle by which previo usly un conn ected ind ividu als can coa lesce to act collectively . In thi s section, I argue th at th e stro ng quo tidia n basis of nationa list grieva nces imp arts a hi gh degr ee of commona lity that Copyrighted Material
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easily translates into nationalist solidarity and that establish es a strong association between national consciousness and on e's social identity. This stands in contrast to the NSM model that , despite an emphasis on everyday organization and particip ant id entity , does not accord much weight to collective grievanc es. In the Span ish and Soviet cases, nationalist movements exhibit fundam ental grass-roots qualities that reflect definitions of injustic e based .in everyday life rather than in abstract political or historic claims to autonomy . This is not to say that historically based political programs are absent or that strategic and individualizing motivations (characteristic of rational choice and NSM models) never playa role . Rather , based on pr eliminary comparisons, and in the aggregate, they seem to play secondary and som etim es symbolic functions in mobilization . Fundamental to nationalist grievances is the way minority status renders the na tional culture a problematic featur e of daily life. In the context of economic and political subordination, daily activities in the local language , predicated on shar ed cultural values and norms of b eh avio r, are subject to conflict with the majority culture. Encounters with the state, typica lly in th e persona of a representative of the core region, cause numerous quotidian mo lestations that are easily interpreted in the context of national sub ordination. To put it another way , everyday life is th e arena where the shared injustice frame is maintained and articu lated . Not only because grievances are so widely shared but also because these little injustices pertain in a most immediate fashion to one's way of life, nationalist movements are characterized by a high level of solidarity. Indeed , defense of a way of life may in part explain the high level of emotionality typical of nationalist movements. The empirical bas is of these propositions lies in my own Catalan interview data and is supported by Perez -Agote's interviews in Euzkadi (1986, 158-80). In Catalonia and the Basque region, prohibitions against the language and culture caused innu merable situations where wha t was typica lly unproblematic on an everyday basis suddenly becomes an experience of discrimination . In th e course of in terviews with Catalan militants, I was struck by the frequent mention of apparently insignificant experiences in the context of explaining one's nationalism. One respondent opened his interview wi th a description of how, immediately after the Civil War, he was forced to retake exams in Castilian while all his Copyrighted Material
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pr evious secondary education had been in Catal an. For a youth, this w as no doubt a particul arly on erous polic y . He also described th e traditi onal , Catholic, and politically rightist background of his family , and how they welcomed Franco 's victor y. But the regime 's an ti-Ca talan polici es rend er ed probl ematic what for him had pr evi ousl y been unprobl ematic. This was his justification for takin g up nati on alist militan cy , in spit e of a social background that would other wis e pl ace him among stalwart Francoists . Anoth er repr esent ative accoun t describ es how activities of th e respondent's boy scou t tr oop were brok en up by Falangist bullie s. Lik e m an y othe r de scribed events, th ese seem unimportant in th e sweep of history th at includes civil war , class conflict, and severe st ate rep ression, but th eir importance is suggested by the fact that th ey were pr esent ed as ex planation s of w hy one pursued nation alist mili tanc y . For exa m ple, uh . . . th e Spani sh state had its ow n yo uth organization , whi ch was Falan gist . Wh en Falan gists and Scouts met on the tr ain , th ere always we re fight s. Wh en in th e year 1952, the Boy Scouts org aniz ed for th e first time a rather important camp-out , m emb ers o f Franco 's gu ardi a cam e to br eak it up with clubs. All thi s created a reacti on w ith th e kids, who ne ver had any political dis cours es. We react ed again st , th at is, we got to be in favor of a situation and agains t th e offi cial regim e. It wa s, let 's say, a very natural form of this phenom en on being pr oduc ed.
Th e respondent reports that man y ex-sco uts became leaders in the nationalist opposition; during th e democrati c transition , they becam e political leaders in Cat alonia. Other respond ents recounted similarl y mundane and personal occurr ences: the arrogance of a petty official , a railroad clerk who refus ed to answer if addr essed in Catalan, insulting remarks to one 's mother or father , or a shove from a Falangist bully . Often remembered were several anti -Catalan ep ithets of those years, "Speak Christian, Catalan Dog, " or " Spe ak the language of the Empir e." These everyday encounters, seemingly minor but perhaps traumatic for a youth, accumulated over time to tax the patience of Catalans . It is also significant that although the postwar years were difficult economic times for the middle class and working class alike, it is comments such as thes e rath er than m emories of hardship and deprivation that are invoked during interviews . Similarly, in Perez-Agote 's study of Basqu e militancy, many of Copyrighted Material
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279 his respond ents described repression by th e state app aratu s. Som e of his interviews cont ain vivid and emotion al descriptions of how the stat e pen etrated th eir everyday lives (1986, esp. 173, 180). In the Sovi et Repu blics, similar mundan e griev an ces were often at the heart of nationalist outbursts , even in a time prior to glasnost. In 1978, there wer e violent riots at Alm a Ata uni versit y in Kazakstan over adm ission s polici es. Similarl y in Tbli si, Georgi a, students react ed violently to a 1980 law that mad e Russian th e official languag e. It would be incorr ect to int erpr et thes e outbursts simply as ex plosion s of pent -up nationalism . Rather , as w ith th e Catalan resp ond ent who se ex am s were nullifi ed, nationalist grie vances wer e synon ymous with everyda y grieva n ces: lan gu age an d admissions policies directly affect ed th e dail y lives of the participants . The every day basis oflinguistic conflict is esp ecially appar ent when high immigration incre ases th e likelihood of int er ethnic contact . C entr alized econ om ic planning stimul ated Russian and other Slavic immigration into peripheral republics (Zaslavsk y 1980, 57- 64) and has drastically increa sed contact betw een locals and immigrants since 1980. In Lithuania , immigrants compri se 20 percent of th e total popu lation , an d th e proportion is clos e to 50 percent in the capital, Vilnius . This pattern is sim ilar to Cat aloni a and Euzkadi , where immigrants to urban areas constitute almost half the population and about 30 percent in the regi on as a w hole. In Estonia and Larvia, th e proportion of immigrants is higher, 34 percent and 46 perc ent, resp ectively. In Jun e 1986, ten thousand Ukrainian and Belorussian refu gees from th e Chernobyl disaster worsen ed already severe housing shortages and arous ed resent ment among locals who feared furth er deterioration of th eir standard of living. Karklins 's (1986, 67, 112) respondents reported considerab le ethnic tension on the every day level, especiall y in the Baltics (epithets hurled on th e str eet and in public transportation, for example), and a high level of ethn ic tension in the Soviet Arm y , part icularly in th e lingui stic domain . This is aggravated by th e superordinate status of the Russian nationalit y as the " big broth er " among the " little brother" minority nationalities . Kathr yn Woolard (1989) demonstrates with respect to C atalonia that un equ al status relationships are easily transferred to bilin gual speech situ ations by immigrants . Prior to ind ependenc e, th e Estonian parli aCopyrighted Material
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m ent passed law s requirin g Russia ns to learn Estonian an d m andat ed the use of Estoni an on stamps, signs, repor ts, and adver tisem en ts in tended for th e pub lic. Russian text can also appear, but it cannot be larger (Fisher 1989, 8). It was also rep ort ed that in Tallinn, public sign s in Russian were obli tera ted wi th spray paint (Keller 1988, 6). T he passage of simi lar lan gu age law s in Moldavia , Georgia, an d o ther na tiona l repu blics sugges ts th at resentm ent of lin gu istic subordination to Russian was wi despread. With ind epend ence , vindic tive lin gu istic po licies can poison relations between lo cals and im m igr ant s. Finally, dete riorating economic condi tio ns can aggravate communa l con flict on the every day level. In Riga, th e capital of Latvia , Sm ith (1979, 61) observes th at shor tages of hou sin g and consume r amenities and lack of services cause d conflic t w ith Russian immigran ts . Simi larly, prior to Es tonian indepe ndence, shortages of food and cons umer goo ds were blam ed on Russian touri sts attracte d by the relatively high stan da rd of livin g and Western am bience . Signs appea red in sto res requiring bu yers to show proof of Eston ian residen cy in orde r to m ake p ur cha ses. Whi le th ese are all seconda ry acco un ts, th ey never th eless suggest h ow co m m una l confl ict is played out on an eve ry day level. T hey also sugges t th e poss ibility of a relation ship between everyday gr ievances an d two disting uishing features of nati on alist m obilization . If the degr ee to w hi ch na tiona l subo rdina tio n penetrat es quotid ian life is conce ptua lized as a variable, it m ay be associated wi th th e emo tiona lity of nati on alism th e br eadth of nation alist oppos itio ns. Fir st , scholars h ave for a long tim e not ed th at th e nationalis t panth eon hou ses sym bol s th at are cap able of invokin g em otional an d often violent respons es from the faithful. This is typi cally ex plained by refer enc e to th e collective hi stor y an d sha red experien ces of su fferin g th at th ese sy m bo ls repr esent . Whil e hist orical m em ori es are certainly pr esent, passed throu gh th e subcultural net work s discu ssed earlier, I also suggest th at cul tur al and politi cal legacies are fur the r animate d by ever yd ay repression . Indeed , wi tho ut th e kind of mund ane reinforc em ent I have been describin g , it is likely th at th e po wer of th ese sym bo ls wo uld dissipate
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over time . On the other hand , th e destabiliz ation of every day life reinforces historical symbols and interpr etation s. The em oti ona lism of nationalist movements is more comprehensibl e w he n one recognizes that interruption of everyd ay busin ess repr esent s a threat to one 's way of life: it is a disrupt ion of all that is taken for grant ed. Besides family an d daily bread, it makes sen se that thi s will be defended mor e vigorously than anythin g else. Second , by breadth of nationalist oppo sition , I refer to th e ability of nationalist movements to subsume other mo vem ents under the nationalist banner. Although th e " grieva n ce of pr eference" among adherents may differ, varying between economic discrimination, cultural preservation , ecology, or even feminist and peace agendas, because the m edium of debat e and solidarit y is the minority culture, a strong affinity between nationalist and other grievances exists. This is often reinforced by the relationship between certain grievances and immigration , such as when large atomic pow er projects (in Ignalina , Lithuania, for example) will require a large immigrant labor force, or the association of the Soviet military with the presence of nonindigenous personnel (hence the peace movement's proposal to make the Baltic region a nuclear free zone) . In a minority national context, almost any problem can be defined as resulting from the policies of the core region; its just resolution can be found in the devolution of political power to the region . Examples are num erous. While the Ukrainian Republic party demanded an independent Ukrainian state, it also called for the establishment of a private market economy and the closure of nuclear power stations (Los Angeles Times, May 1, 1990, A6). Sim ilarly, the Lithuanian Sajudis movement subsumed several smaller dissident movements such as the Greens and feminists. Basque nationalist Herri Batasuna receiv ed the support of antinuclear groups, homosexual rights activists, and women's groups (Doug lass and Zulaika 1990, 250) . Because the national culture is the media through which contact between groups takes place, and cultural preservation and promotion goals of the larger movement, there is a tendency to mute conflict between different sectors , and to accentuate points of agreement.
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282 Final Thoughts on Identity, Grievances, and NSMs
These comp arisons between minority nation alism s in Spain and th e form er Soviet Uni on help to dr aw tw o important distincti on s between nationalist m ovem ents and NSMs . First, nati on alist m ovem ents seem to shar e a stro ng ascrib ed compon ent in th e form of a subcultural base. Thi s is a sourc e of continui ty w ith the past th at is absent in cont emp or ary an aly ses of most NSM s. Second, while both nation alism s and N SM s h ave th eir found ation in the eve ry day life of th eir adhere nts, th e key diff erenc e is th at th er e is a str ong sense of inju stic e at thi s level amo n g n ational ist militant s that is absent in m any NSM s. Th e sha red issues of id entit y an d mund anit y have justifi ed th e use of th e N SM m odel as a con ceptu al co un terpoin t in these com pa riso ns. But becau se th e pr eceding pages h ave focu sed more atte ntion on nation alist m obilizati on th an on N SMs , I close by comp ensatin g for th e rel ative neglect . Spec ifically, I h ave in mind how these two issues, ascribe d aspec ts of identit y an d th e mundanity of grievances, sugge st new dire ction s for NSM research . First, lik e nation alist m ovem ent s, th e choic e to advocate peace, wo me n's issues, or eco logy tak es place wi thin a historical con tex t w he re th e m eanin gs of th ese cho ices and th e param eters of th e actio n th ey en tail are alre ady parti ally establishe d in the pr evailin g cultura l mil ieu . While in part received an d constrained th rou gh various cultural m edi a, th ese identit ies are further elaborated w ithin th e dens e network s of m emb er ship th at NSM analysts have ident ified . T he NSM mod el em phas izes elabor ation w ithin th e con tex t of th e gro up but deemph asizes th e histor ical an d cultura l con tex ts of th ese mo vem ent s. Mu ch may be gain ed b y reco ns ide ring th e cultura l an d historical legac ies of m any N SM s. It has been dem on strated , for example, th at th e wo me n's m ovem ent in the U nit ed States has drawn heavily on th e work of its pr ed ecessor s an d th at thi s con tinuity has been o bsc ure d by th e waxi ng and wa ning of po litica l an d cultural oppor tuni ties (Rupp an d Taylo r 1987). Simi larly , the root s of the env ironmen tal move me n t lie in th e anti -industr ial roman ticism of the nine teen th cen tury . N or is th e not ion of pac ificism any thing new : it h as strong root s in religiou s sects like th e Qua ke rs and Copyrighted Material
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Mennonites. In a different light, many NSM repertoires of contention draw on different and New Left protests of the 1960s, and on the civil rights movement in the United States. These links are particularly apparent when there is intergenerational continuity, as demonstrated with the 1960s Free Speech Movement and the New Left in the United States , many of whose militants came from families of the "Old Left." While familial socialization and historical continuity tend to soften the "newness" of the NSM model, researchers in the future should look closely into the social backgrounds of NSM participants for patterns of family influence and for the mechanisms of organizational and cultural maintenance. Second, NSMs emphasize everyday life within the movement as the locus of identity formation, whereas nationalist movements grow out of discrimination and repression regularly played out in mundane affairs. These grievances give rise to a sense of commonality based on national identity that is general and widely shared but not in itself sufficient to account for participation in the movement organization. They must be distinguished from the social processes that occur within the militant group whereby everyday grievances are defined and amplified in the context of interaction-strategy sessions and militant actions, for example. Indeed, it makes sense that, being so widely shared, mundane grievances of national subordination are placed in the background in favor of more immediate, intense, and interactionally based experiences that comprise participation in the movement organization. Under these situations, like NSMs, social identities of nationalist militants are based on interaction within the group. Clearly there is a strong association between the intensity of interaction among participants and the degree to which their social identity derives from those activities. What distinguishes the NSM model is the disjuncture between movement adherence and the background of participation embedded in grievances. Rather than an emerging collectivity defmed by shared definitions of injustice , NSM participants come as individuals (and apparently leave that way, too) in search of solidarity qua social identity among erstwhile strangers. This is what makes the NSM model so interesting and provocative, but I suggest that the place of collective grievances has perhaps been too easily dismissed. Despite the emphasis on identity, it is important to note that Copyrighted Material
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th e NSMs m ost frequentl y m enti on ed have some grievan ce base . Furth ermor e, a qu esti on remains about th e degr ee to w hi ch, exp erien ced at the eve ry day level, th ese gr ievanc es pr ovid e m otivations for parti cipation. In th e wome n's mo vement , for ex am ple, th e go spels of feminis m accordin g to de Be au voir and Friedan had such a w ide reson anc e among wome n that sur ely th ey articulat ed gri evanc es that were w idely felt . Simil arl y , th e connection between the str esses an d cong estion of modern urban life and partici pation in th e en vironme ntal movem ent sugg ests an injustic e frame in which a w ide rang e of ever yday ex pe rien ce fits . Perhaps the link is mor e sym bolic, as with antinuclear mobilizations repres enting a fo cused point of prote st for th e innum erabl e mol estations of mod ern urban life. Th e gene ral point is th at quotid ian griev anc es may be funda m ental to p ro cesses o f gro up formation and solidarity. Especiall y in early stages of m ovem ent formation , th e coll ecti ve ex pression of grievan ces repr esent s th e eme rge n ce of colle ctivit y-cum-mo vem ent and a pri m ary so urce of init ial coordination. To put it anoth er way , griev ance s are a part of th e social m edia that conveys or ganiz ation w hile th e int era ction al b ase of id entit y formation and solid arity are still being forg ed . Futur e NSM research might focus on th e period prior to w hen th e indi vidual is full y int egrat ed into int erperson al networks to see what k eeps him or her th ere. It m ay be th at at this crucial jun ctur e, w he n the mov em ent itself is most vulne rable, " old- time" con cepts lik e griev anc es and a sense of inju stic e are decisi ve.
Notes 1. D ata for Ca talonia was collected as part of a larger study report ed in John ston 1991. Eigh ty-t wo int ervi ew s wi th nationalist and work ing -class militant s were conducted in 1981, w hen Spanish demo cracy was not yet firmly established and debates conce rning regional auto no m y for mi no rity nation alities were still ragi ng . C hapter 2 in th at work provi des a detailed descripti on of methodo logica l pro cedur es and int erviewin g strategies . 2. Whil e it make s sense th at the linka ge o f religion and nation deepens and streng thens th e op pos itional subculture, the religiou s factor m ay not be necessary . In Ca talonia , the im po rtance of the church partl y resided in its provision of orga niza tional resou rces and ready-m ade networ ks for recrui tme nt and action (john ston 1991, chap. 4). Sim ilar orga nizational reso ur ces can com e from other sources, such as com m unity struc ture, cultural patt ern s of friendship and acqu aint ance, and inform al profession al and int ellectu al gro ups , as found in Estoni a
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285 (see Taagep era 1983, 78). Also in Estonia , the role of chor al gro ups was significant, hence th e " Singin g Revolution " of 1989. 3. It sho uld be noted that thi s study focus ed on the intelligentsi a, a gro up that one might expe ct to have attentuat ed religious beliefs . It may be th at even deeper religiou s sentiments would be found amon g less cosmopolitan social classes.
References Bociurki w , Bhodan R. 1975. "Religious Dissent and the Soviet State . " In Religion and Ath eism in the USSR and Eastern Eu rope, edit ed by Bohdan R. Bociurkiw and John W. Strong , pp. 58- 90. London : Macmillan . Bourdeau x, Micha el. 1979. Land of Crosses: Th e Strugglefor Religiou s Freedom in Lithuania , 1939- 78. Devon , England : Augustine. Dadtian , Vahakn N . 1977. " Nationalism in Soviet Armenia-A Case Stud y of Ethnocentrism ." In National ism in the USSR and Eastern Europe in the E ra of B rezhn ev and Kasygin , edited by George W. Simmonds , pp . 202- 58. Detroit : Univers ity of Detroit Pre ss. Douglass , William A. , and Joseba Zulaika. 1990. " O n the Interpretation of Terrorist Viol ence : ETA and the Basque Political Proce ss." Comparative Studi es in Society and History 32:238-57. Finklestein, Etian . 1977. "Old Hopes and New Currents in Present-Day Lithuania ." In The Violations of Human Rights in Sovi et Occupied Lithuania , edited by Thomas Rem eikis, pp . 58-66 . Glenside , Pa.: Lithuanian American Community . Fisher, Dan . 1989. " New Law in Estonia Requires Russians There to Learn Native Language . " Los A ngeles Times, January 19, p . 8. Gamson , William A., Bruce Fireman, and Steven Rytin a. 1982. En counters with Unj ust Authority. Homewood , Ill.: Dorse y . Johnston , Hank . 1985. " C atalan Ethnic Mobilization : Some 'Prim ordial' Modifications of the Ethnic Competition Model. " In Current Perspectives in Social Theory , edited by Scott McNall , vol. 6. Greenwich , Conn .:JAI Pre ss. --. 1989. "Toward an Explanation of Church Opposition to Authoritarian Regimes : Religio-Oppositional Subcultures in Poland and Catalonia ." Journalfor the Scientific Study of Religion 28:493-508 . -. 1991. Tales of Nationalism: Catalonia, 1939-19 79. New Brun swick , N.J.: Rutger s Universit y Press . Johnston , Hank , and Jozef Figa . 1988. " The Church and Political Opposition : Comparative Perspecti ves on Mobilization against Authoritarian Regimes . " Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion 27, 1:32-47 . Karklins , Rasma . 1986. Ethnic Relations in the USSR : The Perspectivefrom Below . Boston : Unwin Hyman . Keller, Bill . 1988. " Wh en It Comes to Russians , the Estonians Say Go ." New }&rk Tim es, Octob er 9, p. 6. Kolack, Shirle y. 1987. " Ethni c Minoritie s in the Soviet Union : Th e Unfinished Revolution ." Journal of Int ercultural S tudies 8, 1:38- 44. Markus , Vasyl. 1975. " Religion and Nationality : The Uniates of the Ukraine . "
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286 In Religi on and A theism in the USS R and Eastern E urop e, edited by Bohdan R. Bo ciurkiw and John W. Stron g , pp . 101-22 . Lond on : M acmill an . Melia, Elie. 1971. " T he Georg ian O rthodox Chur ch ." In Aspe cts of Religion in the So viet Union, 1917-1 967, edited by Richard H . M arshall, pp . 223-3 8. Chicago : Univ ersity of Chicago Press. Melucci, Alberto . 1985. " T he Symb olic C hallenge o f Co ntem po rary Movem ents ." S ocial Research 52 :789- 816. - -- . 1989. N omads of the Present: Social M ovements and Individual Ne eds in Co ntempo rary Society . Philadelphi a: Templ e Uni versity Pr ess. Melucci, Alb ert o , and Mario Di ani . 1983. N azioni senz a stato. Turin : Loescher editore . Nag el, Joane. 1986. " T he Politi cal Co ns truc tion of Ethni city ." In Co mpe titive Et hnic Relations, edited by Susan Ol zak and Joane Nagel , pp. 93- 112. Orland o , Fla. : Academ ic Pr ess. Nagel, Joane, and Susan O lzak. 1982. " Ethnic Mobili zation in New and Old States: An Ext ension of th e Co m petition Mod el. " Social Problems 30: 127- 43. O lson , M ancu r. 1965. T he L ogi c of Co llective A ction. C am bridge: H arvard University Pr ess. Parming , Tonu . 1977. " Roots of N ation ality D ifferences." In N ationality G roup S urvival in M ulti-Et hnic St ates: S hift ing S uppor t Patterns in the Sovi et Baltic Reg ion, edited by Ed ward Allworth , pp . 24- 57. New York : Praeger. Perez-A got e, Alfon so . 1986. La reproducci6n del nacionalismo. E I caso vasco. Madr id:
Ce ntro de Investigaciones Sociol6gicas and Siglo XX I. Rupp , Leila J., an d Vert a Taylor. 1987. S urv ival in the D oldrums: Th e Am erican Women 's R ight s Movement, 1945 to the 1960s. New York : Oxf ord Univer sity Pr ess. See, Kath erin e O 'Sullivan . 1986. First World N ationalisms. C hicago: Universit y of C hicago Pr ess. Smith, Graham E . 1979. " T he Imp act of Mod erniz ation on th e Latvian Soviet Republi c. " Co -ex istence 16, 1:45- 64. Taagepera, Rein. 1983. " Na tionalism, Collabor ationism , and New -Leftism ." In Th e Bal tic S tates: H-ars of D ependence, 1940-1 980 , edited by Romuald J. Mi siun as and Rein Taagepera . Berkel ey: Univer sity of C alifornia Pr ess. Vardys, V Stanle y. 1978. Th e Ca tholic C hurch, Di ssent, and N ationality in Soviet Lithuan ia. Bould er , C olo . : East Europ ean Qu arterl y . Wixman , Ronald . 1982. " Ethni c N ationali sm in th e Ca ucasus." N ationality Papers 10, 2:137-5 6. Woolard , Kathryn A . 1989. Doubl e Talk : Bil inguali sm and the Politics of Ethn icity in Catal onia. Stanford : Stanf ord Uni versity Pr ess. Za slavsk y, Vi ctor. 1980. 'T he Ethni c Qu estion in the USSR. " Telos 45(Fall): 45-7 6. Zi egler , C harles E. 1987. " N ationalism, Religion, and Equal ity among Ethnic Minoriti es: Som e Ob serv ation s on the Soviet C ase. " Journal of E thnic Studies 13, 2: 19-3 2. Zulaik a, Joseba. 1988. Basque V iolence: Metaphor and Sacrament. Reno : Uni versity of N evada Pr ess.
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Chapter 12
Greens, Cabbies, and Anti-Communists: Collective Action during Regime Transition in Hungary MateSzabo
Social movements under authoritarian systems have mobilization patterns and policy outcomes that are very different from movements in pluralist democracies . On the one hand, social forces have "unlimited possibilities" for articulating new issues because the inertia of official politics recasts any challenge in terms of the broader drama of democracy versus authoritarianism. In Eastern Europe, the result was the existence of some very limited initiatives that had public and intellectual significance disproportionate to the small number of supporters. These small groups set an example: they showed how small, powerless groups could become capable of articulating very important - even crucial- but neglected sociopolitical issues. On the other hand, mobilization under authoritarian systems is hampered by the administrative -bureaucratic environment and the use oflegal and illegal means of social control. Otthein Ramm stedt (1978) observes that movements can fail to develop at all stages of their "life -cycles." In East Central Europe, it was common that social mobilizations were often stopped and dispersed before reaching the phase of fully developed movements . Movement "initiatives" and "quasi" movements that could not expand because of political pressure were often transformed into isolated, self-contained subcultures, sects, and political -social groups. In East Central Europe, the transformation of the sociopolitical system posed challenges to former "oppositional" movements. Their very identity, existence, and strategic -ideological character were rooted in the ancien regime, and they had to change to keep up with new sociopolitical environments . The result was that not all oppositional movements of the state socialist past survived . The free flow of the ideas and opinions relegated some of the earlier moveCopyrighted Material
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288 ments to marginal positions . New , and even old, precommunist social movements emerged and reemerg ed, challenging the former "challengers. " Between 1988 and 1990, all movements rearranged themselves according to changing political opportunity structures (McAdam 1982; Till y 1978; Neidhardt and Rucht 1991). Som e social movements have undoubt edly benefit ed from the extension of th eir mobilization possibilitie s, but this does not automati cally m ean a growth in their resourc e capacities . On the basis of the " equality of th e opportunities ," the y now must fight for th eir " real" pol itical space within a new po litical syst em . There is cons ensus among the new politica l forces that urgent social problems be dealt with efficiently . Survival in an environm ent of pluralist political competition is a hard task for many former movements . Th er e is no longer a special reward for " he ro ic dissidence ." Moreov er, ther e is a " scarcity of support ," and sharp comp etition for th e limit ed amount of support ers . In this chapter , I compare two important social mobilizations in Hungary , one under th e communists and on e after system transition, to demonstrate th e effects of changing politic al opportunity structures on prot est mobilization , and conversel y, th e variable effects mobiliza tion can have on the pro cess of political transition . Stage s of Regime Transiti on
In general , the process of system transforma tion in East Central Europe had a similar overall dynamic, although there were important national differences (Szabo 1991). Three charact eristic steps can be identified . Th e first is the time of crisis, when the destabilization of the old political institutions and elites and the em ergence of new political forces occurred . In this phase, elite strategies interacted with the dynamics of the protest. The opening up of new political spaces, agreements on a fram ework of transition, and division within the old elite between conservativ es and reformers were the distinctive features of this phase. Elite reaction was an important factor in the unity of new politi cal forces. There was some kind of cooperation betwe en all the new, noncommunist political forces , but the organizational and strategic unity of these groups was usually temporary . Th e next phase was the breakthrough p eriod wh en th e dissolution of th e com m unist monopoly on polit ical and adm inistrative Copyrighted Material
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289 power was completed. With the exception of Romania, this occurred typically through negotiation and nonviolent mobilization , although there were differences between countries about whether mass mobilizations were necessary to push the communists to bargain and to accept compromise. National unity was represented in "umbrella organizations," in all-embracing "national fronts," and in roundtable talks by all national political forces . Traditional institutions and nationally recognized dissident figures were accepted as symbolic and integrative forces of the new political community. These functioned as temporary arrangements , however. With the advent of free elections, former movements of "national unity" dissolved, and the organization of "national fronts" began their transformation into to multiparty systems . Institutionalization of a new political system also followed similar patterns: constitutional change, free elections, and differentiation of the new political forces between the poles of the gov ernment and the opposition . The distribution of power occurred according to the recently established "rules of the game" in constitutional-liberal democracies. Emergence of party systems was an important step in the institutionalization process . With free elections, the distribution of power and the formulation of national policy concluded in new institutional structures that represented "national" interests within pluralistic, conflict-based modern societies. It was a long and precarious journey from the "national unity" embodied in the "umbrella organizations" and "roundtables" of the breakthrough phase; completion of the institutionalization process remains distant for most Eastern European coun tries. Interest articulation must occur along the lines of political cleavages, political ideologies , and institutionalized political structures, but this has often been a highly unstable and volatile process. Stabilization of new institutions and acceptance and internalization of the rules of the game by the emerging political culture are long-term processes. Regime Transition in Hungary
Since 1956 there has been considerable political stability in Hungary . Elsewhere, a scarcity of food and consumer goods provoked discontent and protest, but in Hungary a type of "consumer socialism" had emerged since the 1960s. Kadarist economic policy secured a reguCopyrighted Material
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lar supply of the con sum er goo ds an d accept able levels o f welfare and health services; co m pa red to othe r soc ialist countr ies, livin g standa rds in Hun gary were hi gh . Th is " pa tern alist" orien ta tio n of th e welfa re state stabilized co m m unis t Hun gary for decades (Bruszt 1988, 23- 47); but stabi lity was secure d by ex tre mely high foreign debt . Op enn ess to th e West pr ovoked " rising ex pec tation s" th at were eventually di sapp oint ed by th e inevi tabl e turn of econo m ic fort un es. Kadarist poli cies also aide d th e developm en t of a limit ed civil soc iety (Frentzel-Z ago rska 1990). T he stru cture of th e Hun garian opposi tiona l subculture (john ston 1991, 49-54 ) w as m or e fragm ent ed , m or e int ellectu al, and less tied to chur ches or workers' gro ups. Thi s im pede d th e crea tio n of " um brella o rga niza tions" (like Solidarity in Poland) to repr esent nati onal cons ciou sness and miti gated th e int ensit y of th e crisis stage considerably . It also condemn ed th e Hungarian oppos itio n to only temp or ar y unit y of oppos itional gro upings for bar gainin g w ith th e Hun gari an Socialist Work er s part y (Kor osen yi 1991). D espite th e abse nce of stro ng na tio na l unit y orga nizations, sym bo lic issues of a national sco pe played an imp ort ant role in the tr ansfor m ation to dem ocracy . T he re were seve ral large m obiliz ation s dur ing 1988 and 1989: commemo ra tio n of th e Hun garian revolu tion of 1956, a dem on str ation durin g th e reburi al of its leader Imr e N agy , an ti- Cea ucesc u pro tes ts, and a dem on str ation on th e anniversa ry of th e Hu ngari an revolut ion of 1848 (Muravchik 1990). D ur ing th e br eakth rou gh ph ase, jo int action of relevan t op pos itio na l gro ups was esta blishe d , and th eir di vision s were held in abeya nce in th e co m mo n an tico m m unist strugg le. Howeve r, as th e new Hun gari an gove rn me n t becam e instituti on alized, th e unit y of th ese var io us opposi tiona l gro ups dissolved . Di vision fir st occ ur re d during th e roundt abl e talk s in th e sum me r of 1989 w hen conflict ove r a stro ng pr esiden cy (in th e Poli sh patt ern) eme rge d. Radi cal lib eral dem ocrats orga nized a success ful plebiscite again st a bar gain bet ween populi sts an d reform co m m unists on a stro ng and dir ectly elected pr esid enc y. Co m pa red with other form er soc ialist countri es, th e Hun garian br eakthrou gh was mor e a change of elit es and less a m ass move me n t (Tok es 1990). Thi s had th e adva n tage th at viole n t conflicts bet ween th e polic e and masses were avoide d; on th e other hand , no affective loyalty toward new lead ers and inst ituti on s was Copyrighted Material
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developed. Compared with other former socialist countries , where mass protests and violent conflicts raised a new democratic consciousness, Hungarians in 1990 felt more alienated from the new politics . The institutionalization phase was impeded in Hungary by the differentiation of oppositional movements (Schopflin 1979) and the emergence of a fragmented party system (Korosenyi 1991). The electoral campaign was already under way when disagreements about the presidency and sharp conflicts between the nationalists, liberals , and socialists were taking place. While the Hungarian party system is an adequate and relatively stable representation of plurality within civil society, the rather weak presidency and the absence of national unity organs on the level of party system have impeded the institutionalization of a stable democratic government (Korosen yi 1991). The existence of democratic institutions does not necessarily insure a political culture that regulates pluralist competition. At first, mobilization against the old regime united all new political forces. But during the process of democratization, competition in elections and, later, in Parliament made it clear that compromise and tolerance were in short supply. A high degree of "ideologization" that recycled political conflicts from the interwar years occurred in the parliamentary debates (Schopflin 1991, 60-68). Efforts at holding consultative meetings between all parliamentary parties were blocked by sharp tensions between liberals and Christian nationalists. The "camp mentality" of conflicting parties hindered any cooperation in the public sphere. When programs to rationalize the economy and reduce domestic consumption were combined with the shocks of marketization and privatization/reprivatization and with the collapse of the communist trade bloc , COMECON, social stability was severely challenged (see Burszt 1988, 716-29) . It was not possible to organize concerted action among the political parties when the new regime encountered its first major crisis: the taxi driver blockade . The changing political opportunity structure in Hungary redefmed the political space for social movements in a very short period of time. Political possibilities and mobilization capacities changed through the three stages of system transformation , and new movements emerged alongside or took the place of former opposition groups. This was demonstrat ed in the evolution of a Copyrighted Material
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major ecology pr ot est, th e Danube movement, that occurred during the crisis period in Hungar y. Its rapid m obiliz ation and success can be attribut ed to th e peculiar shape of the crisis sta ge in Hun gary , while its rapid demobilization deri ves from radicall y chang ing political o ppo rtunities during th e br eakthr ou gh stag e. The Danube Protest: Mobilization during System Transition
Th e Hungarian ecolo gy movem ent was born in th e mid 1980s (S6l yom 1988), but , given th e con str aint s of m obilizing und er th e on e-par ty stat e, it never attaine d an int egrat ed organizati on . Rath er , it exist ed in the form of un conn ected loc al citizens' initiativ es, sin gle- issue groups , and alterna tive life-style communiti es. Unlik e ecolog y mo vements in Franc e and West Ger m any in th e 1970s , th ere w as no unif ying antinucl ear gro up in Hun gary , desp ite Ch ernob yl and the scandals surroundin g th e onl y Hungarian atomic po wer pl ant in Paks . Th e big gest citizens' initi ative durin g th ese ye ars w as mobilization aga ins t th e Hun gari an-Cz ech D anub e po wer plant at BosN agym aro s, which w as fin an ced on the Hun garian side with credit from th e Austrian go vernm ent and built b y Au strian firms . Her e, too, p oliti cal inte gration und er th e br oad canop y of an or ganized ecology m ovem ent wa s not achieved . B eginning in 1984, plans for th e po wer station wer e cha llen ge d by a vari et y of groups: The Blues , Friend s of th e Danub e, Allian ce for th e D anub e, and th e Danub e Circl e. Th e Danub e Circl e disput ed th e proj ect 's economic viability , qu estioned th e state's arg u me n ts that th e proj ect was indi spens able to th e power suppl y , and criticized th e immens e squ and erin g of ene rgy within th e Hung arian econo my. Abov e all, th e pr oject was oppos ed for its catastrophic eco log ical consequ en ces. Uniqu e flor a and faun a were en dange red, an d th e supply of dri nking w ater was thr eatened . Th e opp osition to th e D anub e power statio n orig inated am ong a gro up of specialists w h o went pub lic afte r th ey criticized th e pr oject w ithin th e scien tific commun ity. In 1984, a Com mi ttee for th e Da nube collected ten thou sand signa tu res on a prot est lett er to th e com m unis t gove rn me nt . Officia ls reacted w ith an array of repr essive m easur es th at ran ged from hin der ing th e collectio n of sign atur es and fo rbidd in g dem on str ation s an d publ ications Copyrighted Material
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to firing individual activists . The official press barely covered challenges to the power station; it did so only through indirect allusion . As a result, the Danube Circle published an unauthorized magazine, and otherwise had to rely on reports in the underground press of the democratic opposition . All attempts by civilian environmentalists to form some sort oflegal organization wer e blocked, which had the effect of closing off sources of funding from international environmental groups. Demonstrations were forcefully dissolved by the police. Signed petitions for a referendum were regularly confiscated by the police. Finally, when th e Hungarian government received massive financial assistance for the project from Austria, the movement was weakened to the point of marginalization. Both analysts and activists have realized that in an authoritar ian system there is but scant political space for single -issue movements challenging the state (Haraszti 1990, 71-88) . Yet, mobilization in an authoritarian context paradoxically gives rise to an unanticipated but often quite powerful symbolic resource . Because activists must fight restrictions on freedom of association, press , information, and limitations on other basic civic rights, the assertion of a particular grievance can be recast as part of the more general democratic opposition. This was first appar ent with respect to the Danube Circle in 1985 when , prior to parliamentary elections, several movement activists joined with other dissidents and for the first time presented themselves as independent candidates . This paired the environmental movement with the broader oppositional forces, and placed it in the avant-garde of the reemerging civil society in Hungary. It provided a forum for politi cal decision -making, participation, and public criticism of the regime . This process gathered further momentum in 1988 when, assisted by Kadar 's fall from power and by a more liberal stanc e among the renewed political leadership, the hydroelectric project became largely congruent with the division between those who blocked and those who supported the process of democratization . In May 1988, five thousand people demonstrated in front of the Austrian embassy in Budapest against Austrian participation in the building of the Danube power station. Reflecting th e changin g political environment, this was the first time that a mass demon stration was tolerated . Mor eover, it was fully reported on Hungarian television ; subs equently , the official press began to report the Copyrighted Material
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power project from a more critical perspective. In June , on the parliamentary initiative of an independent member of parliament , twenty -three votes were cast for the cessati on of building on the Danube . In September , thirty -five thousand people demonstrated in Budapest when Austrian firms speed ed up work on the projec t. These mobilizations were rallying points for broader demands of democratization . Thematically specific grievances of the Danube citizens' initiatives merged over the years with a general rejection of the system by the democratic opposition ; the demon strations reinforced the self-confidence of the opposition. This occurred even in the absence of immediate concr ete success , for just one month lat er Parliament once more backed continuation of the power project . For the time being, the campaign could not achieve its goal, but its activities speeded up the process by which the legitimacy of the parliament was challenged and the deficiencies of the prevailing constitutional fram ework wer e made abundantly clear. During 1989, the structure of political opportunities changed rapidly in Hungary . Th e new reform-minded government of Mik los Nem eth halt ed construction of th e Danube project in order to regain legitimac y for the new government . Party reformers tri ed to distanc e themselves from the conservative forces arou nd th e party secretary Grosz , but by then it was too little too late. Th e rehabilitation and reburial of Imre Nagy later that year indicated that th e fall of the regime was under way . Already there was a rapid ly growing opposition organized into parties that were about to push through democratiza tion at roun dtable negotia tions . Thi s marked a tur ning point for the Hungarian ecolog y movement . After the decision to suspend new construction , the political debat e was channeled in other directions . The main point of crystallization was the roundtable bargaining between the Hungarian Workers' party and the "United Opposition " during the sum me r of 1989, in whi ch the ecology mov em ent was not an activ e particip ant . Many former activists left th e " um brella" of th e Danub e prot est for oth er " real" and " m ore relevant" political organizations and issu es. Ev en th e prot est coordin ation offices were closed in th e sum me r of 1989. All th e new political parties th at had support ed the Danub e protest befor e-e xplaining its spectacular victo ry - turn ed to oth er matt ers- explaining its subsequent dissolution as well. Copyrighted Material
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Because the ecological movement largely took the form of small associations prior to the democratic transition , it was not well situated to make the transition to a party organization . These groups did not set up a broader network beyond protest coordination. Although they were united in opposition to the project , they were often divided on other issues . A small group of former activists set up a Green party, but after the "Danube battle" had been won, there were not many possibilities left for them in the election campaign . The Green party received only 3.7 percent of the votes on a national level in the elections of spring 1990, which was not sufficient to secure parliamentary representation . Today there is a wide range of ecological groups that form a spectrum from loose local amalgams and temporary protest groups to institutionalized and stable organizations . Still, ecology remains on the margin of the new politics in Hungary, where problems of economic and public policy seem much more immediate. Problems of economic growth are urgent, and the so-called postindustrial tasks of the ecologists, reducing growth and consumption, are not likely to be mobilizing issues . The change of the political opportunity structure and of relevant sociopolitical issues, together with the dissolution of the protest issue as a "yesno question ," resulted in the marginalization of the Danube protest movement. It was one of oldest and most successful protest movements in Hungarian politics; it was a protest movement that survived Kadarism, realized its protest goal, and enjoyed temporary political support of all relevant oppositional forces, yet it no longer has a secure place in the new Hungarian democracy. It was the changing political situation and not the organizational-strategic skill of the Danube Movement that was the primary determinant of success, that is, bringing an end to construction of the power plant. The dynamics of system transformation thrust the Danube issue into the oppositional consciousness, where it was an important theme uniting the extraparliamentary opposition against the party state. For the major opposition groups, the Danube project was a core symbol of democratization processes in their protest activities. The symbolic role of the Danube protests and, ultimately, the limited capacities of the ecology movement itself became very clear once success was achieved and transformation of the state brought other issues to political center stage. Copyrighted Material
MaleSzabo 296 The Taxi-Driver Blockade: Protest in a New Democracy
The declaration of the Hungarian republic on October 23, 1989, the thirty-third anniversary of the anti-Stalinist revolution of 1956, was an important event in the democratization of the former Soviet bloc. Just one year later, on October 26, 1990, the first crisis of the new Hungarian Republic occurred . It took the form of a blockade of streets and highways by taxi drivers and private truckers in protest against a large increase in fuel prices. The blockade paralyzed the new democracy for three days; it provoked an atmosphere of fear, tension, and aggression until an eleventh-hour compromise was worked out. Rather than an organized social movement along the lines of the Danube initiative , the blockade was a collective protest of relatively short duration . Its relevance derives from its occurrence during the institutionalization phase of the transition and the way that a relatively circumscribed event reverberated throughout Hungarian politics and posed a serious challenge to the government . There was a set of opportunity structures unique to the institutionalization phase, and they both influenced the course of mobilization and were altered in the resolution of the crisis. The sudden and drastic raising of fuel prices on the night of October 24, 1990, provoked a spontaneous and illegal demonstration. Mass actions emerged from discussions between private drivers and entrepreneurs who were queuing up at stations late that night. Protesting drivers first drove to the parliament building hoping to open negotiations to restore prices to previous levels. When their appeal was rejected, they moved to block all main traffic routes in the country . The blockade developed quickly the next day and almost all traffic was stopped throughout the country, including all international transport. The blockade was maintained all of Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, with some breaks for medical and food supplies. During these three days the atmosphere was electrified: people bought the stores empty and feared violent conflict. Supporting protests were joined by masses of poor people who were generally protesting worsening living conditions. The government, backed by a strong coalition of ChristianDemocratic parties, at first rejected all bargaining with illegal protest groups and threatened them with police intervention and arCopyrighted Material
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297 rests. In the face of mounting protest, the police and army refused to intervene, and they sided with the protesters . In the streets , there was a solidarity between the protesters, the police, and the local population that reinforced discipline and order in the protests . No remarkable acts of violence were reported, despite provocation by a " counterm ovem ent" mobilized by the governing party , the Hungarian Democratic Forum (Magyar Demokrata Forum, or MDF). Where there were confront ations , the police prevented violence from erupting . A compromise between the protest groups and the government was worked out on Sunday night in order to secure a normal start of the work week the next day . The rise in the fuel prices was reduced 35 percent. There was also an agreement to ease fuel prices in the future and connect them to prices on the world mar ket . Protest groups promised to remove all traffic barricades by the morning, and a promise of an amnesty for all the protest groups was given, although it had to be approved by parliament . The compromise had been worked out in an extremely tense atmosphere while the social and political workings of the country were stalled for three days. The taxi drivers, as the main activists of the protest, were commited to the single issue of fuel prices; but political organizations supporting the protest recast the mobilization into a more general criticism of state policy. They even demanded the resignation of the government . At the grass-roots level, too, in talks and discussions around the blockade points, participants voiced more generalized grievances against the government; they shifted the single issue of fuel prices to "social self-defense" against the "anti social" economic policies of the government. Thus the blockadewholly spontaneous and begun without any broader political objectives - became a serious delegitimizing threat to the new Hungarian government (see Table 12-1). The taxi driver protest presents a very special form of political opportunity structure for the articulation of social -political protest . The political system had been very recently democratized , and the institutionalization process was not yet complete. Legitimacy of the new government derived in part from recent antiau thoritarian and anticommunist mobilizations, but the newly established political institutions were untested and unstable . Elites were less experienced in political problem -solving and crisis manageCopyrighted Material
MateSz ab6 298 Table 12-1
Citizens' Evaluation of Taxi-Dri ver Blockade Percentage Don 't Know
Questi on
Yes
No
Do you think the majorit y of citizens support ed the taxi drivers during the crisis?
78
73
Were th e taxi drivers concerned only with th eir own interests?
12
84
4
Did the taxi drivers represent public opinion?
72
22
6
Note: Th ese public opinio n question s were posed to about on e thou sand citizens by telephone imm ediately after the crisis by Ma gyar Kozvelemen ykutat o Intezer (1990, 597- 98). 'Refers to tho se w ho felt the majorit y support ed governme nt. bRefers to tho se who felt the " majority supported neith er ."
ment, and many evinced a political style rooted in the authoritarian past . There is virtually no tradition of democratic authority in Hungarian history (Volgyes 1987, 191-213); on the other hand , rebellion against the state is part of the political mythology , especially since 1956. The combination of these elements produced a certain ambivalence among some elites toward social protest, and among others, outright rigidity . Still others, drawing on past traditions and on recent experiences in the anticommunist opposition, especially opposition groups and parties, saw protest mobilization as a positive political force. The political opportunity structure in Hungary can be summed up in the following way : • A certain degree of openness toward social protest among some sectors • Unstable political alignments between parties • Political volatility of support groups, trade unions , interest groups, small parties, and other social groups in the newly congealed civil society • Division among the political elites • Restricted possibilities of political-administrative control by the government The existence of a differentiated/pluralized political opportunity structure is an innovation in Hungary, but it provided a highly Copyrighted Material
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restricted opportunity structure-albeit restricted in different ways from the authoritarian past-for protest movements . The result was a series of events surprisingly similar to the expansion of goals in the Danube protest movement even though the political cont ext had radically changed. Mobilization during regime transition can transform initial and specific themes of protest into " rnetaconflicts" that transcend the original aims of the movement and can be said to reflect the way the broader society interprets its "real" meaning. Significant actors in redefming a movement are the mass media; count ermovements; and agents of control such as the police, army , and quasi-official thugs and vigilante groups (Neidhardt and Rucht 1991, 459). In crisis and breakthrough phases, this kind of frame bridging and frame expansion (Snow and Benford 1988) was accomplished through the participation of broadly based umbrella and national unity organizations. Their central role was clearly demonstrated in the Danube movement by its rapid disintegration once these groups staked out their positions in the newly emerging political environment. In the institutionalization stage, the " m etaconflict" of the taxi-driver blockade was generated by the unresponsiveness of the government in the face of continued socioeconomic deterioration. Mobilizations during the institutionalization phase challenge governments that are ill-equipped to deal with crisis . The taxi drivers initially wanted to reach their limited, single-issue goal through an aggressive protest, but inexperience and the unavailability of established channels for managing pluralist competition and protest embedded the narrow goal in a broader set of demands, which were articulated by the mobilized parties : interest organizations, mass media, and sectors of the public. The result was a government reaction that in many ways parodied the authoritarian past. Events were destabilized by initial refusals to negotiate and by calling out the police and army. They were further aggravated by the mobilization by the Christian Democrats of a countermovement that bordered on vigilantism. Finally, there were attacks on the media. Because the main parts of the talks were broadcast live by the mass media, they produced a situation that was highly challenging to the governing Christian-Democrats. Broadcasts of the negotiations led to charges of disloyalty , and the government attempted to control the media by adminisCopyrighted Material
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trative means . In th e summer of 1991, th e prim e minister appoint ed n ew vi ce-presidents to the stat e-owned networks to counterbalance liberal influenc es, but the stat e president refused to authorize the appointments. Onc e again, in th e pr ecarious context of the institutionalization of democratic legalit y , th e crisis was broaden ed-or rather detoured -to embrac e intense political conflicts b etw een th e opposition Lib erals an d th e Christian -D emocrat gov ernment over the compet enc e of the pr esident and control of the media (East European Reporter 1992 , 28-40) . The key differenc e between th e late 1980s and post-transition 1990 was the tentativ e structure of adapti ve, policy-making chan nel s of politi cal con sultation that had eme rge d in the first stages of the institution alization ph ase. Tentativ e as th ese were , they were em ploye d to negotiat e an end to th e crisis . In contr ast, mobilization during the crisis ph ase led to capitu latio n by the gov ernment that hastened th e downfall of the regim e, wh ereas resolution of the blockad e, in som e w ays, can be said to have further institut ionalized democratic in stituti ons . Aft er initi al intr ansig ence and almost reflexi ve recours e to authoritarian solution s of the past , the new Hungarian governm ent utiliz ed an establi shed consultative organ , th e Council ofInter est Repres entation . Before the crisis the Council had function ed nominall y as a forum for discussion about social an d economi c policy betwe en emplo yees, employers , and the government , but it had little political relevance . It became an acceptable venue because it was legal and institutionaliz ed , and it therefore implicitly support ed the legitimacy of the new state . By the same token, the Council was acceptabl e to protest groups because they could embed their particular demands in a broader framework of public econ om ic and social criti cism . Summary
Consideration of these two protest campaigns in Hungary suggests that there are considerable differences in the dynamics of mobilization for different stage s in regime transformation . Possibilities for mobilization wer e extend ed during the crisis and br eakthrough periods as political institutions opened up and so cial and political protests spread throughout the country . Later , revitalization of th e Hungarian state and political life in general-esp ecially in local administraCopyrighted Material
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tion, trade unions , voluntary associations, parti es, and repr esent ative groups -channeled mobilization into part y comp etition in th e local and national elections. The Danub e protest was significantl y shap ed b y chan ging politic al opportunit y structur es. After long years of politic al suppression, the movement rapidl y reached its peak in 1988 an d 1989. Th e susp ension of work on the dam and the pluralizati on of poli tics cut support for the issue , and , except for som e net workin g and publi c relations activities, th e mass camp aigns did not last beyond regim e transition . The mobilization of the taxi-driver blockade occurr ed durin g the institutionalization period in Hungary . Unlik e th e Danub e prot ests , the taxi drivers ' prot est was pursu ed and legitimiz ed within th e conte xt of a constitutional democrac y. Thi s w as th e first tim e th at Hungarian politicians and intell ectuals had to deal with questions of lo yalt y and legitimac y in a civil prot est . Although branded by many as an illegal challenge to the new regim e, the taxi-driv er prot est was broadly support ed by the Hungarian public. Changing politi cal opportunity structur es also affected th e articulation of issues . The Danube prot est w as a mi xtur e of symbolic prot est s against th e regim e and genuine ecologi cal conc erns that echoe d protests in th e West against larg e energy projects. In the taxi-dri ver blo ckade , ther e was no need for antire gime symbolism . Rather , grie vanc es developed within and were primaril y concerned with th e cont ext of th e em erging Hungarian democracy . Ch anging political contexts prepared th e way for new political actors . The Danube mov em ent organized through a slightl y differentiated n etwork of informal groups and protest mo vem ents that were reminisc ent of oppositional subcultur es elsewh ere (Johnston 1991). These social networks formed the basis of an em erg ent civil societ y that confronted a homogen eous , elite -dominat ed, authoritarian state . As th e confrontation progress ed , a differ entiation process occurred on both sides , resulting in a broad ened political spectrum on the on e hand and a democratiz ed politic al-administrative system on th e oth er. Th e taxi -driver prot est occurred within the conte xt of politi cal pluralism and a rapidl y differenti ating civil society . Rather than a confrontation pittin g "s ociety " against the " state," th e conflict took the form of a thr ee- way politCopyrighted Material
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ical division alon g th e lines of " govern m en t, " "opposition," and " ex tra- parliame n tary opposition ." In each of th ese three groups th ere were instituti onaliz ed and informal political sub gro upin gs. Although, on the surface , a single -issue m ovement backed by the anticommunist opposition would seem to have little in common with a protest of an organized prof essional subculture against the social costs of the market econom y , the internal dynamics of these mo vements wer e surprisingl y similar. Both lacked stable internal structures for mobilization; both suffered from a lack of material resources; and , from the point of view of collective behavior, both lacked strategic and organizational planning beyond the scope of th eir single issues . Nevertheless , both exp erienced " w hi te-hot" mobilization and short-term successes; in the longer term, th e lack of organization and resources led to an abrupt end of the mobilization dynamics and rapid dissolution . Any assessment of the impact of these two campaigns must be placed in the cont ext of how social movements in transitional regimes differ from those in Western democracies . Thes e protests are benchmarks in the emergence of the new Hungarian democracy, and constitut e learning proc esses for the political elite , protest organizers , and the public. No one has long -term experience with electoral effects of policy reactions to prot est movements . The intermediary system of protest and the public feedback through electoral choice is still in the making in East ern Europe. Political institutions have not yet stabilized , and political parties are still " m obilizin g parti es" with roots in mass mobilizations against communist systems . The cultural background for new political institutions is also em erging, and neither political institutions nor political cultures are experien ced in conflict management . The result is a tendency for transitor y, extrain stitutional forms of bargaining and crisis manag ement.
Referenc es
Bruszt , Laszlo . 1988. " Political Orientati on in Hun gary . " Social Research 55, 12:43-77 . - - . 1989. " T he Dilemmas of Economi c Transition in Hun gar y. " Sudosteuropa 38, 11-12 :716-2 9. East European Reporter. 1992. 5, 1:28-40. Frentzel-Z agorska , Janin a. 1990. " C ivil Societ y in Poland and Hun gar y ." Soviet Studies 42, 4:759-77 .
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303 Haraszti , Miklos. 1990. "The Beginning of Civil Society: The Independent Peace Movement and the Danube Movement in Hungary." In In Search of Civil Society, edited by Vladimir Tismaneanu, pp. 71-88 . New York and London : Routledge , Chapman, and Hall . Johnston, Hank . 1991. Talesof Nationalism. New Brunswick, N.J.: Rutgers University Press . Korosenyi, Andras . 1991. "Revival of the Past or a New Beginning? The Nature of Post-Communist Politics." PoliticalQuarterly 62,19:52-75 . McAdam, Doug . 1982. Political Processand the Development of Black Insurgency, 1930-1970 . Chicago: University of Chicago Press . - - - . 1988. "MicroMobilization Contexts and Recruitment to Activism ." In From Structure to Action, edited by Bert Klandermans, Hanspeter Kriesi , and Sidney Tarrow, pp . 125-55. Vol. 1 of International Social Movement Research. Greenwich , Conn .: JAI Press . Magyar Kozvelemenykutato Intezet . 1990. "A politikai kozvelerneny 1990-ben ." In Magyarorszdg Politikai Evkonyve, edited by Kurtan Sandor et al., pp . 597-98. Budapest: Economix. Rt. Muravchik, Joshua , ed . 1990. "Democratic Transformation in Hungary ." Special issue of WorldAffairs 151, 4. Neidhardt, Friedheim, and Dieter Rucht. 1991. "The Analysis of Social Movements: The State of the Art and Some Perspectives for Further Research. " In Researchon Social Movements: The State of the Art in rtfstern Europe and the USA , edited by Dieter Rucht, pp . 421-65 . Frankfurt am Main and Boulder, Colo. : Campus Verlag and Westview Press. Rammstedt, Otthein . 1978. Soziale Bewegung. Frankfurt am Main : Suhrkamp Verlag. Schopflin, George. 1979. "Opposition and Para-Opposition : Critical Currents in Hungary, 1968-1978 ." In Opposition in Eastern Europe, edited by Rudolf Tokes, pp. 142-87 . London: Macmillan . --. 1991. " C onservatism and Hungary's Transition ." Problemsof Communism 40, 1:60-68. Snow, David A., and Robert D. Benford. 1988. "Ideology, Frame Resonance, and Participant Mobilization." In From Structure to Action, edited by Bert Klanderrnans, Hanspeter Kriesi, and Sidney Tarrow, pp. 197-217 . Vol. 1 of InternationalSocial Movement Research.Greenwich, Conn. :JAI Press . S6lyom, Laszlo . 1988. "Citizen's Participation in the Environmental Movement." Ijda-Dossier 6, 64:23-35. Szabo, Mate . 1991. "Die Rolle von sozialen Bewegungen im Systemwandel in Osteuropa : Ein Vergleich zwischen Ungarn, Polen und der DDR." OsterreichischeZeitschriftfur Politikwissenschaft20, 3:275-89. Tilly, Charles . 1978. From Mobilization to Revolution. Reading, Mass .: AddisonWesley. Tokes, RudolfL. 1990. "Campaign 90: A Midterm Report on Party Politics and Elections in Hungary ." Siidosteuropa39,2 :110-19. Volgyes, Ivan. 1987. "Political Culture ." In Ungarn. Sudosteuropa-Handbuch,edited by Klaus DetlefGrothusen , 5:191-213 . Gottingen : Vandhoek and Ruprecht.
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Chapter 13
Social Movements in Modern Spain: From the Pre-Civil War Model to Contemporary NSMs JoseAlvarez-Junco
This chapter compares three basic stages in the development of forms of collective action in modern Spain . I call the first stage traditional or classic. Its beginning can be dated around 1890, the year that a universal suffrage law was ena cted and the first May Day was celebrated . The inaugration of universal suffrage made massive political participation possibl e for the first time . May Day marked the begin ning of mass mobilization practices among the Spanish working class. 1 The first stage culminat es in the Civil War of 1936-1939. A modern stage comprise s collective protest actions arising under late Francoism and the crucial years of th e transition to multiparty liberal democracy . This stage developed after a "dormant " period during which repression by Franco's dictatorship made impossible any open political mobilization. Its beginning can be pinpointed in the 1961-1962 miners' strikes in Asturias .? Its end came with the first municipal elections in April 1979. The present stage can be called postmodern. It began in 1979 or, more clearly, in Octo ber 1982, with th e resounding election victory of the Partido Socialista Obr ero Espafiol (PSOE) . This stage followed a transitional period (1979-1982) , in which "mod ern" and " postm odern " traits coexisted, but not without tension. Contrary to the prevalent interpretation among historians of social movements , I beli eve th e factor that genuinely marks and differ entiat es the history of coll ectiv e protest in modern Spain has littl e to do with class makeup , the absolut e or relativ e " dep rivation " of th e peopl e mobiliz ed , or with th e socio economic goals put forward . Rather , it involves the organization and degree of development of th e state, th e participatory opportunities the political system provid es, and, above all, th e political cultur e and selfCopyrighted Material
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perception of leaders and participants in the social-political struggle that encourages them to avail themselves of such opportunities.?
Social Movements in "Classic" Spain
The use of the term "classic" to designate this stage is not without irony, for some of the more widely held stereotypes about this historical period in Spain were elaborated by non-Spanish romantic writers and art ists . The image they rendered -of a heroic people struggling for freedom under brutal repression by medieval rulers -was so indelibly etched that it came to be accepted by many as the "typical" or "eternal" Spain . Forming an indispensable part of that depic tion were the anarchist and socialist movements, Jerez and the Mana Negrajacqueries, Barcelona's Tragic Week and Ferrer Guard ia's execution in 1909, the convent burnings of1931, the October 1934 uprising in Asturias, and, above all, the Civil War. Conversely, the most accepted perception among both Spanish historians and leaders and ideologues of movements in this stage betrayed little romantic influence. This model was deeply influenced by Marxism, which was dominant in academic circles, which were largely hostile to Franco's regime, and among leaders of social protests. This view can be summarized as follows: The prime movers of collective protest actions are social classes, and their actions are driven by common material interests and oppres sive labor conditions. Of the contesting classes, the revolutionary class is the industrial proletariat. The "natural" representatives of the proletarian movement are parties and trade unions, through which the social group's interests achieve clear and faithful expression. Given that the ability to work is the only asset possessed by those rising up against the established social order, the preeminent tactic is, logically enough, the strike, which in confrontations of the highest order is widened into the general strike. The "conscious" expression of the demands raised by the oppressed social group's protest movement, regardless of how limited those demands may be, form part of a globalizing "progressive" world outlook or ideology. This means that every victory won through popular protest is a step toward rooting out the cause of all social Copyrighted Material
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injus tice an d spee ding up th e arrival of th e free an d egalitarian idea l in w hi ch hum an history will culminat e. T he last tr ait of thi s m od el is that th e ba sic politi cal reference in w hic h this social stru ggle develop s in m od ern societies is th e bour geois revoluti on , w hic h is th e th e polit ical tran slation - both conse quence an d agent at th e sam e time- of th e tr ansition from a feudal to a capitalist mod e of production . Spanish lead ers and ideol ogu es gen erall y tend ed to agr ee that bou rg eois revolution in Spain h ad been " in com plete" (Alvar ez-Junc o 1985); as a consequ en ce, politi cal stru gg le did not so clearl y revol ve aroun d the bour geoisie-prol etariat binomial as in Europ e's most advanced count ries. In stead , com plex allianc es betw een the proletariat and mod ernizin g sectors of th e bourg eoisi e aros e again st an oligarchic p ower bloc form ed from industrial and fmanc e capital's fusion w ith th e old land ed aristocr acy . . Und er th e rubric of " history of the labor mov em ent " or " histo ry of Spani sh so cial mo vem ents ,"4 this model generated su ch an enormo us numb er of studies th at it can be consid ered as th e " inhe rited paradigm" in 1960s and 1970s Spanish historiography . Th e mod el h as been th e object of vigorous critique for at least a decad e now (Alvar ez-Jun co and Per ez Ledesma 1982) ; I do not int end to add an ything to that debat e. Its problem s are man y and deep , but no mor e so than those ailing classic histories of labor m ovem ents in Fran ce or Italy. What is surprisin g about the Spanish model , how ever , is its rath er simplistic , mim etic regard for other European versions and its longevity . This longevit y affected the developm ent of social mo vements in the late Francoist and transition period . It becam e the most widely accepted self-imag e for th e protagonist s of the period 's social prot ests , notwithstanding that , by then , ongoing social and political chang es and the em erge nce of new mo vements wer e incr easingly expo sin g th e mod el's inad equac y. 5 Th e historians and social scientists who most clearl y perceived th e p eculiaritie s of th e Iberian case were not Spanish . Even tho se w ho accep ted M arxist social stru ggle as th e basic th eor etical fram ework fus ed it with the rom anti c notion of th e uniqu en ess of Spanis h hist or y. Iberian uniqu en ess wa s demonstr ated to them b y , more th an an y othe r featur e, th e imp ort anc e an d persist ence of anarchis m . Copyrighted Material
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Anarchism is, indeed, a singularly important feature of Spanish history; also important are popular protests or phenomena that were not labeled as anarchist. I suggest that, instead of social struggle as explained in the "inherited paradigm," antipolititism is the most characteristic and generic feature of labor and social movements in Spain during the "classic" stage. As Santos Julia puts it, "Spanish workers - both those in the CNT and in the UGT - were characterized by their indifference to the political form of the state and their hostility to political power, which naturally gave rise to an absence of debate about the state and conquering power and to the belief the revolution's entire content lay in the administration of society by labor organizations. "6 Antipoliticism is defined here as the disdain for parliamentary politics and reform . The goal of the Spanish workers' movements was not to reform, nor even to take over the state, but to topple it, or at least expose its weakness through blow s aimed at the heart of the system . Even the moderate Socialist party, led by Pablo Iglesias for more than forty years, concentrated its efforts in union organization and strike activities . It considered its participation in local and parliamentary elections only as a means for improving its propaganda forums and possibilities . And, in spite of their constant defeats, they stubbornly refused all offers made by "left bourgeois" Republicans to enter in electoral coalitions before 1910. By that year, enough pressure had been put on the old leader to force him to accept the coalition, and thus enter the Spanish Cortes for the first time . Yet, the anti political frame of reference was preserved among his successors. As late as in 1925, Largo Caballero , the secretary of the socialist union, accepted an official position offered by the dictator, Primo de Rivera, on the grounds that all "bourgeois" regimes were similar and that the labor move ment should only be concerned with strengthening its organization and its influence on social legislation (Ben -Ami 1978, 10127). When the Republic was instituted in 1931, working -class loyalties were very unclear. The Partido Comunista de Espana (PCE) contemptuously rejected the new Republic as a "bourgeois farce"; the anarchists repeatedly rose against Republican govern ments, pressing for faster and deeper land reform (Malefakis 1970); and even the moderate PSOE engaged in an armed rebellion in Asturias against the legal government when electoral results Copyrighted Material
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gran ted pow er to a con ser vati ve party in 1934 (julia 1977 ; Preston 1979) . Thi s is n ot th e plac e to discuss th e com plex caus es of this an tipo litical or an archistic tr end in Spanish labor m ovements. I only list here som e of th e diverg ent int erpr etati on s off er ed by the different histori cal schools on th e matt er, and I add a couple of remark s. Th e tr adition al and romantic historian s root ed anarchistic tend encies in m ysterious and indelibl e racial Iberi an peculiarities (Diaz del Moral 1967; Br enan 1943; Castro 1954). Advocat es of economic explanations tended to single out the coun try' s irregular and insufficient industrial developm ent as the causal factor. Th ey focused on the " failure" of th e industrial revolution, w hich was a result of the "a bsence" or "incom plete nature " of th e bourgeois revolution. " Above all, antipoliticism has been attribut ed to th e political structure of th e Canovist Restoration , namel y, th e oligarchic and exclusionary character of th e political syst em , the cacique clientele networks and their mo ckery of th e recentl y achieved univ ersal suffrag e. In this view, th ese factor s wi dened th e alienation of laboring classes and generat ed radically antisystem forms of prot ests (Calero 1976; Balcells 1980; Alvar ez-Junco 1986). As for th e suppos ed Spanish innat e anarchistic tend ency , anarchism was n eith er as constant a ph enomenon nor as deeply root ed as is gen erally held. Befor e 1910, at th e earliest , Spain does not pr esent anar chist featur es any more pronounc ed than , say, France or Italy ." Nor should it be forgott en that oth er Europ ean labor mov ements did not shed their antipolitical origins until very late, basically on the eve of World War I. The question should thus be seen as one of pac e, of lag , more than of any essential exc eptionalism . As for th e attribution of labor antipoliti cism to the politi cal structur e in which th e movements develop ed , it is not as ob vious as might first app ear. Were it so, antipoliticism should have spread and stren gthene d und er Fran coism , a political system more closed to popular participation than any oth er. Yet , ju st the oppos ite occurr ed . Our assumption must therefor e be that an tipoliticism wa s rooted in th e political culture develop ed by th e Spanish Left itself, w h ich , following old mill enari an patt erns and per vad ed by mid- nineteenth centur y rom antic revolut ionism , construct ed its iden tity as an ene my of all " au th orities" an d th e liberator from all oppresions. Copyrighted Material
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309 The Reemergence of Social Mobilization
The 1936-1939 Civil War marked the culmination and the end of the type of social strife that had dominated the previous tumultuous decades of Spanish history. General Franco's dictatorship broke that pattern and initiated a new historical stage of mark edly different features . Two phases of the long Franco era are usually distinguished; each has a crucial , though very different , bearing on our subject. In the first phase (1939-1959) the country lived through intense political repression and a totalitarian attempt at ideological reorientation on a fascist model. Taken together, they proved brutally effective in demolishing the inherited traditions of social rebellion. During the second period (1959-1975), after having failed in its effort to erect a new model of national " coexistence" on the ruins of liberal-democratic and working-class traditions , the regime poured its efforts into economic growth . Notable success in this realm, aided by a favorable European period of expansion, kicked off spectacular sociological changes in a few short years. I do not attempt a detailed analysis or description of the changes in Spanish society from 1959 to 1975. Simply put, by 1975, the dramatic increases in Gross Domestic Product and per capita income, the geographical mobility of the population , the redistribution of labor force, and the urbanization process made Spanish society something altogether different from what it had been only fifteen or twenty years before. 9 More important for our argument is that this social transformation was accompanied by major growth and increased efficiency of the political apparatus. The nationalist totalitarianism underpinning Francoism required a strong state capable of molding society along the lines demanded by the ideology. The combination of political repression and social paternalism required a police force; a large, centralized civil administration; public services; and a tax system with which to fund them. All this was done in despotic fashion and at great cost , 10 but the state succeeded in stamping its mark on society in an incomparably broader and deeper way than ever before in Spanish history . By the 1960s, oppositional forces aimed bitter criticisms at the economic polici es of the desarrollistaor "developmentalist " governments, but those very critiques implied acceptance of the necessity for the governCopyrighted Material
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ment to have an industrial or commercial policy. The quality of and waste in the public health-care system or the small retirement pensions could also be criticized, but it would have been difficult to convince Spaniards they could live without some type of government-administered welfare and social services system. Thus , upon his death in November 1975, Franco left behind a country that had undergone a dual process of "modernization. " Social modernization was brought about by industrialization and urbanization. Despite the lack of democracy, political modernization resulted in the growth of the state and its administrative efficiency . Social change brought conflict . Initial conflicts were economically motivated ; later they were more openly political. Opposition spokesmen and intellectuals tended to view conflicts as marking a resumption of interrupted history-the decades of dictatorship being a mere parenthesis-and believed that a return to the "classic " model of popular mobilization was under way. The labor movement , now captained by the Communist party and imbued with a strong Leninist sense of its leadership role, would be the antagonistic pole to the semi-feudal oligarchy that was victorious in the Civil War. The development of the political struggles of the late 1960s and early 1970s supports such an interpretation. After a period of isolation due to the unhealed wounds of the Civil War, the Communist party had emerged as the dominant opposition force. 11 This was probably due to its influence on or open control of the clandestine trade union organization, Comisiones Obreras, which was overwhelmingly dominant among politically active workers, as was proven by syndical elections in 1966. Around the Communist party and the Workers' Commissions there gravitated the stormy student movement'? and the most politically committed intellectuals. The most frequently used-almost the uniquemethod of action for confronting the regime, and the most destabilizing , was the industrial or university strike . Finally, the semiclandestine anti-Francoist culture was dominated by a progresista ideology (to use the revealing term the opposition attributed to itself), which combined a defense of democratic liberties with an anticapitalist economic outlook (Preston 1976; Vilar 1984). Another argument in favor of the return of the "traditional" model in this "modern" phase is that Spain had shed most of its Copyrighted Material
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anarchic singularity from the pre-1936 period. The CNT (Confederaci6n Nacional del Trabajo) had not played any important role in the conflicts of the late Francoist era, nor, counter to many predictions, was the anarchist union reborn from its ashes when the dictator died. In 1976, the anarchists held a couple of massive , fervid assemblies and there were those who thought that anarchist Spain was indeed eternal. 13 What those fleeting explosions demon strated was not the continuity but rather the distance separating 1936 from 1976. The old CNT trade unionists found themselves face to face with young , irreverant dcratas (libertarians), who were less interested in trade unionism that in "happenings," personal freedom, and transgressing social taboos-whether by free love, drugs, or outlandish aesthetic provocations. The elders replied in puritanical tones, unable to comprehend the new phenomenon. 14 In fact, what was occurring in anarchist circles was, not a confirmation of the return to a traditional stage, but rather a symptom of the country 's "modernization." In the prewar Spain one could hardly find the individualistic and aesthetic anarchism of the kind existing in radical intellectual circles north of the Pyrenees. In Spain, the dominant current was the militant and austere solidarity represented by the "lay saints" of the CNT. The situation changed radically in the 1950s and 1960s, and the newly reemerged Spanish anarchist movement during late Francoism and the transition to democracy period answered to the individualistic model (Alvarez-Junco 1977). Spain was becoming "Europeanized" in this sense. The importance of individualistic or dcrataanarchism was not the only new development. In the late 1960s and early 1970s, new types of conflicts and mobilizations appeared; they were very different from those preceding the Civil War and apparently identified with the new social movements springing up in industrial democracies after the institutional crisis suffered by political parties and representative mechanisms in the wake of 1968. Workers were not the only ones, indeed, perhaps not even the majority , rising up against Francoism . From the mid 1960s on, important social mobilizations were emerging; massively in student and nationalist circles , and more embryonically in such important arenas as neighborhood associations, feminist organizations , and environmental groups. Student activism achieved a primordial importance among Copyrighted Material
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political protests emerging in the late 1960s and early 1970s, and it became a genuine nightmare for the Franco regime in its later years . 15 It seemed that Spain was not an exception amid the world wide university rebellion symbolized by the anti -Vietnam War protests in American colleges and by the May 1968 revolt in Paris . Although student unrest undoubtedly shared some common traits all over the world, Spanish events cannot be seen as simply more episodes in the general wave : The internal situation of the dictator ship stamped their development with very specific markings . There were, to be sure, specific complaints against academic authorities and rigid norms of student conduct, as well as calls for modernizing academic institutions and subjects of study. Like everywhere else, these demands were mixed with -or a pretext for -more radical expressions of incompatibility with capitalism and industrial society . The student mobilization as a whole, how ever, cannot be properly understood only in terms of problems in the educational system, or the general revolutionary consciousness of student leaders, or the mimicking of the European and Ameri can models . What set the Spanish case apart and endowed student actions with a distinctive meaning vis-a -vis those in advanced industrial democracies was the rigidity of the political system that they were confronting. For any dictatorship, all open conflict becomes an intolerable defiance of the principle of authority. 16 For Francoism, which had aspired to model an espiritu nacional, to exert totalitarian control on culture and ideas , the university rebellion was even worse : It was an attack on the fundamental values on which the authoritarian system was based and a demonstration of its failure. Thus, student protest -which also benefited from its characteristic knack for communicative impact -acquired an inordinately large "subversive" potential. Students were supported by faculty and by the mass media that did not identify with the regime; they became symbolic standard bearers for demands ranging far beyond the academic world. Something similar could be said of social mobilizations inspired by or related to the reawakening of nationalist feelings, especially in Catalonia and the Basque region. I do not deal here with the regional nationalist agendas, since their clearly political goals and quick institutionalization make it difficult to consider them social movements in a strict sense. But under national banCopyrighted Material
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ners there were many mobilizations that were not exactly driven by nationalistic goals. Some of the claims in favor of regional languages and local traditions were supported by patently conservative sectors of those local communities (Catalan bankers and Basque priests, to cite two clear examples), some of which had even supported Franco in the Civil War (Carlists) . Yet, to the regime, any recognition of cultural diversity that went beyond local folkloric quaintness was subversive; it was seen as questioning the sacred principle of the "unity of Spain ." Police repression-including beating and jailing young people from respectable social sectors-easily moved the entire "aggrieved" community into identifying with the persecuted . After 1965-1966, nationalism galvanized much more than cultural and social elites in Catalonia and the Basque region.! ? It also gave rise to very significant mobilizations throughout Spain, as in 1970, when nine ETA (Euskadi Ta Askatasuna [Basque Homeland and Freedom]) militants were sentenced to death by a military court in Burgos, sentences which had to be commuted by Franco under strong national and international pressure (Tufion de Lara 1980, 414-15; Payne 1987, 557-58) . The fact that most of the outside support for peripheral nationalisms disappeared at the end of the transition seems to indicate that it was not inspired by truly sympathetic feelings for Basquism or Catalanism; rather, there were oppositional attitudes toward the regime that took advantage of any opportunity to express their dissent. A weaker movement of the mid 1960s saw the birth of neighborhood associations, which protested against the problems stemming from the accelerated urbanization of the 1950s and 1960s (Castells 1983). By the end of the decade, some feminist and environmentalist organizations also became visible, and there even were some timid collective protests against the military service. I S From many standpoints, all these developments seriously modified the inherited working-class paradigm that anti-Francoist leaders and ideologues were busy extending and shoring. They did so at least in several fundamental ways , and in this sense seemed to be giving birth to what in European and American industrial societies was being called " new social movements ." These movements were defined by their belonging not to a particular social stratum or class but to a new urban world (neighborhood movements) , generation (students, environmentalists), Copyrighted Material
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culture (nationalists), or gender (feminists), which were differen t from the dominant movements. Each stepped forward to dema nd recognition of new collective identities . T he content of movemen t demands also placed these conflicts outside the traditional frame work of class struggle. Ca lls for salary increases and improved working conditions, typical of the harshest stages of the first economic take -off, were comp lemented or supplanted by new, mo re sophisticated requirements relating to consumer ma tters, quality of life, democratization of the forms of everyday commun ication, control of the environment, and respect for cultural heritages. T he organizational an d mobilizing model of the movement was informal and discontinuous, far removed from the rigid and hier archical underground calls that the militarized Francoist po lice was accustomed to battling. Finally, the strike continued to hold a preeminent importance but was now -both in the aims of the strikers and in the government plans for stifling them - more a matter of disrupting public order than of exerting economic pres sure on employers. In fact, by the end of Francoism, strikes had lost importance in favor of demonstrations, occupations of public spaces, and a series of other "expressive" actions. None of these characteristics , however, altered the funda mental self-perception and strategic approach of anti -Francoist leaders and ideologues . Although their daily practice contradicted many of the traditional class-struggle presuppositions, they continued to hold that all the new phenomena be subordinated to the undeniable centrality of the "workers' movement." Old militants could even think that student, citizen, and feminist protests were transitional phenomena, and wave them off as products of an "in sufficient" unders tanding of historical reality attributable to the "petty bourgeois" background of the activists . Of course, they were considered useful to the movement if they fell in line behind the pro letarian vanguard. In fact, the traditional Left, notwithstanding apprehensions it felt over the novelties presented by these new movements, was using them politically. Their effectiveness in destabilizing the regime was outstanding. Although both the mass media and police- equally under the sway of the traditional paradigm -viewed workers' strikes as the gravest of confrontations, day-to-day protagonism was achieved by the new conflicts. Many of the new activists held political allegiances different Copyrighted Material
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from orthodox communism and acknowledged difficulties in understanding the traditional Left parties-which they were beginning to dub as "stodgy, " "machista, JJ and " cen tralist ." Some even pondered the need to create th eir own organizations . Nonetheless , in the en d most of the activists accepted the need to have a workers' vanguard and entrusted the PCE with symbolic representation and decision-making power for th e movement as a whol e or at least consider ed it th e fundamental ref erenc e when discussing strategies. The PCE 's strateg y-and this is key to understanding the new situation-was no longer to push th e proletarian revolution , but rath er to subordinate it to political reform. After summary analyses of the socioeconomic situation and non e-too-polish ed strategic argumentations (in short , the bourgeois democratic revolution had not yet been consummated in Spain) , th e PCE concluded that the "workers ' " movement needed to ally itself with the " refo rm ist bourgeoisie" to impose democratic reform on the dictatorship. The pressing problem was ther efore th e stat e's democratization and its conversion into the main in strument of social reform. It was a symptom of the new situation that th e rallying cry or watchword for mobilization was the "gen eral political strike ," to which was usually added, " aim ed at reestablishing democratic liberties. " The acceptance of this strategy distort ed th e ori entation and significance of th e Spanish student, feminist , and citiz en mov ements ; they could not fit the characteristics of the new social movements as they developed in the 1970s in Europ ean and American industrial democracies . Citizens ' mov ements , for instance , " fulfilled th e political strategies of the Partido Comunist a de Espana and of the Organizaci6n Revolucionaria de Trabajadores, the two main parties that had agre ed to share power in the executiv e committee of the Federation" (Castells 1983, 229). Th e larg est feminist organization, Muj eres Democraticas , was also controlled by the PCE and , naturally , submitted itself to the political necessities of the struggle against the regime . Similar , although oriented toward different political goals , was the distortion forc ed on en vironmentalism by Basque radicalism in its struggl e against the nuclear plant of Lemoniz , when environmental conc erns were th e apparent caus e for mobilizations in support of an armed organiz ation characterized by anything exc ept respect for human lives. Copyrighted Material
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Thu s, social mobilization in Spain in th e last years of Francoism (1960-1975) and during th e pol itical trans ition (1975-1979) was born into a contradictory situation , in a compl ex mixture of old and new elements . On the one hand , the country 's sociological modernization had given rise to an urban middle-class culture, which in turn generated new demands on the state and a remodeling of collective identities, all expressed through new forms of social mobilization . On the other hand , the obsolescence of the regime 's structur es jarred ever louder with Spanish society 's modernization and desire to int egrate into its European setting, and, insofar as its repressive institutions were concerned, proved incapable of dealing with the new social mobilization phenomena. The opposition's political culture was a mixture of obsolescence and modernity . It was obsolete in that it failed to recognize the novelty of opposition demands and forms of action and interpreted itself in the language of working-class redemptionism. Much of the opposition was still weighed down by pre-1936 anti pol iticism , that is, it was more disposed to confronting the state than to reforming it. 19 That working-class outlook, framed in the "inherited paradigm" of anti-Francoist ideologues, led newer movements to accept subordination to class struggle , that is, to the PCE strategy of securing democratic rights that eventually absorbed all other strategic goals . In this sense , the movements finally become political. Anti-Francoist political preoccupations dominated NSM concerns with objectives and modes of action; in this sense, there was no newness in Spanish social mobilization . At the same time , that political concern was a genuine novelty in Spain, especially in relation to the model from the pre-Civil War stage , which was characterized by antipoliticism. Anti-Francoist mobilizations were the first in the history of Spain to define their strategies in political terms . All that is to beg the question: Why this turn? And why at that time? European working classes were integrated into their respective national political systems on the occasion of the First and Second World Wars, conflicts in which Spain was not involved (Payne 1987, 6-7) . Spain did experience its own configuration , however, the Civil War of 1936-1939. It was then that the workers ' movements first became identified with a political regime : the Republic . Recall the mistrust with which workers ' movements Copyrighted Material
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received the Spanish Republic of 1931 and the strat egy of confrontation they adopted during its first years . The PCE rev ers ed this strategy in 1935 at Moscow's prompting ; it becam e a stalwart defender of the Popular Front ; and , wh en th e w ar brok e out , it defended a democratic republic as a positive response to fascism . The Socialists (Partido Socialista Obrero Espafiol) lik ewise heed ed the voic es calling for collaboration with th e republicans over the on es drawn to maximalist pret ensions. Ev en th e anarchist CNTFAI (Consejo Nacional de 'Irab ajo-Ped eracion Anarquista Iberica) accepted several ministerial portfolios (th e height of contradiction) in republican wartim e governme nts . It was in that conscious identification with antifascism that the Spanish working -class framework of ref erence chang ed and became politicized; this developm ent was eclipsed by subsequ ent defeat in the Civil War and shaded from public view until th e Left's reappearance at the en d of Francoism. The identification with parliamentary democracy was express ed in th e progr ams of the PCE , th e party that more fully than any other jettisoned all antipolitical ambiguity while at the same time conserving enough " revolution ary worker " legitimacy to be able to impose its political project on the whole of the Spanish Left in the 1960s and 1970s.
The Transition to Democracy and Postmode rn Social Mobilization
The transition from Francoist institutions to a parliamentary democracy was at long last carried out, and with much less strife than had been foreseen. 20 With regard to social movements, certain peculiarities can be noted. Although strik es, demonstrations , and labor conflicts unquestionably constituted anti -Francoist pressure tactics and continued to do so during the transition 's first years. P the fact is that it was neither th e unions nor the social movements but the political parties that piloted reform. Of the parties, the pace of events was not set by the prol etarian vanguard or by any coalition und er its leadership , but rather by a recent formation , the Union de C entro Democratico , w hi ch was composed of reformists from within Francoism and lead ers of the most moderate oppos ition. Th ey Copyrighted Material
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were succeeded , in 1982, by a socialist party (PSOE) that had played a minor role in the opposition to Franco ism . Despite its old nam e, this party could also be consider ed a ne w political orga nization , with small revolutionary proletari an eng agem ent. The whol e proc ess w as mark ed by fear of ren ewed politic al instability , which led to a constitutional and electoral fram ework that favored the concentration of power in the national leadership of th e parties and a weakened role for rank-and-file activists , parli amentary groups, or lo cal networks . Little room was left for participation and internal renewal. In the years of transition toward democracy, th e social movements that had play ed such an important role in the battl e against Francoism disappear ed or were subjected to organization s th at were mor e institutionaliz ed and fo cus ed on specific political objectives . Th e primary and most spe ctacular 1977 elector al collapse was that of th e pow erful and mod erate Partido Comunist a as well as of th e revolutionary Left , which app arentl y had been behind so many of th e anti-Francoi st mobilizations . Communism 's worldwide weak ening was already obvious by the late 1970s , and it was especially lacking in app eal for a newl y prosp erous society such as Spain. These politi cal or ganizations probabl y also suff ered from th e inconsi stenc y betw een th eir institution al natur e as Leninist parties at the sam e tim e as th ey wer e fostering th e idea of being anti-institutional and grass-roots " m oveme nts." In any case, the num erous revolutionary organizations th at had been con sidered prime mov ers of mobilizations sim ply disappeared at th e first general elections of 1977. Th e possibilit y should not be dismissed that its strength had always been more app arent th an real. Th e PCE , the main anti-Francoist forc e, which ex pe cted to gain 20 to 25 percent of th e vot es in 1977, obtained less than 10 perc ent that year and less than 5 perc ent in 1982. It was removed from the primary position it had occupied in Spanish politics during th e transition years . Trade unionism, contrary to exp ectations, also declined, in both strike activity and membership . The first sign was the fall from preeminence of the Comisiones Obr eras. Its pl ace w as tak en by th e Union Gen eral de Trabajadores (UGT) , which was much more tightly institutionalized and politi cally controll ed b y the PSOE. Th e second symptom was th e acceptance b y both unions Copyrighted Material
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of th e priority of political reform over labor demands . Thes e agreements were codified in the Moncloa Pacts, which insured social peace in exchange for " consensus" agreement on political reform. 22 Comisiones Obreras finally ended the political transition as a political appendage of the PCE, as UGT was to the PSOE. None of them has raised the low level of union m emb ershipabout 13 percent of the labor force-which tight ens th eir dependence on state budgets (Fishman 1990, 187). As for the student movement, the transition led to its dissolution. Its demands were revealed to be too thin or too het erogeneous to sustain an organized front. By the time political reform was largely in place , radical revolutionary political lines were defended by small leftist groups with little influence over the student body. Thos e actively advocating positions close to the PCE subordinated their entire strategy to the regim e's democratization , whose realization left them the sol e alternative of becoming professional politicians in an electoral system . A certain degre e of permanence was achi eved in the early 1980s by the demands raised by unions and special collectives who , with the passing of time and their incorporation into the low er ranks of the teaching body , were no longer made up of students but of young professors (the so-called PNN s23). These demands eventually took the form of salary increases and job stability (achievement of civil servant status) and were basically satisfied by the successiv e reforms. University unrest as a chronic phenomenon disappear ed. After the 1977 general election, nationalist demands wer e reduced to socially conservative legal parties that used mobilizations in order to threaten Madrid and widen their decentralized domains and their share of the national budget. ETA, of course , remained alive, but , instead of getting th e widespread support it had enjoyed among anti-Francoists , the reaction now tended to b e bitter enmity . It was viewed by the rest of the political spectrum as jeopardizing a democratic edifice of whose solidity no one w as entirely sure . Citizens' movem ents, which once were labeled as "the largest and most significant urban movement in Europe since 1945, "24 did not survive the first municipal elections of April 1979, when most of Spain 's major cities elected nationalists, socialists, or socialist-led coalitions to power. Madrid 's Federation of NeighborCopyrighted Material
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hood Associa tio ns dem and ed w itho ut success that th e ne w Span ish constitu tion recogniz e th e public int erest of neighborhood associations, as wa s don e with trad e unions. Th e mo vem ent was unabl e to parti cipat e in th e newl y elect ed institutions oflocal governme nt, and it was unabl e to surv ive as an orga ni zation independent from politic al parti es (Ca stells 1983, 225 , 236) . Th e social mov em ent s remaining at th e end of the political reform proc ess (about 1981-1 982) were small groups of environmentalists , pacif ists , and a few new voic es defending sexual minoriti es. Only the se really can be called new social mov ements. Th ey were stripped of politi cal colorings or dep end enc e on politi cal parti es, and, notwithstandin g how incomp atibl e th ey deemed their values to be with resp ect to th e dominant on es, th ey harbor ed no dr eam s of revolutionar y conquests of power to propel sweepin g social changes." The y were guid ed by pragmatism , and th ey cen tered th eir efforts on th e reform or contro l of specific segme n ts of social life or th e reco gniti on of new collective identi ties. From an or ganizational standpoint , th ey rejected both the social-d emocratic bur eaucr atic model and Jacobin -L eninist discipline; th ey idealized grass- ro ots politics and its segme nted, decentraliz ed , rank -and-fil e controll ed organization s. Th ese charact eristi cs m ade Spanish m obilizations of the 1980s comparabl e to th e 1970s Europ ean NSM model. 26 Even so, Spanish NSMs have peculiar featur es. Th ey are not ju st late , the y are ex trem ely weak. This weakn ess is deri ved , on th e one hand , from Spanish society 's tradit ional in cap acity for civil organization and action away from th e stat e, and , on th e oth er , from the consolidation of a system of repr esentation that is controlled by the top lead ership of th e politi cal parti es. Betw een 1977 and 1982, publi c opinion pour ed its hopes into th e political arena . Especially from Februar y 1981, wh en th e democr atic system was thr eaten ed by an att empt ed militar y coup , all hop es were center ed on a PSOE accession to power. In 1982, the new young rul ers arriv ed , back ed by th eir anti -Francoist credentials; th ere w as peace and demobiliz ation for some thr ee years . Th e "progr essiv e" int ellig entsi a had by th at tim e realized that th e stat e of politi cal affairs was compl etely contr olled by part y lead ers . Th e term desencanto (disench antm ent) wa s coine d to describe th eir feelings of impot enc e as well as th e destru ction of Copyrighted Material
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millenarian-revolutionary expectations . The old revolutionary Left saw itself withering away, laminated between two worlds: politics, now the purview of professionalized parties and whose only road to power was by way of election victories ; and social movements, weak, depoliticized, and focused on partial objectives. Spain did not witness a peace mobilization of the kind that swept Europe in the early 1980s (Klandermans 1991). Toward the end of 1985, when the PSOE 's reformist drive was ebbing and harsh recessionary measures were wearing thin , the government's decision to advocate remaining in NATO, counter to its implicit electoral promises, catalyzed discontent . In the spring of 1986 the NSMs, together with remnants from anti-Francoist social move ments, mobilized in the campaign to vote no in the NATO referendum, which was nevertheless won by the government. The sense of impotence heightened, and there began a period marked by sporadic outbursts of angry collective protest actions. These are exemplified by the student movements of 1986 and 1987 that ousted Education Minister Jose Maria Maravall and by the general strike of December 14, 1988, that demanded less austere social and salary policies. None of these protests, though, meant a reversal of the process at work in the previous phase . Student activism vanished and no viable organization survived in the 1986-1987 flare-up; union membership remained rutted at the previous low levels and no new phase of strike activity or social mobilization began. Nor did the rebukes of the PSOE signify confidence in other parties: the PSOE again obtained absolute majorities in the general elections called in 1986 (after the NATO referendum) and 1989 (after the general strike). The occasional protest-mobilization capacity displayed by a collection of groups with such a tenuous base can only be explained if the demonstrations against government education and economic policies were vehicles for expressing other things: the frustration of youth in a society and power system overly controlled by a generation with much future still ahead of it; an ethical sanction of the ready rapport of new socialist leaders with the old oligarchiesr" or popular aversion for their prepotente (arrogant, imperious) style of exercising power."
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In this chapter I emphasize the importance of the internal framework of reference and self-perception of social movements, following a comparison between different stages in Spanish modern history. In the first, or traditional, period, an anti political culture dominated . The political system provided few possibilities for participation or social reform through legal channels . More important, social movements showed little interest in pushing for reform of the state. It would be difficult to assert that the first phenomenon caused the second , for in the next stage, despite the total absence of participatory possibilities provided by Francoism, social movements, guided by the realistic posibilista strategy of the principal underground opposition force, fully embraced the struggle to democratize the regime. The most evident cause of this shift was the politicization of the working classes during the struggle against Francoism initiated during the Civil War. A quarter century of repr ession and silence was followed by the reemergence of protests, this time under new conditions . Unpreced ented economic growth and social modernization was under way. The presence of the state in the life of society-in the form of police vigilance but also of administrative apparatus, social welfare programs, and public services-grew to an extent previously unthinkable. The new strategy adopted by anti-Francoist mobilizations proved that the war had not been forgotten . The paramount objective was not social revolution but the replacement of the "regime of 18 July" with a democratic political structure.F' This priority was defended by most opposition forces, but it was above all defended by the PCE, which was charged by the rest of the Left with leading the social mobilization. This involvement in political struggle marks the difference between Spanish social movements of the 1960s and 1970s and NSMs in European and American democracies of the same epoch . This politicization also differentiates pre-1936 Spanish mobilizations from those after 1960. Similar observations may be made about the most advanced countries in Europe in the pre-1914 and post-1945 periods. The process of political incorporation is similar, the timing is different. The self-perception in working-class terms that drove the Copyrighted Material
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social movements to become politicized eventually was their un doing. Subsumed by the political parties, they relinquished leader ship of the democratic transition to those who, out of fear of a return of the pre -1939 constitutional and governmental instability, organized a system in which social participation was much circumscribed. Once the political reform has finished, a third, postmodern , stage begins . Again, the Spanish situation can be likened to that in other advanced industrial societies. Yet, the predominantly po litical orientation of social movements in the previous phase now makes them unable to organize and counterpoise the power exercised by political parties . Social mobilization loses its strength of the 1960s and early 1970s as its leaders either become part of the "po litical class" or are pushed off-stage. There is then a resurgence, though only sporadic and incomparably weaker than in the past, of the Spanish tradition of mis trust of the state, the antipoliticism of pre-Civil War culture . The public feels disappointed and duped by los politicos. The government is used as an excuse for impotence or inaction and is blamed for all social ills. Social movements, though garnering little social support in their day-to-day doings, become occasional vehicles for sporadic criticisms of the government by society. The combination of chronic weakness with a surprising rep resentative capacity at certain junctures seems to be the model for social mobilization in the near future, unless there is a substantial shift in the society's capacity for self-organization and the political system's capacity for absorption and flexibility. 30 Either there arises in Spain a tradition of organized citizen activism and the institutional checks and impediments to citizen participation are eased, or social mobilizations will continue to be characterized by a somewhat schizophrenic duality. Incapable of achieving sustained social support, they will live through long periods of apathy, silence, and impotence, punctuated by heady moments of protagonism when issue, climate, and rallying call combine to bring forth popular outpourings of anger against the government. Notes 1. Its antecedents can be traced to the 1830s, when the first workers'
associations began to operate in the Catalan textile industry . 2. Again, some could argue that the real awakening began in 1956, a year
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324 of stud ent s' prot ests and a transpo rtation strike in Barcelon a, but th at was an isolated period of unr est. It is only since 1961 that confrontation wi th th e regime becam e mo re or less contin uo us. 3. Thi s sugge stion parti ally dr aws from Till y's approac h (1990) to the relation ship between social m ob ilization and th e state's repressive ability and from Tarr ow 's (1991), according to which social mo bilization tr aits depend on politi cal oppor tunities. 4. Am on g th e man y possible exa m ples, the m ost influential has been Tuii6n de Lara 1971. Simi lar tr aits were shared by pr eviou s public ations , such as Lamb ert 1953; specialized bo oks on ana rchism (Ne ttlau 1969; G6m ez C asas 1977) or socialism (G6m ez Llor ent e 1976); or general hist ori es, such as Ramos Oli veira 1946 or the mor e recent Gil Nov ales 1985. 5. See, for exam ple, th e Manijiesto-Programa of the PCE , in 1975, especially part 2: " T he strugg le against th e state power of the capitali st oligarch y; for social and politic al democra cy; for socialism" ; or Tamam es 1973. 6. Julia 1990, 183; see also Juli a 1988. C N T (C onf edera ci6n N acional del Trabajo) and U GT (U ni6 n Gene ral de Trabajador es) were, respectively, th e anarchosy ndicalist and socialist tr ade union s. 7. See for in stance, Vilar 1962. Thi s was also the tend ency of J. Vicens Vives in his vario us works on nin eteenth- centu ry Ca talonia. Hobsbawm (1959) parti ally took up thi s interpretation. 8. Th e IWMA (Interna tiona l Workin g Men 's Associati on) ent ered Spain sligh tly late, in 1868; Spaniards opted for Bakuninism , in the 1872 split between Mar xists and Bakunini sts, but so did all other southern Europ ean organizat ions. Th e decadence of the First Int ernation al a year later w as as sudden as everyw here else, only w ith th e bri ef exception of an ephem eral resurg ence in Andalu sia (1881- 1883). Th e 1890s witne ssed anarchist terrorism in Barcelon a, but to a lesser degr ee th an in Italy, France, tsarist Russia, or the Austro-Hungarian em pire (the detailed files kept by the French police from 1892 to 1894 show onl y 2 or 3 percent of suspected anarchists to be Spaniard s). Th e assassination attempt on the Spanish prim e mini ster, Antonio C anovas, in 1897 was carried out by an Italian (see Alvarez-Junco 1992). The rise of revoluti on ary syn dicalism in the first years of th e twenti eth cent ury had also occurred in France in the pre viou s decade. Spanish exception ality really began in 1910, with th e foundati on of the anarchist union CNT (Conf ederaci6n N acional del Trabajo) ; and even then we should speak of bri ef flare-ups (1917-1 920,1 931-1 937), w ith a gr eat chro nological and geographical discontinuit y . In industrial Catalonia , its tr aditional strong hold, anarchism lost strength in th e 1930s, while it expanded amo ng Castili an and Ara gon ese rural wo rke rs. Th e celebrat ed " anarchis t collectives" existed mainly in Arag 6n . Many of th em were merely a produ ct of th e presence of anarchi st troop s, located in villages wh ere th e C N T had no affiliates befor e th e C ivil War (Casanova 1985). 9. By 1950, 70 percent of the Spanish popul ation was still livin g in localities ofless th an 50,000 inhabitant s and 48 percent of th e labor force was em ployed in agriculture (no t very different from th e beginnin g o f the cent ury, w hen the respective figur es were 80 percent and 60 percent) . B y 1975, th ese ratios dropped to below 60 percent and 25 percent- signalin g a cruc ial adv ance toward the
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325 situation in 1990, when mor e than half the popul ation lived in large cities and less than 15 percent of the acti ve labor forc e was engaged in th e prim ary sector. The total numb er of cars in the country , which in 1950 had not yet surp assed 100,000 vehicl es, jumped to 5 million in 1975 and topped 12 million in 1990. Th e number of tourist s, barel y 1 million in 1955, surged to 6 milli on by 1960, and sho t up to 14 milli on in 1965 and 30 million in 1975; it was mor e th an 50 milli on in 1990. In 1975, after fifteen years of economic growth of about 7 percent each year, th e country was th e world's tenth larg est indu strial pow er. Th e illiteracy affecting 60 percent of Spaniard s at the beginning of th e centur y only survi ved in marg inal cluster s of th e elderly and rur al population . Birth rat es fell belo w those of France (Linz 1981; Herr 1971, chap . 15; or Anuarios from Instituto Nacional de Estadisti ca). 10. Gallo 1969; Tamam es 1973; Tunon de Lara 1980; Fusi 1985; Payn e 1987. 11. The Communist party was excluded from the general oppo sition meeting held in Munich in 1962. 12. The student movement included other force s, which , for th e most part, were weaker or, as in the case of the FLP (Frente de Liberacion Popular) , more ephemeral than the com m unis ts. 13. A rally in San Sebastian de los Reyes, Madrid , and th e jornadas libertarias in Barcelon a, in the summer of 1976. 14. See, for exampl e, th e article publish ed in L 'Espoir, the voice of the exiled Spanish anar chists in France, on "L a droga " (Toulou se, June 24, 1973). 15. Maravall 1978; Pefia 1966. Student s prot ests had already been extremely important in the fall of Primo de River a's dictatorship in 1929-1 930 (Ben-Ami 1983,157,344-55) . 16. Wh en unrest began to grow in the 1960s, Franco was obsessed with distingui shing between " labor-m otivated " and " political" strik es. He could not understand that the ver y nature of his regime made all protests political (Tunon de Lara 1980, 371). 17. A symptom of that support was the popularity of the Catalan nova can{6 among th e progresistayouth all over Spain . The year 1965 was symbolic because of the repercussion of the intellectuals' sit-in at the Capuchin convent in Sarria, 18. The magazine Bicicleta, in the late 1970s, was very informative on movements in defens e of the enviro nm ent in Spain . On pacifism , see Perez Ledesma 1982. 19. A symptom of this could be th e ironi cal rebukes to the PCE leader's moderate strategy so frequent among the progresista culture , as shown in the wellknown copla: " C arrillo / ladonde vas tu, Carrillo / con la reconciliacion? / Cog e la hoz y el martillo / y haz la revolucion / no solo contra el Caudillo " (Why do you talk so much of reconciliation, Carrillo? Take the hammer and sickle and make revolution , not only against the Caudillo [Franco]) . 20. Among the vast academic production on the Spani sh politic al reform, the most helpful are Carr and Fusi 1981; Casanova 1983; Maravall1 984; Gilmour 1985; Gunthe r, Sani, and Shabad 1986; Preston 1986; Diaz 1987; Julia 1988. 21. For example , the wave of strikes that the Arias-Fraga go vernm ent
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326 confronted in th e first half of 1976; these strikes can be credited wi th thwarting the gove rn me nt's pr oy ecto continuista (or the project of continuity , th e plan to keep Fran coist institut ion s with mil d reforms) . 22. Th e Mon cloa Pacts we re signed by th e m ain part ies (rang ing from the Co m m unis t part y to Ali anza Popular, a ne w co nse rva tive for ce m ade up by form er Francoist " reforme rs" ) seeking to insur e stability after the gene ral election s of 1977. 23. Th e Pro fesores N o Num erarios, or PNN s, were college lectur ers or teachin g assistants w ho did most of th e teachin g at rapidl y ex panding publi c uni versities in th e 1960s and 1970s. Q ualifications and research requir em ents were low , but so was the salary; P N Ns did not enjoy tenur e guarantees. Th ey becam e politi cized quick ly and the y were an im port ant factor of instabili ty during late Francoism an d tr ansiti on years. 24. T his is Cas tells's (1983, 2 16) somew ha t idealized version ; Tour aine was influ enced by it (1984, 6). 25. A tellin g evo lution was in the envi ro nme ntal m ovem ent . At a sto rmy meetin g in Ce rcedilla in 1977, po liticos (con tro lled by th e revoluti on ary group aR T ) and genuine env iro nme ntalists split. I th ank Enriqu e Lar afia for thi s reference. 26. In th e sense defined by Melu cci (1989), for instan ce. 27. Th e m arriage between the form er m ini ster of financ e, Mi guel Boyer, w ho was respon sib le for the austere polici es of 1982 th rou gh 1985, and Isabel Pr eysler , a well-k now n figur e of th e Cos ta del Sol "jet-se t, " cause d a great mor al scanda l in the sum m er prior to th e gene ral strike. O n th e strike, see Juli a 1989. 28. Th e result was th e exclusive attributio n of politi cal po wer to those who had won th e elections. Thi s was considered a betr ayal b y prota goni sts of anti- Franc ois t m obili zation s w ho had bel ieved literally in " popular parti cipation " rhe toric . 29. Th e Franco regim e often used thi s nam e to refer to th e date on which the milit ary p ronun ciam ient o against th e Republi c began in 1936. 30. In the sense in whic h Sam uel Hu ntin gt on has used th ese concepts in Political Or der in C hang ing S ocieties (Ne w Haven : Yale Uni versity Pr ess, 1968), for instance. See th eir applic ati on to the Spanis h case in Ca me ro 1988.
Referen ces
Alv arez-Jun co, Jose. 1977 . " Los dos ana rquismos ." C uadernos de R uedo lberico 5557:139-5 6. -- . 1985. " A vueltas co n la Revolu ci6n Bur gu esa." Zar Ia A bierta 3637:81- 106. -- . 1986. uEI ana rquism o en la Es pana co n tern po ranea ." An ales de Hi storia contemp ordnea 5:189- 200.
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. 1992. "P ed ro Vallin a, un ana rquista espafio l el Paris de 1900 ." H istoria Social 13:23- 37.
Alvar ez-Junc o , Jose, Gloria Martine z D or ad o, and M aria Luisa San ch ez Mejias. 1983. " Las alterna tivas revolu cion arias en Esp an a. ~ F ra ca so en la dem ocracia?" N ueva Sociedad 69: 123-33.
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327 Alvarez-Junco , Jose, and Manuel Perez Ledesma . 1982. " Histo ria del rno vimient o obr ero . c:Una segunda ruptur a?" Revista de Occidente 12:19- 41. Balcells, Alb ert . 1980. EI arraigo del anarquismo en Cataluiia: Textos de 1928- 34. Bar celona : jucar . Ben-Am i, Shlomo . 1978. Th e Origins of the Second Republic in Spain. New York: O xford Univ ersity Press. -- . 1983. Fascism f rom Above: Th e Dictatorship of Primo de Ri vera in Spain, 1923-1930 . New York: O xford Univer sity Pr ess. Brenan, Gerald . 1943. Th e Spanish Labyrinth. New York : Ox ford Uni versity Press. Calero , Antonio M . 1976. Movimientos sociales en A ndalucia (1820-1 936) . Madrid : Siglo XXI. Came ro , Teresa. 1988. " Polftica sin demo cracia en Espana." Revista de Occidente 55-5 6: 43-70 . Carr , Raymond, and Juan Pablo Fusi. 1981. Spain: Dictatorship to D emocracy. London : Allen and Unwin . Casano va, Jose V. 1983. " Modernization and D emocratization : Reflections on Spain' s Transition to Democra cy. " Social Research 50:4. Casanova, Julian. 1985. Anarquismo y revolucion en la sociedad ruralaragonesa, 19361938. Madrid : Siglo XXI. Castells, Manuel. 1983. " T he Making of an Urban Social Mov em ent : The Citizen Movem ent in Madrid towards the End of the Pranquist Era ." In his Th e City and the Grassroots: A Cross-Cultural Th eory of Urban Social Movements. Berkele y: University of California Press. Castro, Arnerico . 1954. La realidadhist6ricade Espana. Mexico Cit y: Porrua . Diaz, Elfas. 1987. La transition ala democracia. Clavesideol6gicas. Madrid : Eud ema . Diaz del Moral , Juan . (1929) 1967. Historia de las agitaciones campesinas andaluxas. Madrid : Alianza . Fishman , Robert . 1990. Working-Class Organization and the Return to Democracy in Spain. Itha ca: C ornell Uni versity Pre ss. Fusi, Juan Pablo . 1985. Franco. Autoritarismoy poderpersonal. Madrid : El Pais Editores. Gallo, Max . 1969. H istoire de l'Espagnefranquiste. Paris: Robert Laffont . Gilmour, David . 1985. Th e Transformationof Spain. London: Q uartet Books . Gil Novales , Alb erto , ed . 1985. La RevolucionBurguesa en Espana. Madrid : Akal. G6m ez Cas as, Juan . 1977. Historia del anarcosindicalismoespaiiol. Madrid : Edito rial Agu ilera . G6mez Llorente , Luis. 1976. Ap roximaci6n a la historiadel socialismoespaiiol. Madrid : Edi cusa, Gunther , Richard , Giacomo Sani, and Goldie Shabad . 1986. Spain after Franco: Th e Making of a Competitive Party System. Berkeley : University of California Press. Herr, Richard . 1971. An Historical Essay on Modem Spain. Berkeley : Univer sity of California Press. Hobsbawn , Eric. 1959. Primitive Rebels. Manch ester : Man chester Uni versity Press . Julia, Santo s. 1977. La izq uierdadel PSOE (1934-36). Madrid : Siglo X X I.
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. 1988. "Transiciones a la democracia en la Espana del siglo XX . " Sis tema 84: 25-40 . --. 1989. La desavenencia. Partido, sindicatos y huelg a ge neral. Ma dri d : El Pais and Ag uilar . --. 1990. "Poder y revoluci6n en la cultura pohtica del mi litan te obrero espano l." In Peup le, mouvement ouvrier, culture dans l 'Esp ag ne contemporaine, edited by Jacqu es Ma ur ice. Par is: Press es U ni versitair es de Vincennes. Klan derma ns, Ber t. 1991. " T he Peace Movement an d Socia l Movement Th eory ." In Peace Movements in )Mostern Europ e and the Unit ed State s, edi ted by Be rt Klan dermans , pp . 1- 39. Vol. 3 of International Social Mo vement Research. Gree nw ich, Conn .: JAI Press . Lam ber t, Renee. 1953. Mouvement s ouvr iers et socialistes (Chrono logie et bibliograph ie) : L'Espagne, 1750- 1936 . Paris : Edi tio ns Socia les. Linz, Juan , ed. 1981. Inf orme FOESSA : Inf orme sociol6gico sobre el cambio p olitico en Espana (1975-1981) . Ma drid : Euramerica . Malefakis, Edwa rd . 1970. Agrar ian Reform and Peasant Revo lutio n in Spain. New Haven : Yale U niversity Press. Maravall, Jose Maria. 1978. Di ctadura y disentimiento politico, Obreros y estudiantes bajo el[ran quismo . Madrid : Alfag uara . --. 1984. Th e Transition to Demo cracy in Spa in . London: Croom Hel m . Melu cci, Alber to . 1989. Nomad s of the Present : Social Movements and Individual Nee ds in Cont emporary Society . Philadelp hia: Tem ple U ni versit y Press . Nettl au , Max. 1969. La Premiere Internationale en Espagne , 1868-1888 . Dor drecht, Ho lland: D . Reidel. Payne, Stanley . 1987. Th e Franco Regime : 1936-1975 . M adison : U niversity of W isconsi n Pres s. Pefia, Antonio . 1966. " Veinticinco afios de luch as estudia ntiles. " In Horizonte Espano l1966 , 2:169-2 12. Paris : Ruedo Iberico . Perez Ledesma, M anuel. 1982. Intr odu ction to Contra el hambre y la carrera de armamentos . M adrid : Fun dam ent os. Pres ton, Paul. 1979. " T he Strugg le agai nst Fascism in Spain: L eviatdn and the Con tradic tions of th e Spanish Left , 1934-36 ." European Studi es Review 9, 1:81-103 . --. 1986. T he Triumph of Democ racy in Spain . Lon do n: Methu en . --, ed . 1976. Spai n in Cri sis: The Evo lution and De cline of the Franco Regime. Hassoc ks, Eng lan d: H arvester. Ram os Olive ira, Ant oni o. 1946. Politics, Econom ics, and M en of M odern Spain (1808 -19 46) . Lon do n : Go llancz . Tamames , Ram on . 1973. La Repu blica. La era de Franco. Ma drid : Alianza/Alfagua ra. Tarrow, Sidney. 1991. " 'Aim ing at a Moving Target' : Socia l Science and the Recent Reb ellions in Eastern Euro pe ." Political Science and Politics 29:12-20 . T illy, C ha rles . 1990. Coer cion, Capita l, and Europ ean Stat es. Oxfo rd: Basil Blackwe ll. Touraine , Alain . 1984. "Les mouveme nts soc iaux : obje t particu lier ou problerne cen tra l de l'an alyse soc iologiq ue?" Revu e Fraruaise de Socio logi e 25, 1:3-19. Tunon de Lara, Manu el. 1971. E l mov im iento obrero en la historia de Espana . Madrid : Taurus.
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329 -- . 1980 . Espana bajo la dictadurafranquista. Barcelona : Labor. Vicens Vives, Jaume . 1986 Los catalanes en el siglo X IX. Madrid : Alianza . Vilar, Pierre. 1962. Hist orie de l'Espagne. Paris : P.u.F. Vilar, Sergio . 1984. Historia del anti-franquismo, 1939-19 75. Bar celona : Epoca.
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Chapter 14
The Party's Over- So What Isto Be Done? Richard Flacks
Two hundred years after the French Revolution, when the division between Left and Right began to be used to map political alignments, it seems obvious to many that such clear-cut political differentiation has lost any meaning . Certainly, it is argued, the Left no longer can be said to have reality in the light of the collapse of international communism, the decomposition of the Soviet bloc , the abandonment of socialism by those living under its "actually existing" form, and the recent conservative drift of politics in many Westem countries. I argue, however, that we still need "Left" and "Right" to signify certain essential political and cultural differences. I pro pose that what is dying is a particular type of political mobilization. It is the Left as a "party" that has come to an end. The Left as a Tradition
The Left is, first of all, a tradition - a relatively distinct body of belief and action that began to have a coherent character at the time of the American and French Revolutions. An enormous variety of ideological perspectives constitute that tradition. It is known by a host of labels: socialism, anarchism, communism, pacifism, radical democracy, feminism, and certain variants of libertarianism . In the United States, instead of these relatively specific labels, leftists typically refer to themselves by using such ideologically euphemistic terms as progressive, liberal, populist, and radical. Left ideological perspectives have often been propelled by organizations created to advance them. The proliferation of ideological perspectives, of variants within these, and of organizations representing them competing for support has meant that the tradi tion of the Left has been deeply structured by internecine struggle . Given the ideological divisions and warfare on the Left, what Copyrighted Material
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warrants the assertion that there is nevertheless a shared tradition ? What , if anything, do the Left fragments have in common? One answer is that there is an essential idea that und erlies these ideological differences . That idea can be captur ed best by a statement like this: Society should be organized so that th e people make their own history. Here are some other ways of putting it : Social and economic life should be arranged so that every memb er of society has the chance to have some voice in shaping the conditions within which their lives are lived ; Socioeconomic arrang ements in which a few can decide the lives of the many should be replaced by arrangements based on collective self-government ; or Social life should be structured as much as possibl e on the basis of reasoned discourse among society's memb ers, rather than by the exercise of power or by chance (or the working of imp ersonal markets). 1 In short, the Left tradition is the cumulative struggle to envision and practice a fully realized democracy . Most of the ideological differences within the tradition of the Left have revolved around issues of power and strategy . Disputes over what kinds of power-economic, political, military, sexual-are primary and over the agencies, levers, and processes of change have been so deeply divisive that they have frequently obscured the elements of agreement in these ideological fragments . Still, th e factional strife of the past seems now overshadow ed by a sense of commonality . The Left as Identity
The Left tradition has provided rich material for the construction of personal identity . Indeed, it is crucial to understand that th e tradition has been carried forward not only by formal organizations and literature but, more fundamentally, by individual human beings who share a personal identity based in that tradition . That identity is cent ered on a sense of responsibility to live one 's life in relation to history and as an active contributor to social transformation . Conscious Leftists, I imagine, conceive of themselv es as duty-bound to connect to public life , to speak out against injustic e; they feel most fulfilled when they beli eve that they have made some diff er enc e in the world , hoping , at a minimum , that, as Brecht put it , " the butchers would have slept more easily without me. " Current emCopyrighted Material
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phasis on identity as a central theme in "new" social movements ignores the fact that, for generations, commitment to the labor movement and other "traditional" movements has had much to do with self-expression and not just a pursuit of "rational" interest. Social traditions and identities do not "succeed" or "fail"; they develop, renew, stagnate, and die . The Left, defmed as tradi tion and identity, may well continue, even though many of its most potent symbols have been discredited. Such continuity will depend on a radical revision of the narratives that undergird the Left's self-understanding . Can the dissidents in Eastern Europe who took on the burdens of opposing communist authority come to be seen as reinforcing and enriching an identity that was shaped in earlier generations by communists? Will the moments in the streets of Prague and Leipzig and Peking when masses confronted the party dictatorships come to be viewed as episodes in a tradition of popular democratic struggle marked, in earlier generations, by the unfurling of red banners and socialist slogans? Such construc tions may appear absurd until one recalls that the most profound critiques of communism have, for decades, been made from within the Left tradition . To a great extent, our understanding of the historical significance and cultural meanings of social movements depends on such constructions, that is, on a continuing contest about how particular episodes may be situated within long traditions of thought, action, and expression . The Left as a Party
For one hundred years, most people on the Left throughout the world have shared elements of a vision and of an identity, and also a sense of common strategy . The key strategic idea during this century of struggle has been that social transformation depends on the development of the Left as a vehicle of power. Most particularly, it depends on the emergence of a party that is capable of winning power and using the machinery of the state to implement a program of change . This mass party strategy was seen as necessary for several reasons . First, it was essential to unify the working class, articulate its shared grievances, and mobilize its collective energy . Ever since the mid-nineteenth century, Left activists and intellectuals have seen the working class as both the moral source and the practical Copyrighted Material
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sectoral difference to unite around a radical program. Accord ingly, all social democratic parties have had to adopt moderate programs or otherwise reduce their ideological clarity and mili tancy in order to gain majority support (see Laclau and Mouffe 1985). Robert Michels was the first -but hardly the last -to observe that the representational character of the party, and the profession alization of its leadership, created an almost inescapable tendency toward "oligarchy." The more that party leaders became career politicians, the more stake they had in maintaining their control of the party and using it as a vehicle for their own well-being. The result: bureaucratic, top-down control; the depoliticizing of the mass membership; the fostering of a privileged elite; corruptions of various kinds; and a growing tendency for the party to abandon its transformative goals. In the Soviet bloc, the communist parties, exercising a monopoly of power, made bureaucratic, oligarchical party dictatorship synonymous with communism . Michels, writ ing before World War I, had anticipated that the communists' social democratic antagonists in Western Europe would not be immune to similar -if far less brutally expressed -tendencies (Michels 1959). The experience of parliamentary democracies has been that party control of government does not equal party control of the state, nor does it provide the power to bring about socialist restructuring. Every move toward radical reform of a capitalist society by a governing socialist party has tended to result in destabili zation of the economy by capitalists seeking to protect their investments against the threat of encroachment. The main state functions-the military, the administrative bureaucracy-are not readily controllable by a party just because it happens to win an election. At this writing, one could hardly maintain that the election of an established socialist party in any of the Western European countries would have any chance of resulting in a "socialist" government. Disillusionment with these parties dates back to the World War I and the advent of Leninism as a supposed alternative. The Leninist solution to the riddle of how socialists could use state power for socialist ends was to seize power through military means. Through the use of ruthless force , the state became the vehicle of the party's will and the party controlled the political discourse of the whole society. We have known for decades that Copyrighted Material
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such party dictatorship created the opposite of the socialist ideal, but for years, many Marxists assumed that , at least , something alternative to capitalism was being constructed. We now know that even this was not the case . After one hundred years in which Left activists and intellectuals tried to em body their emancipatory hopes in one or anoth er form of party , we are now at the point where virtually all can see that this strategy was doomed to failure. Today mass , " hegemonic" parties seem to be disintegrating everywhere . I refer here to the collapse of the Eastern European communist parties, and to the decline of such social democratic parties as Labour in England and Labor in Israel, as well as others as varied in form and ideology as PRI in Mexico, the Liberal Democrats of Japan , Congress of India , and the Democratic party in the United States. All of these have seemed hegemonic, all have contributed to modernizing their societies and to creating welfare-state supports for their mass con stituencies. That they were not vehicles of emancipatory aspiration has long been understood . Today , they seem obsolete even as vehicles of power; they seem to have lost a good deal of their capacity to maintain their majority base. Indeed, to win back effective electoral majorities, such parties have tended to jettison even a semblance of their earlier programmatic emphasis on economic redistribution and social equality. How might we account for the decomposition of the mass party? I think there are several clues : I. The globalization of the world economy weak ens the capacity of mass parties to use the state as an instrument for allocating resources to benefit their constituencies. Welfare states face intensifying fiscal crisis; capital flow is beyond state control; and Keynesian policies supporting high wages seem to conflict with the need to revitalize national competitiveness. The social demo cratic/welfare state program no longer seems sustainable , and promises made in its name lose credibility.
2. The very success of the mass parties is part of their undoing . Large numbers of workers seek now to protect relative advantage, resent taxation that supports the welfare state, and hope for more opportunity to own things. Against this , party appeals to traditional bases of solidarity and impulses to equality and th e
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common good seem stultifying . Class identity br eaks apart into many fragments . 3. All the mass parti es established their dominanc e not only by bein g a voic e for disadvantaged m ass constituenci es but by maintaining th e silenc e of som e of the se (wom en , ethnic minorities, th e least skilled , for exampl e). One of the primary reasons for th e declin e of th ese parti es is that previous ly silent minorities are now mobilizin g. As a result , the parties find themselves paralyzed , no long er abl e to offer a credibl e, majoritarian program that meets the needs of both th e relati vely adv antaged and the newly em ergent groups that constitute th eir base. Limited on the one hand by the conservatism of their more advantaged constitu ents and on the oth er hand b y th e fiscal constraints resulting from dependency on global capital flows , th ese once dominan t parties app ear mired in compromi se and contradiction. Becaus e state-bas ed strategies of social reform - wheth er th ey are called socialist , capitalist , corpo ratist, or som ething else -app ear to be politicall y and economi cally unviabl e, th e parti es whos e programs were based on such strate gies seem to have had their day as embodim ents of popular hop e.
All during the tw entieth century , Am ericans leftists have hoped to see a party of th e European typ e to represent th eir values and serve as a vehicl e for working -class empow erment. For all these years , th e fact that no such party formation was possiblethe so-ca lled American Exception - has been a sourc e of deep feeling s of failure among Am erican leftists, who have typic ally m easur ed their efforts against the achi evem ents of various of the Europ ean Lefts . Th e main reason for th e American Exception has been the enormous diversity of th e American workin g class with respe ct to rac e and ethni city . B ecause ethni c differenc e and competition became deeply int ertwin ed with differ ences in life chances, American work ers typi cally found Left calls for class solidarit y hopel essly impractic al. Inst ead of supportin g a Left part y , Am erican work ers joined political machin es an d unions b ased on ethnic solid arity and ex clusion . Th ese sourc es of em powe rme nt, in turn, reinforc ed a conc eption of freedom , alrea dy cultura lly dominant in th e Unit ed States, that was defin ed in terms of ind ividu al auton omy rath er th an parti cipator y democr acy , a cult ura lly rooted Copyrighted Material
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definition of rationality based on short-run advantage rather than on the common good. " Having never experi enced a multiethnic framework of political solidarity , Americans have regarded th e good society as one in which they have th e opportunit y make their own lives, rather than to make their common histor y . The dominant culture encourages Americans to plac e their hop es for fulfillment , not on collective action in the public spher e, but on the results of their individual efforts within the sph eres of work , education, and family . Rather than endorsing ideological app eals to overthrow the powers that be, Americans in th e majorit y have preferred to live within what amounts to a contract with them-a contract that allows elites to rule in return for continuing provision of the material basis for a " norm al life. " The privatism and accommodation of the American majority is, however, not simply the natural expression of American cultur e. Mass political apathy and conservatism has always been the result of a prior history of mass mobilization and militancy . The specific terms of the American social contract have changed fundamentally from generation to generation because our shared conception of th e requirements of "normal life" has greatly expanded. American history has been shaped by the fact that groups disadvantaged by a given contract have, over time, struggled to rewrite the contract so that their rights will be taken into account. Social Movements
The primary means for carrying on such struggles , however , has not been to support a party that inscribes these rights as its program . Instead , when disadvantaged and disenfranchised groups in America have sought change they have done so through social movements . The essenc e of such mov ements is direct action-action that often breaches political rules and conventional norms . Such action eventuates when people who shar e common life circumstances come to believe that th eir daily lives are not normal , or that they are thr eatened or unn ecessaril y disad vantaged . They discov er also that through their collective action they h ave a reasonable chan ce to change the conditions and terms that disad vantag e or threat en them. In the United States , left-wing acti vists could not build a Copyrighted Material
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m ass part y of th e wo rke rs; inst ead th e grea t m ajorit y of Am erica 's leftists - socialist s, com m unists , M arxi sts, soci al dem o crat s, radi cal demo crats, femini sts, pacifist s, ana rchists - hel pe d bu ild m ovem ent s by servin g in a variet y of lead ership , educa tive, an d organ izin g rol es. Such Left mov em ent acti vi sts wer e often m emb ers of ideolo gically orien ted o rg an izatio ns, ye t th e record sug gests that th ey were m ost effective not w he n th ey too k th eir cues from th e part y lin e or follo wed part y dis ciplin e but w he n th ey respo n ded to th e expe rience d conscio usness an d nee ds o f th e people with who m they were sha ring strugg le. Th e id eologi cal Left parti es rarely provid ed useful strateg ic direction to th eir activist m emb ers (in dee d th e party lin es were often ex ceedin gly coun terpro duc tive); instead , th e prim ary positive funct ion of the Socialist part y , the Com m unis t part y , an d othe r ideolog ical org ani zatio ns w as to nurtur e m emb er s' activis m . Th ese part ies' m ain hi stori cal contr ibu tion was tha t th ey pr ovid ed tra in ing, suppo rt, and a sen se of m or al purp ose th at ena bled at least some of their m ember s to becom e cent ers for initi ative for gras s-roo ts action quit e sepa rate fro m the party 's orbit. Am eri can leftists for gene rations h ave h ad a con tradicto ry attitu de towar d th eir part icip ation in movemen ts . On th e one hand , w hen they ask th em selves w hat th ey h ave accom plished in their politi cal lives, overw hel mi ngly th ey respond by takin g satisfac tion fro m the histori c cha nges w ro ug ht by th e m ovem ents th ey h ave help ed : th e right s th at h ave been wo n , th e ent itlem ent s achieved, th e ways in w hich pr ot est has ope ned u p th e cultur e to new voices and ex pand ed th e horiz ons of ex ploi ted and oppresse d gro ups . But w he n con sciou s lefti sts tr y to int erpr et th e long -term m eaning of th eir activity, they have a tend enc y to view th ese moveme nts as some thing less th an the "rea l th ing ." T he real th in g , th ey cann ot help but feel, is a uni fied , class-base d move m ent w hose cen ter is a part y cap able of taki n g power. Th e fragm ent ed , nonid eol ogical m ovem ent s of th e U nited States are seen as rehearsals for the revolut ion , th at is, the bas e from w hic h mo re "a dvance d " consc io usness an d action can be launched ." Th is attitude toward m ovem ent s, we can now more clearly see, was delusory . T he global decomp osition of th e par ty strategy o ug h t to per suade us of w ha t, in fact, has alwa ys been the case: if th e Left is und er stood as a cum ulative struggle for th e democra tiCopyrighted Material
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zation of society, then social movements themselves are the real embodiment of the Left tradition. 5 Movements rather than parties are more likely to be vehicles of popular voice. Because the party by its nature is set up to represent, it reinforces the passivity of most members, although it may also serve as a socializing and educative framework for large numbers. Because of their relatively spontaneous, uninstitutionalized character, because they are dependent on high levels of participation by large numbers, because they are implemented in manifold activities at a micro level, and because they are moments in which previously inarticulate actors find voice and public visibility, movements are the closest thing we have, in practice , to authentic democracy. It is in moments of collective defiance that the possibility for democracy achieves some concrete reality and lagging democratic faith gets renewed. After decades in which the American Left looked to Europe for models of advanced action, the tables have turned . If we want to know what can fill the vacuum created by the decline of the popularly based party, we might look to the U.S. experience, where such a vacuum has been a permanent political reality. What we learn from that experience is that social movements, representing a range of distinct interests and identities, constitute the primary vehicle of dramatic expression. Indeed, such a shift is now taking place globally as the key to democratic transformation . Movements and Electoral Politics
Movements act in the streets, in civil society. They are, by definition, extraparliamentary . They use means of expression and power other than those available within politics normally understood . The American experience shows that movements must also interact with the state not only as a source of pressure on elites from outside but as a vehicle for achieving representation . Movement demands have to be legislated; rights claimed have to be legitimated. Moreover , the high intensity of mass action is not sustainable indefinitely; movement members need to go home, they want to live in the space their actions have helped create. They need political representation in order to carryon daily life. As a result, American movements have sought entry into the electoral arena. After some Copyrighted Material
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decades of experim entation with efforts to create their own parties -of which the Populists , the Socialist party of Eugene Debs, and the La Follette Progressiv e party of the 1920s are prime examples on the national level-movements have, especially since the New Deal era , sought influence in the Democratic party . The movement effort to influence and penetrate the Democratic party has been going on now for fifty years . It was spearheaded by the labor movement in the 1930s and 1940s; it was followed by the civil rights movement in the 1960s, the women 's movement in the 1970s, and by gays, environmentalists, and antinuclear groups in the years sinc e. Movement strategies have included a variety of elem ents: the construction of movement-controlled state and local organizations to back candidates especially favorabl e to movement interests; election of delegates to party conventions to directly influence candidate selection and platform planks; mobilization to demand change of party rules to reduce power of professional politicians and party machines, and to require representation in party decision-making of women , minorities, and other previously underrepresented constituencies; and formation of national movement -based structures, such as the National Women's Political Caucus or Jesse Jackson's Rainbow Coalition, parallel to the official party structures, to influence selection of candidates and party directions and to mobilize move m ent constituencies in behalf of endorsed candidates. The Democratic party has been significantly reshaped by the strategies and claims of diverse movements demanding place . Labor leadership succeeded in gaining access to the New Deal admin istration ; labor exercised considerable control over a few key state party structures in the 1950s; and labor forged some fruitful alliances with key Democratic politicians. The civil rights movement succeeded in compelling the party to break the power of white supremacist Dixiecrats and to open its internal procedures so that blacks and other minorities could gain direct access. Machine control over urban party organizations was broken under the pressure of civil rights and Left-liberal mobilizations . By the end of the 1970s, the party leadership both locally and, to some extent nationally , included sizable contingents drawn from the ranks of civil rights, women's , antiwar , and labor movements. The major democratic movements are both outs ide and inside the Democratic party; each has won some position and influenc e within it. From Copyrighted Material
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the perspective of party professionals and professional politicians, the pressures of the labor, black, women's, environmentalist, and other movements threaten the party 's organizational efficacy, while alienating the support of millions of "moderate " voters (that is, middle- and working-class privatized voters who are predominantly white, male, and middle aged). From the perspective of the movements, the party's professional leadership appears increasingly rudderless, lacking in will and imagination, and often cynical in its use of movement symbols to avoid substantive change . Bill Clinton's presidential campaign resolved this deadlock in behalf of the professionals, but movement leadership actively supported him nevertheless. The professional perspective dominates media framing of the purposes and strategies of the Clintonites (movement pressures are attributed to "narrow special interests" and "old-fashioned liberalism," while Clinton is defined as a "new Democrat neoliberal"). The character of the Clinton presidency remains uncertain . Beneath the current media frame there continues to be a considerable contest between movement and professional perspectives on both policy and political reality. The "Local Level"
Since the 1960s, movement activists have had substantial success in influencing electoral politics and governmental policy at the level of city and state politics. In the aftermath of the 1960s, considerable numbers of New Left activists came to see that the student movement as such was a limited vehicle for advancing far-reaching social change. The university campus, despite its significance in "post-industrial society," remained too isolated from the political and cultural mainstream; students, despite their capacity for dramatic and effective disruption, could not achieve their goals without subs tantiallinks to potential majorities. And, from a biographical perspective, students must graduate into a wider world, where the styles and perspectives of political activism are quite different. These insights led many student activists into local communities. Since the United States lacked a national political party framework that could smoothly absorb postgraduate students, many embarked on efforts to "organize at the local level. " They focused on issues rooted in the experienced threats and grievances Copyrighted Material
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342 found there. What we mean by "new social movements" has much to do with these post-1960s organizing efforts, for it is out of these that feminism, environmentalism, gay liberation, and the antinuclear movements emerged . The localist emphasis of post -1960s activism resulted in part from the limited resources available-most particularly the absence of any central organizational authority that could have directed a national strategy. Localism derived also from the ideological perspectives that dominated the New Left: the emphasis on participatory democracy, on decentralization, on human scale. The feminist critique of patriarchal leadership encouraged both male and female activists to work in self-effacing, face-to -face ways rather than in th e self-promoting, top-down manner that "national " politics requires. The new movements have developed , accordingly, in highly decentralized ways. Although each of them contains national organizational structures , these have relatively little to do with directing the manifold movement activities that have evolved over the last twenty years, most of which revolve around issues that arise in particular regions, communities, neighborhoods, and workplaces . For example, the "environmental movement" is best understood as constructed out of a host of seemingly disparate local protests and projects: struggles over land use, urban development, population growth , toxic waste disposal, nuclear power, neighborhood preservation , defense of traditional culture, occupational hazards, and so forth . In each case, members of a local community act in response to a threat while, at times, making use of the resources (language, know-how , material support) made available by the formal organizations of the national movement. In the midst of such local struggles there may well be some veteran activists people whose identities were shaped in the Old or New Left -but , increasingly, such veteran leadership may not be a necessary ingredient for enabling local protest to take off. After twenty years, many who do not consider themselves to be "activists" have acquired the consciousness and skills to act effectively in local protest . These local protests have been successful in deflecting some of the particular threats that initially sparked them, or in achieving various sorts of accommodations and ameliorations. But locally based movement activity rather quickly developed a certain strateCopyrighted Material
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gic thrust that went beyond the merely reactiv e. This thrust may be summarized by saying that the movements have been struggling for local institutional change that would enabl e them to exercise a direct voice in governmental and institutional policy makin g . Beginning in the early 1970s , new social mov em ent activists , especially in towns with large university populations , embark ed on a strategy of running for local office . This effort has widened , and to some degree has resulted in local "rainbow coalition" strat egies. In some places, blacks have linked with feminist, environmentalist, gay, and peace constituencies. Today, progressive coalitions have come to local pow er in a variety of places rath er diff erent from the "progressive" university town. Indeed, such political development seems likely wherever minority, environmental, women's, or gay constituencies carry some strategic weight . In many parts of the United States, local elections are nonpartisan ; these provide the greatest space for such formation . There is probably no major city in the country whose local politics has not been affected by the separate and combined efforts of movement activists to win at least a piece of local power. This is not the place to detail th e substantive programmatic reforms that such local efforts have attempted, or to try to evaluat e the results . It is perhaps a fair generalization to say that the most successful achievements have been those involving symbolic and legal reform rather than material reallocations. These include: more "diversity" and "affirmative action" in governmental staff appointments (so that more minorities and women now occupy administrative and advisory positions); more community recognition of minority identity claims (the Martin Luther King holiday was an early success in this regard; extension of antidiscrimination principles to gays would be another); support for movement-based human service activities (city subsidies for a variety of medical , counseling, legal, and educational services, but as the 1980s wore on, budgetary crunches hit these particularly hard) .6 Perhaps the most interesting types of reform, however , were those that compelled public accountability and voice with respect to decisions that were previously reserved for specialized or elite arenas . Perhaps the biggest local gain of the environmental movement in California has been the environmental quality legislation that requires that all local development be subject to environmental impact review . The EIR process requires a public weighing of Copyrighted Material
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344 social costs, provides an arena for public testimony, and supplies the opportunity for public negotiation of "mitigations" with respect to all changes of land use. This process is a prime example of the way in which governmental procedures such as mandatory public hearings can provide community movements with significant opportunities for mobilization, public education, the development of expertise, and the exercise of community leadership . From the perspective of public authority, the process is designed to get movements" off the streets" and into the bureaucratic structure; in practice, however, it provides a degree of information and opportunity for voice not previously available, especially if those administering the hearing processes were elected with the backing of the movement. In general, a variety of mechanisms embodying principles of public review and participatory planning have emerged in American community and institutional life . In addition to land use and related environmental decisions, similar mechanisms exist in some locales with respect to job hiring and promotion policies, police practices, health service provision, provision of services for the aged, and public education. The development of these mechanisms has meant considerable change in the structure of power at the local level in the United States . This statement is a limited one; American communities are now places where social movements have some ability to veto to modify unwanted decisions. What eludes them are institutional mechanisms for promoting economic redistribution, for effectively controlling the flow of capital, or for effectively determining the planning processes that shape their community's future . These processes derive from sources beyond the locality-the megacorporation and the national state-and it is these sources that are beyond the reach of locally based mobilization . Coalition
The national political stalemate and the limits of local initiative together define the political situation shared by all of the social movements that are related to the Left tradition. Each of the movements-both "new " and "old" -has succeeded in advancing parts of its particular agenda. Certain rights, certain kinds of political representation, Copyrighted Material
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and certain aspects of cultural recognition have been achieved . As a result , a society th at earlier denied work ers elem entary rights to or ganize, deni ed blacks and wom en elementar y rights to vote, and whose towns and cities were dominated by rather tight circles of the economicall y powerful now more closely appro ximat es the model of a politico cultural pluralism . The most evid ent failur e of the mov em ents , how ever , has been their ability to meet th e material needs of their most disadvantaged constituents. The labor mov em ent presents the most glaring inventory of recent failure. It lost much of its power to prote ct gains previously won for its members , and it cannot advance the claims of unorganized workers . The black movement's advances in local power and cultural recognition, and the improved material position of the black middle class has been accompanied by a frightening deterioration in the life chances of blacks in the " inner city ." The women 's movement's gains have not prevented the " fem inization of poverty ." Each of the movements taken separately lacks the power in numbers and in leverage to advance a credible program that might lead toward economic redistribution. The most likely strategic solution , then, would be to find the basis for movement coalition , since it is only by making effective alliance that political resources for such change might be found . The political potential for movement coalition stems from the immediate need of each movement for allies. But there are deeper and more promising grounds for movement coalition. Beneath each of the major movements' particular sectoral agenda is an implicit demand for fundamental social restructuring. Despite their apparently nonideological and reformist character , each movement embodies a far-reaching social vision. Even when these movements have seem ed narrowly focused on a single issue, the cumulative effect of their pressure on social institutions has broad implications for the way power is structured and authority is exercised . It is currently fashionable to assert that we have passed the point in histor y where " com m on ground " can be found among social fragments. The value of this claim is that it has perman ently delegitim ated the notion that "class " is the primary political category and that class interest constitut es the basis for a unifi ed and more " advanced" politics . But "c om m on ground " as articulated by contem porary movement theor ists does not require that disCopyrighted Material
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cret e mo vem ents abandon th eir separat e cultur es and claims . Instead , what can be imagined are effor ts to find programm atic ways to respond to the shared needs of mo vem ent con stituen cies. Such ne eds exist in larg e m easur e becaus e " class" remains a fundamen tal m easur e o f life chanc es, even if it is n ot a consciou s framework for social identity . To give a concr ete illu stration , in th e United Stat es the socializ ation of health care is a programm atic dir ection desperately needed b y large numb ers of worke rs, b y wom en of diverse background s, by th e gay community struggling with the scourge of AIDS, by min orit y co m m uni ties, as well as by millions in th e " m iddle class" and by many busin esses whos e privat e provi sions for em ployee s are inadequate to cop e with spiraling health costs. Simil ar point s can be mad e about oth er areas of social need such as housin g and education . It is, in short , not en o rm ously difficult to identify need s shar ed by black an d whit e worker s, by wo m en and m en, by th e youn g an d th e old , and to ima gin e how th ese shar ed needs mi ght form th e basis of a common politic al agenda for a new polit ical coalition . An effort to con stru ct suc h a coaliti on among th e movements aro und such an age nda is th e main hop e for a revi val of social reform in th e Unit ed States. Mo vem ent-ori ent ed int ellectuals have be en arguing this for a numb er of ye ars. Jesse Jack son 's presidential effort in 1988 tried to articu late th ese th em es and to proj ect the possibilit y of such a coalition . D espit e ex pe ctations that th e Jack son proj ect would be attem pted again during the 1992 campaign , Jackson and oth er mo vement lead erships chos e inst ead to work actively but qui etly for th e Clinton cam paign, w h ose strateg y focused on winning over thos e workin g-class vot ers (whit e, mal e) wh o were most alien ated from th e m ovements . In oth er words , inst ead of tr ying to creat e a pro gram that mi ght serve to coalesce th e mo vem ent s an d simultan eousl y appea l to the disaff ected " m iddle class, " m ovem ent lead ers tacitl y agreed to th eir tactical margin alization. Th e hop e, of cours e, was th at a D emocr atic presiden cy would reop en public space for a revival of soci al reform . It seem s possibl e th at some signifi cant reform m easur es w ill be enac ted during th e 1990s . In the ne xt decad e, some sort of compr eh en sive national health in sur an ce seem s likel y to be adop ted, some refund in g of education w ill take pl ace, and th ere w ill be some national effort to restor e econo m ic ch an ces for som e of th ose in th e wor kin g class who have lost ground in th e last Copyrighted Material
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decades. These are measures that are likely to have considerable corporate backing because they provide some public investment and socialization of costs that many corporate leaders have begun to identify as necessary for capital accumulation and national competitiveness. But such programs are likely to be an inadequate basis for common ground . For one thing, state fiscal constraints will limit their substantive value. Already we have been told that there will not be a "peace dividend" large enough to meet pressing social needs and that paying for the financial and environmental costs of the Reagan years will further exacerbate already threatening budget deficits . A new movement coalition is likely to discover that an effort to revitalize the New Deal during the Clinton years will not result in major change, although it may succeed in providing at least a brief period of state-sponsored reform. Beyond the Welfare State
A movement coalition needs to be grounded in a vision that goes beyond the welfare state if it is to construct a viable politics in a time when the economy is globalized and society is decentered . I suggest that the heart of that vision is to be found in the largely unarticulated shared logic of each of the major movements-whether "new" or "old. " What is shared by these movements is precisely the demand that society should be structured so that people can shape the conditions of their lives. The labor movement did not struggle simply for better wages and working conditions ; it struggled for workers' voice, for their right to organize and to determine the terms of their employment. The black movement did not campaign simply for equal treatment; its central demand has always revolved around empowerment. Feminism is not just about gender equality; it aims at the fundamental restructuring of power relations between the sexes. Both the peace and environmental movements are fundamentally efforts to make public decision-making fully accountable to those affected by it and to give people in their communities the chance to control their own futures. If we can no longer rely on the hope for a party to represent the people, or on a nation-state to embody the people's hopes, then we have to make concretely realizable a vision of a society organized so that people have some chance to directly express Copyrighted Material
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themselves as well as to hold those who speak for them accountable. Perhaps the answer to the domination of the megacorporation and the disintegration of the national state is to enable people to find power in and through communities . The logic of social movements suggests that the nature of the state needs to be fundamentally reconceived. If democratization were taken as the guiding principle of political action and the primary standard of political legitimation, then the state would be seen not as the center of rule making and the source of social welfare but as a vehicle for community empowerment and local control. We need to think of the national state not as the source of initiative and control, not as the vehicle for solutions of problems, but principally as the potential source of capital and law that would enable people to solve their problems at the level of the com munity . Indeed , such a function may be the only viable one remaining for the national state in a society that is both globalizing and decentering. It may seem absurd to reimagine the central state as a vehicle for decentralization . But the American experience, with its federal constitution and traditions of local control, provides some examples of how such a process could work . I briefly sketch some of the kinds of state policies that would support the logic of democratic decentralization . I. Legal recogninon of movement-based organization. An example in practice is the Wagner Act of 1936 that guaranteed workers' rights to form unions and to strike and established a machinery requiring collective bargaining between recognized unions and employers. Similar kinds of organizing and bargaining rights have been proposed for public utility consumers, neighborhood organizations, and tenant unions. A number of federal programs have required "participation" in planning service delivery on the part of client groups. Such provisions have encouraged the growth of movement organizations among the urban poor and among senior citizens.
2. Federal subsidy for community
organization. Again, there is precedent, in such programs as VISTA, and the 1960s War on Poverty, and a variety of other direct and indirect programs. Copyrighted Material
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349 3. Legal and material support for locally based "impact review." On the model of the California Environmental Impact Review, communities could require a wide range of social accounting with respect to a variety of publicly relevant decisions, broadening the concept to include "economic" and " social" as well as "environmental" impacts . Such review could be federally mandated, and federal programs could assist community-based groups by providing technical expertise, research support, and the like. 4. Federal "block" grants. A necessary function of central authority is redistribution; decentralization is bound to result in manifold inequalities. Rather than administer such transfers, subsidies, and reallocations through centralized bureaucracies with elaborate rules and programmatic targets, a decentralizing approach is embodied in the idea of block grants-unencumbered funds provided to communities on need-based formulas with the use of these funds to be fought out politically at community or regional levels. 5. Federal allocation of capital. Community empowerment requires the ability to create community owned , locally based enterprises where "private," market-based investments do not meet community defined needs. Community ownership of public utilities can support local autonomy, provide an infrastructure for "soft" energy alternatives, and generate revenues for local use . Community investment in job-creating enterprises can be a response to the loss of private investment. Community provision of services can offset loss of services from cost-cutting private firms . The national government may be a necessary source for capital and expertise for the initiation of such enterprises . A national , public bank could be such a mechanism for social investment .7
I am not here putting forward specific proposals; my point, instead, is to illustrate how central government could provide the legal, material, and technical foundation for various forms of local, participatory democracy. The outcome of such a process of decentralization would be the institutionalization of social movements as frameworks of everyday, popular participation in institutional governance, community planning, and regional resource Copyrighted Material
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alloc ation . Such institution alizati on seems to me to be inh erent in th e logic of th e mov em ents. Th e dri ve to tran sform th e state in such a dir ection , I sugges t, could be an effective ba sis for movem ent alliance. No w that th e part y is ove r, th e peopl e th emsel ves are going to have to take responsibilit y for th eir co llective futures . The m ovem ents- as social formati on s, as repositori es o f soci al vision , as tr aining gr ounds for politi cal co m petence -s eem destin ed to be th e vehicles for such respon sibility . Notes 1. O bv io usly in pr actice m an y lefti sts have fund am ent ally vio lated th eir radical dem o cratic claims. As I discu ss b elow , lefti st strugg les fo r state power , using prof ession al polit ical orga niza tio n as a vehicle, were always con tradicting th eir fund am ent al m oral claim s. 2. N ot e th at I am delib erately- and I hop e pro vocati vely- gl ossin g over th e deep differences amo ng th e typ es of parti es th at eme rge d durin g thi s century. Ce rtainly , th ere was a pr ofound m or al as well as pr actical gulf betw een th e social dem ocr atic parti es of Western E urope and Leni n 's " party o f a n ew typ e, " between parti es led b y M arxists o f vario us stri pes an d n on-M arxist socia list or labor part ies. Thr ou gh all of th eir histori es, th ese parti es fou ght each o the r mo st bitt erly , both wi thin th eir ow n societies and in th e arenas of int ern ation al socialism . Yet , all of th ese part y form ation s were gro u nde d in cert ain sha red stra teg ic prin ciples and, despit e th eir deep diff eren ces, all sh ared certain key co ntradiction s. 3. T he int erpl ay of class, race, an d ethni city is a topi c of mu ch research and discussion . I have been parti cul arl y influ en ced in m y ow n thinkin g b y Aronowitz (1992) and Bon acich (1976). 4. Again, despit e cur ren t em phases on m ovem ent fragm ent ati on and identit y politi cs as " n ew " and " pos trno de rn . " th e actual hi stor y of U. S. socia l m ovem ent s sugges ts th at th ese h ave always been char act eristi c. S. For a fuller developm ent o f thi s arg um en t, see H acks 1988. 6. Th e rise of pr o gr essive elector al coa litio ns h as been describ ed in C lavel 1986. Fo r studies of two ke y cases see K ann 1990 an d Co nroy 1990. See also Klin g an d Posner 1990. 7. O ne o f th e best so u rces o f ideas an d sche mes -so me deri ved fro m o ther societies - using go vern me n t as a so urce of capital for twent y- seven com m unities is Ca rn oy an d Shearer 1980. An im port ant recent stateme nt o f a vision o f a decentr alizin g nati on al state app ear s in Alp erovit z 1992.
References Alp ero vit z, G ar. 1992. " Me mo to C lin ton ." Tikkun, N ovemb er , 13-1 9. Ar on owit z, Stanley . 1992. False Promises. Durh am , N .C. : D uke Uni ver sit y Pr ess.
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351 Bonaci ch, Edna . 1976. "Advanced Capitalism and Black-White Relations in the U. S. : A Split Labor Market Interpretation ." Am erican Sociological Review 41:34-51. Carnoy , Martin, and Derek Shearer . 1980. Economic D emocracy. Amonk, N .Y.: M. E. Sharp e. Clavel, Pierre . 1986. Th e Progressive City . New Brunswick, N.J. : Rutgers University Press . Conroy , W. J. 1990. Chall enging the Boundaries of Reform : Socialism in Burlington . Philadelphia : Temple University Press. Flacks, Richard . 1988. Making History : The American Left and the Am erican Mind . New York: Columbia University Press . Kann, Mark . 1990. Middle Class Radicalism in Santa Moni ca. Philadelphia : Temple University Press . Kling , J. M. , and P. S. Posner. 1990. Dilemmas of Activism. Philadelphia : Temple University Press . Laclau, Emesto, and Chantal Mouffe . 1985. Hegemony and Socialist Strategy : Toward a Radical Democratic Politics. London : Verso. Michels, Robert . 1959. Political Parties. New York: Dover.
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The Contributors JoseAlvarez-Juncowas professor of history of political ideas and social movements at the University of Madrid , and he currently holds the Prince of Asturias Chair in Spanish History and Civilization at Tufts University. He is the author of several books and numerous articles on cultural and social aspects of Spanish political life in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Robert D. Benford is an associate professor of sociology at the
University of Nebraska-Lincoln, where his teaching and research interests are in social movements, peace and war, and social constructionism. He has recently published articles in American Sociological Review, Social Forces, Sociological Quarterly, International Social Movement Research, Journal of Contemporary Ethnography, and Sociological Inquiry. Richard Flacksis professor of sociology at the University of California, Santa Barbara . His most recent books include Making History: The American Left and the American Mind (New York: Columbia University Press, 1988); and, with Jack Whalen, Beyond the Barricades: The Sixties Generation Grows Up (Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 1989). JosephR. Gusfield is professor emeritus of sociology at the University of California, San Diego . He has written widely on developing nations, the sociology of education, and political sociology, but his major work has been in social movements, social problems, and the sociology of law, with focus on the legal and political controls on alcohol and other health behaviors . Among his books are Symbolic Crusade: Status Politics and the American Temperance Movement (Urbana : University of Illinois Press, 1963); Protest, Reform, and Revolt (New York: John Wiley and Sons, 1970); and The
Culture of Public Problems: Drinking-Driving
and the Symbolic Order
(Chicago: University of Chicago Press , 1981). He has been president of the Society for the Study of Social Problems and of the Copyrighted Material
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Pacific Sociologica l Asso ciation . He received th e C ha rles Hort on Co oley Award for outstanding book of 1981-1 983 fro m th e Soc iety for th e Study of Symb olic Inter action ; h e was also awarde d th eir Geor ge Herb ert Mead Award for lifetime achi evem ent . Scott A. Hunt is assistan t prof essor of socio logy at the Uni versity of Kentuck y . He received his Ph .D . from th e Un iver sity of Nebra ska-Lincoln in 1991. His publi cations includ e article s in Perspectiveson Social Problems, Sociological Inquiry, Journal of C ontemp orary Ethnography, Rural Sociology, and Mi d-American Review of Sociology . Hi s areas of in terest includ e soc ial m ovem ent s, ide ntity, social problems , th eory , symb oli c int er acti onism , an d th e social con struc tion of com mo nsense know ledge .
HankJohnston is a lectur er in th e D ep artm ent o f Soc iology , San Di ego State Uni versity . He has publi shed resear ch on nation alism and politic al oppos ition in Journalfor the Scientific Study of Relig ion, Sociological Ana lysis, Research in Social Movements, Confl ict and Change, Journal of Baltic S tudies, amo ng othe rs . He is th e au tho r of Tales of Nationalism: Catalonia, 1939-1 979 (New B ru nsw ick, N.J. : Rut gers Uni versit y Pr ess, 1991). He is con duc ting research on nation alism and the arts and on th e socio ling uistic aspec ts of collective identity . Bert Klandermansis prof essor in th e D ep artm ent of Social Ps ychology, Free Uni versit y , Am sterdam . Hi s research focu ses on m obilization and parti cipation in social mo vem ents . He is currentl y stud ying farm er 's prote sts in th e N eth erl and s and Spain and , with John Oli vier , th e respon ses of m ovem ent and countermov em ent suppo rters to th e social an d politi cal tr ansition s in South Afric a. He is th e editor of a new seri es of monographs on social mov em ents and prot est publish ed by Uni versit y of M inn esot a Pr ess. His Social Construction of Protest: Social Psychological Principles of Movement Participation is forthcoming from Basil Blackw ell. He is the editor with Craig Jenkins o f Th e Politics of Social Protest: Comparative Persp ectives on S tates and Social Movements (Univ er sit y o f M inn esot a Pr ess, 1993). EnriqueLarafiais titular profe ssor of sociology and coordin ator of th e doct oral pr o gr am at th e Univer sit y of Madrid , Som o saguas Copyrighted Material
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355 Campus. He is currently studying th e organization and developm ent of new social mov ements in Spain . He is th e author of num erous articles and chapter s in edited volumes. He organized th e seminar " N ew Social Movements and the End of Ideology " in August 1990 at the Men edez Pelayo International University , Santander, Spain, where several of the essays in this volume wer e first presented. Doug McAdam is professor of sociolog y at the University of Arizona . He is the author of PoliticalProcess and the D evelopmentof Black Insurgency, 1930-19 70 (Chicago : Universit y of Chica go Press , 1982), and FreedomSummer (New York: Oxford Universit y Press , 1988), which was honor ed as the cowinner of the C. Wright Mills Award. His current research inter ests in social movements include the cross -national diffusion of movement ideas and the relationship between social movements/revo lutions and demo graphic processes. John D. McCarthy is professor of sociology and a member of the Life C ycle Institute at the Catholic Universit y of America, Washington , D . C. He has served as pr esident of th e Collecti ve Behavior and Social Movements Section of ASA . He has published numerous articles and chapters, over the past two decades, that have helped set the agenda for research in the field of social mov ements . Many of these are collected in Social Movements in an Organizational Society, which he edited with Mayer N . Zald (New Brunswick, N.J. : Transaction Books , 1987). Alberto Melucci is professor of sociolog y and clinical psychology at the Uni versity of Milano , and h e is a practicing psychotherapist. Through numerou s books and articles , his contributions to the field of social movem ents and collective and personal identity are internationally recognized. His recent books includ e Nomads of the Present: Social Movements and Individual Needs in Contemporary Society (Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 1989), and Il gioco dell'io (Milan: Feltrinelli, 1991) . Carol Mueller is associate professor of sociolog y in the Social and Beha vioral Sciences Program of Arizona Stat e Universit y West. She has served as president of th e Collectiv e Behavior and
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Social Movements Section of th e ASA . She is editor , with Aldon D. Morris , of Frontiers in Social Movement Th eory (New Haven : Yale Univ ersity Pr ess, 1992), and , with Mary Katzenst ein , The Women'sMovements of the United States and WesternEurope (Philadelphia : Temple Univ ersity Press , 1987). David A. Snow is prof essor of sociology and head of th e Departm ent of Sociology at th e Univ ersity of Arizona in Tucson . He is coauthor , with Leon And erson, of Down on Their Luck: A Study of Homeless Street People (Berkel ey : Univ ersity of California Pr ess, 1993), and he is curr entl y con du ctin g research on social movem ent mobilization among th e hom eless acro ss eighteen of th e nation 's larg est cities . He has publish ed w idely on social mov ement microm obilization, on framin g proc esses in relation to social movements, and on con version pro cesses, particularly in relation to religious cult s and movem ents .
MateSzab6 is assistant prof essor of political science at th e Eotvos Lorand Univ ersit y , Budap est, and he has writt en numerous articles in Engli sh and German . He was a guest lecturer at the Uni versity of Hambur g and a research fellow at the Alexander von Humboldt Found ation at the Univ ersity of Hamburg Institute of Political Scien ce. He has served as th e secr eta ry general of the Hungarian Politi cal Scien ce Association , and he is currently editor of th e Hungarian PoliticalScience Review. Ralph H. Turner is profes sor of sociology emeritus at the University of California, Los Angel es. He has been president of th e American Sociological Association and chair of the Coll ective Behavior and Social Movements Section . He is author , with Lewis M . Killian, of Collective Behavior (Engel wood Cliffs , N.J. : Pr entice-Hall , 1957, 1962, 1987), and he has written num erous articl es in th e field of collective behavior and social mov em ents.
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Index Abeyan ce pro cesses, 214, 215, 238 Abolitionist movement, 40, 79, 95 Abortion rights movement, 8, 63, 69, 70, 256 (seealso Antiabortion movement) ; framing in , 69 ACLU. See American Civil Liberties Union Activists, 93-94 , 95, 186,216 ,221 ; discourse of, 211, 217; intergenerational relationship among , 27-28, 29, 283; in political office, 343; structural roles of, 6, 8, 226; subcultures of, 43-45 African American movement, 341; common ground shared by other new social movements and, 88, 96, 98n6, 347; failures of, 345 African Americans , 200, 241 Aiken , Doris , 144 Alcohol industry : and the anti-drunk driving movement , 160-61n7, 16162n16, 163n18; and the public health frame , 159 Alcohol Safety Action Programs (ASAPs) , 140-41, 149, 161-62n16 Alternative medicine . See Health movements Altri Codici (Melucci), 14 "America First" movement, 98n8 American Academy of Arts and Sciences, 241-42 American Civil Liberties Union , 161-62n16 American Constitution, 95, 98n9 American Friends Service Committee , 44, 196 American Indian movement . See Native American movement American Revolution, 49, 82, 98n9 , 330 Anabaptists, 81 Anarchism : and the Left, 330, 338; in Spain , 307, 308, 311,324n8 Animal rights movement , 3, 6, 49, 59, 65
Antiabortion movement , 63, 69, 74. See also Abortion rights movement Anti-drunk driving movement, 52, 139 (see also Drunk driving) ; activists' role in, 146-50, 154-55, 156-57 , 158-59 , 161nll , 161-62nI6; constituents of, 144-45; federal and state facilitation of, 138-41 , 155-57 , 158, 159, l6On5, 161-62nI6, 163n19; mobilization in, atypical, 155-56 ; organizations in, 143-46, 161-62n16 Antinuclear movement, 3, 59, 186; British, 93; and the Democratic party , 340; grievances in, 40, 284; and identity issues, 94; as linear movement, 65; roots of, 342; structural roles of participants in, 6 Antipornography movement, 98n5 Anti-Semitism , 91, 98n8 Antismoking movement, 8 Antiwar movement. See Peace movements Armenia, 274; nationalism in, 268, 271,272-73,274-75 . See also Soviet Union , nationalism in ASAPs . See Alcohol Safety Action Programs Asian movement (United States), 7 Asturias miners' strikes , 304, 305 Atkinson, Ti-Grace, 250 Austria , 3, 293, 294 Automobile crashes, 133, 135 Automobile safety , 140, 160n5; frames for , 135, 136-38 , 142, 157, 160n2, 160n3, l6On4, 16On5, 163n20; public attention to , 142, 146 Aveni, Adrian , 24 Baltic states, 267, 272, 279, 281 Basque nationalist movement, 315 (see . also Spain, nationalism in); activist subculture s in, 44, 270, 271, 272-73 ; consen sus mobilization in, 225;
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358 Basque nationa list m ovem ent (continued) identit y issues in , 7, 19; other m ovement s subsume d by, 267, 281, 312- 13; role of every day life in grievances of, 277- 79 Batasuna, Henri , 281 Beard , C harles, 95, 98n9 Beauvoir , Simon e de, 284 Belgium , 27 Bell, Da niel, 21 Bellah, Rob ert N ., 27 Benford , Robert D. , 29; on framin g, 41, 191-92 ; on framin g and m obil ization, 190- 91 Benson , Lee, 98n9 Benton, Jam es, 91 Berkeley studen t m ovem ent , 209, 214, 215- 16, 219, 229n4 Black movem ent . See African Ame rican movem ent Blum er, Herbert , 79, 80; and collective behavior , 16, 60, 66- 67 Bound ary m aint enance, 20, 28; and framin g, 193- 96, 203 Boyer, Miguel , 326n27 Br own , Jerr y, 91 Brown v. Boardof Education, 41 Bur gess, Ern est, 66 Ca ballero, Largo , 307 Ca nada, 51, 267 Canovas, Ant oni o , 324n8 Ca pitalism , 3, 103, 106-7 , 108; and class relat ion ship s, 103; and new social mo vem ent s, 103, 106-7 Cas tro, Fidel, 49 Ca talan nationalist movem ent , 284nl , 323nl (see also C atalonia; Spain, nation alism in) ; activist sub culture s in , 44,270 ,271 , 272- 73, 275, 284- 85n2 ; anar chism in, 324n8; con sensus m obili zation in , 225; discourse analysis of, 229n6; framin g in, 19, 222, 229n 13; identit y issues in, 7; other mov em ent s subsume d by , 267, 312-13 ; ro le of every day life in grievances of, 51, 277-80 Ca talonia, 273, 274, 279 Ca tho lic church , 27, 51 Che mo by l, 292 C hicano power m ovement , 96
C hild abuse, 69- 70 C hildren's right s mov em ents, 6, 95 Chiliasm , 81-8 7 Chinese Revoluti on , 49, 50 Ch ristianity , 49, 50, 53 Civ il Right s Act, 247 C ivil right s move me n t, 63; activist subculture in, 44, 45; collective identity in, 247; contin uity in, 24; and th e D em ocratic party , 340; framin g in , 38, 41-4 2; as ideational m ovem ent , 62; ideological and cultural contradictions within , 40; as m aster prot est frame, 42, 49; and new social movem ent s, 283 (seealso under individual movements); orga nizational aspects of, S; politi cal and econo m ic chang e by, 48- 49; shi ft in cultur al content of, 47; social strata m erged in, 53; state facilitation of, 157; subm erged network s in , 238; and the wo m en 's liberation m ovem ent , 40, 42, 246, 249 C lass conflict, 22, 188; and econo m ic grievances, 7, 9, 21; and th e false unit y in social m ovem ent s, 236; and Mannh eim , 95, 96; in social m ovem ent th eor y, 6, 26, 103, 104, 189, 210, 345 C leme ns, Elisabeth, 50 C linto n, Bill , 341, 346, 347 Cog nitive liber ation , 160nl Co hen, Jean , 210, 259n l Co llective behavior , 16, 58, 95, 228n2; and continuities, 211, 212, 213; criticism of, 60, 61, 73; and fram ing , 68-69; intera ctive order as locus of m ovem ent s in, 60-6 1, 74, 212; and rnicroarenas and m acroarenas, 66-68; rejection of , 36, 213, 228n l; unit y perceived in , 26On4 C ollective ident ity, 124, 214, 314; antagoni st an d prot agoni st fields in , 192- 97, 198; in anti-drunk drivin g m ovem ent , 157; audience fields of, 193; bound ary fram ing and m aintenance in , 20, 28, 193- 96; and class conscio usness, 238; and consensus mobili zation , 225; continuity an d change in, 18, 28, 29- 30, 169, 183, 212, 228-29 n3 ; defined , 15- 16, 17, 168, 212, 236-3 7; and discour se
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359 analysis, 217, 229n6 ; factors contributing to formation of, 168; and framin g, 190, 192, 216, 227; and grievances, 21-2 4; and ideolo gy, 22, 227; and indi vidu al identit y, 7- 8, 6; as int eractional , 17, 168, 169, 183, 190, 192- 93, 217; and int ernal conflict and com petition, 219, 239-40 , 249, 251, 255- 56; in the latenc y pha se of social mo vement s, 257- 58; new social movements as sour ce for , 10-11 ,17-1 8,4 9-5 0,314 ; and norm ative pro scriptions, 16-17 ,2 8; and political influen ce, 256; and publi c identit y, 219; at the public level of analysis, 258-59 ; and public opinion , 18-20 ,28 ; and social netw orks, 117, 215, 228- 29n3; and subme rged networks , 237-40 , 243, 256-57, 258 Communism and the Communist party, 23, 38, 51, 274; activism encouraged in, 338; collapse of, 21, 41, 42, 288- 89, 330; and dictatorship , 334; in Eastern Europe, 332, 335; ideolo gical articulation in, 21-22 ; and the Left, 330, 332, 338; and Lithuanian nationalism , 272; and social movem ent theor y, 3, 4, 59; in Spain , 310,31 8, 325nl1 , 326n22 Count ercultural group s, 8, 51, 53 Cuban Revolution , 49 Culture : ignor ed as force in social mov em ent s, 37; and social mo vement s, 45 (see also under Social mo vement s). S ee also Mov em ent cultur e Curti, Merl e, 91 Danforth, John , 143 Diani , Mari o, 268 Danube movement , 288, 292- 95, 299, 300, 301, 302 Degler , Carl , 242 D emocracy in Am erica (de Tocqueville), 27 Demo cracy , 49, 91; and the Left , 330, 331,33 8 Democratic party, 199,335 ,340-41, 346 (see also Political parti es) Dick stein, Morri s, 51 Discour se analysis, 217, 221, 224, 229n6
Down ey, Gar y L. , 193 Drunk dri ving, 133; citizens' movement against (see Anti-drunk dri ving movem ent); framing for , 134-35 , 136, 138-41 , 142, 153- 54, 156, 157, 158, 159, 160n2 , 163n18, 163n20; media attent ion to, 133, 143, 146, 147-4 8, 155, 156, 157-5 8, 161- 62n16; media stories on , analyzed, 150-55 , 161n12, 161n15, 161- 62n16, 162- 63n17, 163n18; publi c att ention to , 142, 143, 146-4 8, 160n6 , 161n9, 162- 63n17 Durkh eim , Emil e, 16 Dut ch peace mo vement , 170; activists in, compared , 173-74, 175, 180- 81; activists' turn over in, 170, 175- 82; organizations involved in, 170-71 , 182; stages of, 169-73 , 182- 83 Eastern Europe , 302; and Communism , 332, 335; mobiliz ation und er authoritarian system s in, 287- 88; social democratic mass parti es in, 333-34 ; system transformation in, 288- 89 Ecology movem ent, 3, 6, 59, 115-1 6 (see also Environm ental movem ent ); in Hun gary (see Danub e mo vem ent); identit y and grie vances in, 24, 94, 118; institution alization o f, 125 Edu cation movement s, 95 England , 238 Environmental mo vem ent , 93 (see also Ecolog y movement) ; and the Democrati c part y, 340, 341; framin g of, 158; grievances in, 284; and identit y, 118, 121-22 ; localism of, 342; and oth er social movement s, 92, 347; public accountability and voice achieved by , 343-44 ; root s of, 282, 342; Spanish , 313-14 , 315, 325n18, 326n25 ; unity in, 221 " Equality between the Sexes: An Immodest Proposal" (Rossi), 242 Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) , 241, 247, 248, 253, 256, 260n8 ERA. See Equal Right s Am endment Erik son, Erik, 13, 14, 241 Estonia , 279; nationali sm in, 267, 268, 280 (see also Soviet Union , national-
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360 Estoni a (continued) ism in); nationali st subcultures in, 273-7 4, 285n3 , 284-8 502 Et hni c movements, 95, 96, 97 (see also N ation alistic moveme nts); identity issues in, 7, 17 Ethn om eth od olog y, 217- 18 Et zioni , Amit ai, 79 Eur op e, 3, 92, 238, 316; Eastern (see Eastern Eu rop e); social m ovem ent theory in, 26, 59, 210, 243; social movem ent s in, 3, 5, 6, 26, 27, 30, 37, 95, 322 Eu zkadi , 277, 279 (seealso Spain, nation alism in); chur ch-s tate relation s in, 273, 274; nation alism in, 267, 270, 272, 275 Evans, Sara: on the orig ins of the wo men 's moveme nt, 40, 42, 243, 246, 247, 249 Exon , Jam es J., 199 Fantasia, Rick, 257 Farm wor kers' movem ent, 42 Fascism , 3, 4, 59 Femini sm and femini sts. See Wome n' s movem ent Firem an, Bru ce, 21, 276 Flacks, Richard , 21- 22, 26, 65, 68 Fland ers, 267 For eign mi ssion s movem ent , 95 Fram e alignm ent pr ocesses. S ee Framin g Frame A nalysis (Go ffma n) , 190 Fram ing, 68-69, 135, 190- 92, 203-4, 210, 211-12 ; and antagoni st identit y fields, 192, 193, 197-99; audience fields of, 193, 199- 201, 203; of au to safety, 135, 136-3 8, 142, 157, 16002 , 160n5, 163020; bound ar y, 193- 96, 203; and cog ni tive liber ation , 16001 ; as cultu ral appro priation , 37-38; cultur al pro cesses th at stimulate , 39- 43; defined , 37, 190, 222; diagn ostic and progn ostic, 191, 193, 195, 196, 198, 203; of drunk dri vin g (see Drunk dri vin g, fram ing for); elem ents of effective, 134; and th e environment, 158; and frame extension , 223; and identity construction , 185, 186, 190, 201- 3, 216, 227; and ideology, 191; and master
frames, 42, 49, 79, 226; by th e m edia, 71, 158, 222; mo tivational, 191, 193, 195, 196, 203; past em bellished and reconstru cted in, 195, 203; as recursiv e, 192; duri n g regime transition , 299; and socia l contro l im plication s, 159 France, 3, 42, 306, 308 Franco and Francoism , 272, 278; anarchism duri ng, 311; antipo liticalism und er , 308; churc h-sta te relations und er , 273, 274-75 ; deat h of , 310, 311; ph ases in dictator ship of, 309; social m ovem ent s und er , 226, 304, 305, 306, 313, 314, 316, 317, 318, 322, 325n 16, 326029; student m ovement against, 312, 326023 Freedom Sum mer , 169, 213 Freem an , Jo, 243, 246-47, 260n1O Free Speech Movem ent (FSM) , 209, 226, 283 French Revoluti on , 47, 49, 50, 82, 330 Friedan , Bett y, 284 Friedm an, De bra , 17-18 From Structure to Action (Klandermans, Kri esi, Tarrow), 259- 6002 Frontiers in Social Movement T heory (Mo rris and Mu eller), 15, 26003 FSM . S ee Free Speech Movem ent Fun ctionalist theo ry , 213, 226, 230014 Fund am entalist religiou s movem ents, 3 Gam son , William, 150,21 4, 257; on th e effective frame , 134; and the injustice frame, 21, 259, 276 Gandhi, Moh and as, 8, 38 Gay right s m ovem ent , 3, 59 (see also Lesbian m ovem ent) ; and th e civil rig hts m ovem ent, 42, 49; cultural influence of, 64; and th e D em ocratic party, 340; as a fluid moveme nt , 66; ident ity issues in , 7, 17, 23, 189; intim ate and person al issues addressed by, 8; ro ot s of, 342 Gend er equality m ovem ent , 59, 189. See also Wom en 's m ovem ent Geo rgia : nation alism in , 268, 273-74 , 28503 (see also Sovi et U nion , nationalism in); ro le of everyday life in grievances of, 279, 280 Germ any, 3, 42
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Index 36 1 Gitlin , Todd , 74, 169 Goffman , Erving, 16,37 , 69,1 90, 201; and self-im age, 13; and working consensu s, 225, 23On14 Goldstone , Jack , 39 Gorbachev , Mikhail, 41, 173,273 Granovetter , Mark , 24 Grazioli , Marc o, 14 Green part y, 6, 92-93 , 281 Greenpeace, 12 Grievanc es, 276, 283, 284; and collective identit y, 21-24 , 28; economic, and class, 7, 9, 21; and everyday life, 30; framing pro cess stimulated by , 40-41 ; and ideolog y, 20, 21, 22 Guevara , Che, 49 Gusfield , Joseph R., 21, 24; on th e framing of drunk drivin g, 137, 146-47, 160-61n7 Hacker, Helen , 240-41, 242, 248 Handicapp ed rights movement , 49 Hare Krishna s, 60 Hayes, Carlton J. H ., 95-96 Health movem ents , 3, 8, 9, 65-6 6 Heckler, Mar garet, 26On9 Hegel, George Wilhelm Friedrich , 81 " Hippie" mov ement, 63-64, 65, 69, 71, 74; as ideational mov ement , 62; individual and collective blurred in, 7 Hispanic movement (United States), 7 Hitler , Adolf , 88, 98n8 Huber , Joan , 243, 244 Humanitarian movement , 79 Hung ary, 288, 289-90 , 296- 300, 301-2 Hunt , Lynn , 46-47 , 50 Hunt , Scott , 29, 187 Identity, 28-30 , 87, 111, 186,282 ; and cognitiv e liberation , 160n1; collective (see Collective identity); and conflict , 118; defined, 11; ethnic, 187, 189; and everyday life, 283; and framing (see under Framing) ; and grievan ces, 23, 28; and ideology , 14, 22, 193, 219, 227; ind ividual (see Individual identity) ; in the information society , 101- 2, 112-14 , 122; as intera ction al accomplishment, 189, 283; as manif estat ion of macro social
change, 188- 89; and nation alism, 17, 267- 68, 269, 270, 275, 276-77 , 282, 283; person al (see Individual identit y); and postindust rialism , 15; psychop atholo gy perspective on, 187-8 8; public (seePublic identit y); shift in, from instituti on to im pulse, 88; as social construc t, 269; in social mov em ents , 7-8, 9, 10- 12, 103, 203- 4, 267, 276, 332; in social mov em ent theor y, 10, 11, 187- 90, 210; and symbolic function s, 211; as youthful pur suit , 14-15 , 27, 29, 89, 118 Ideolo gy, 3-4 , 6- 7, 226; defined, 80- 81; dialectical relationship with utopi a of, 81, 85; and framin g, 191; and grievances, 20, 21, 22; and iden tit y, 10, 14, 22,1 93,21 9, 227; Mannh eim 's analysis of, 81-8 7 Ideologyand Utopia (Marx), 97 Iglesias, Pablo, 307 IKV. See Interd enomination al Peace Council Indian ind epend ence mov em ent , 53 Individual identity , 216, 331; anta gonist and prota gonist fields in, 193-97 , 198; and boundar y framin g, 195-96 ; and collective identity , 7- 8, 16; continuity and chang e in, 29-30 ; as fixed or malleable, 28; and the framing pro cess, 192; and grievances, 23; and ideology , 14; as int eractional accomplishment , 28, 189- 90, 216; in social mov em ent s, 7-8, 9,10 -12,103 , 203-4 ,2 67,27 6, 332; and public opinion , 18-1 9; and social context , 12, 13-14 ; in social mov em ent theory , 12-13 ; verbal articulation of, 12-13 ; as youthfu l activity, 14-15 , 27 Industrial Revolution , 6, 218, 308 Info rm ation societi es: conflicts in, 101- 2, 109-11, 115, 123; dominant logic of, 114-15 ; and identity, 101, 112-14 , 122; information in, 111-13 ; power in, 113, 115, 123; and social movement s, 102-3 , 104 Interdenominational Peace Council (IKV), 170; activists in, 171, 174, 175; and political action, 171, 172, 179
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362 Iran, 50, 196 Iran-Ir aq war, 196 Iraq, 203 Iribarn e, Manuel Fraga, 269 Islam , 49, 50 Islamic Revoluti on , 50 Israeli-Palestini an conflict, 197 Issue culture , 150 Italy , 3, 27, 42, 306, 308 Jackson , Jesse, 340, 346 Japan, 42 Jefferson , Th om as, 49 Jew s, 98n8, 240 John son , Lynd on , 137 John ston , Hank , 14, 24, 229n6, 229n13,28 4n 1 Julia, Sant os, 307 Kadar, Janos, 289, 290, 293, 295 Kar klins, Rasm a, 279 Killian, Lewis, 60, 189 Kimm eldorf , Howard , 44- 45 Kin g, Martin Luther Jr., 38, 70, 343 Kin g, Rodn ey, 41 King, Roger, 93 Kitschelt, Herb ert , 39 Klanderm ans, Bert , 29, 256-57 , 259n 1,2 59-6 0n2 Klapp , O rr in, 10, 11, 21,1 87 Klein, Eth el, 243, 244- 45 Kornha user, William , 72 Kri esi, Han speter , 39, 170, 259-60n2 Krop otkin , Peter, 8 Kuhn , T ho m as, 3, 59 Labor m ovem ent s,S , 50, 62, 64, 347 (see also Work ers' m ovem ent s); activist subcultures in , 43-44 ; and the D em ocratic part y, 340, 34 1; failur es of, 345; and identit y, 50, 332; m odel for , 305- 6; and social mo vem ent th eor y, 4, 59; Spanish, 310, 325n16 Laraiia, Enr iqu e, 19, 44 Latvia, 279; nation alism in , 267, 268, 273- 74, 285n3 . See also Sovi et Uni on , nationalism in LeBon , Gustav, 67 Left : achieveme n ts of, 344-45 ; Am erican, 336, 338- 39; and the civil right s movem ent , 42; Eur op ean , 104; hegemo nic parti es of, in decline,
335-36, 338; as identit y, 33 1-32; ideo log ical perspective of , 330-3 1, 350n1 ; as a part y, 332-37; social movem ent s as em bo dime nt of, 33839; strategy of , 332-34, 338, 350n2 ; as a tradition, 330-3 1, 332 Lenin and Lenini sm, 49, 310, 318, 320; and state power , 334- 35, 350n2 Lenini st m odel , 9, 21 Lesbian movem ent , 168, 189 (see also Gay right s m ovem ent ) Levy , Leon ard , 98n9 Liberation th eology m ovem ent , 51 Libert arianism , 330 Lifto n , Robert J., 241-42 Lightne r, Candy , 133, 134, 144 Lindb erg, C harles, 98n8 Lipset, Seymo ur , 91 Lithu ania, 267, 279; nation alism in , 267, 268, 270-73 , 275, 28 1 See also Soviet Un ion , nation alism in Lodi, Giova nni, 14 McAdam , Do ug , 24, 39, 42, 169, 213, 214; and collective identit y, 17-18 ; and cog nitive liberation , 160n 1, 238,2 59 McC arth y, John ,S McD onald , Forr est, 98n9 McGui re, Andrew, 147 M AD D . See Moth ers Against D ru nk Dr iving Man and Society in an Age of Reconstruction (Ma nnhe im) , 72- 73 M annh eim , Ka rl, 72-739 5,96; ambiguities in m odel of , 84-87 , 98n4; on ideology and utopi a, 80-87, 98n 1, 98n .4 M aravall, Jose M aria, 321 March on Washin gt on (1940), 40 Marx and Marxism , 30, 52, 230n 14, 335, 338; and alienation, 92-93 ; ideology conceived in , 6-7, 219, 228-29 n3; and th e link between ident it y and ideology, 14; and social m ovem ent s, 4, 305-6 , 350n2; in social m ovem ent th eor y, 26, 104, 226, 228n2 ; and stu den t m ovem ent s, 44, 213,22 7-28 Mass societ y th eory , 72-75; criticism of, 58, 60, 73 M aster fram es, 42, 49, 79, 226
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363 Media, 110, 199; and collective identit y , 256, 258- 59; creation of new s by, 148-4 9, 157; and framin g, 71, 73, 75, 135, 222; influence on social m ovem ent s of, 19, 71, 73, 75, 214; and th e pr esenc e of activis ts, 148-4 9; and social m ovem ent s, 116, 125, 154-55 , 220, 299 Melu cci, Alb erto , 14, 60, 210, 216, 221; an d class conflict and new social m ovem ent s, 188- 89; and collective ident ity , 15, 17, 168, 169, 189, 215, 228- 29n3, 236-3 7, 242, 243; and continuity an d unit y in social mo vem ent s, 215, 235- 36, 249; on identit y in n ation alist m ovem ent s, 268; an d interacti on and m eanin g construction , 236; on th e limit ation s of struc tur al analysis, 245- 46; on social changes and identit y- seekin g, 9, 11; social con stru ctionist approac h proposed by, 222; and submer ged netwo rks, 235 , 236, 237-4 0, 243, 246, 247, 252, 254, 255, 256, 257-5 8, 259 Menn onite s, 283 Mexico, 42 MF S. See Mobiliz ation for Surv ival Michels , Rob ert, 334 Mil an, 225 Milbr ath, Lester , 92 Minim alist orga niza tions, 144 Mi ssissippi Freedom Sum me r Project, 45, 50-51 Mobili zation for Surv ival (M FS), 198 Molot ch , H arvey, 40 Moncl oa Pacts, 319, 326n22 Morri s, Ald on , IS , 24, 44, 238, 260n3 Mother s Against Drunk Dri vin g (M AD D ), 145, 161- 62n 16; founding of , 134, 144; success of, 144, 143, 146-47 Movement cultur e, 37, 45-4 8 Moynihan , D aniel P., 136-3 7 Mueller , Ca ro l, IS , 219, 260n3 Munz er , Robert, 81 Mushaben ,J o yce, 144 N ader , Ralph , 136, 137, 138 N agel , Joane, 189 N agy, Imr e, 290, 294 Nation al Co nference for a N ew Politics (NC NP),2 49
N ation al H igh way Traffic Safety Admini str ation (N H T SA), 146, 161n .ll , 161- 62n16; creation of , 137, 138, 142; and th e drun k dri ving fram e, 139-41 N ation alistic m ovem ent s, 3, 96, 97, 111, 267 (see also Et hn ic m ovement s); com pared w ith new social m ovem ent s, 267, 268, 281, 282; fram ing in, 277; and identit y, 17, 30, 267-6 8, 269, 270, 276-7 7, 282, 283; othe r m ovement s sub sum ed by, 312- 13; and religion , 271, 273-75 , 284-8 5n2 , 285n3; ro le of everyday life in parti cipation in, 267, 268, 269, 277, 280-8 1, 282, 283; roo ts of , 95-96; subcultur es in, 270- 75, 282; sym bols that invok e em otional respo nses in, 280-81 N ation al O rga nization for Wom en (N OW ), 48, 60, 247, 258; m emb ership gro w th in, 254; segmen tation in , 248; Wom en 's Strike coo rdinated by , 253 N ational Safety Cou ncil, 139, 16162n 16 Nati ve Ame rican m ovement , 42, 96, 99n l0 NAT O . See North Atlanti c Treaty O rganization N azism , 30 N CNP. See N ation al Co nference for a N ew Politic s Nebr askans for Peace (N FP) , 186; antagoni st and prot agoni st identit y const ruc tion by, 196, 197, 199; audience identit y con stru cted by, 200-201; bound ary fram ing in, 194- 95; and out siders' identit y imput ations, 201-2, 203 Nem eth , Mikl os, 294 Neofascists, 30 N ew Age m ovem ent s, 3, 8, 61 New Amer ican Movem ent , 229n4 New Left : abeya nce struc ture in , 2 15; collective identit y and ideology in , 227-28; ideological per spective of, 342; int ergeneration al relation s in , 29,283; and Mannh eim 's dialectical analysis, 89-9 4; and new social movem ent s, 92-93, 283; as the new ut opi a, 87; roo ts of , 26; sexist treat-
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364 New Left (continued) m ent of women in, 219, 249; and th e studen t move me nt, 341; and the women's move ment, 246, 249 New social m ovem ents , 30, 61-62, 313- 14 (seealso Social movem ent s); activists of (see Activists); antipoliticism of , 224-2 5, 226; coalition of, 345-4 7; com pared w ith past movements, 7, 8, 9, 80, 93-94 , 95, 104-9 , 115, 188- 89, 210; conflict and antag onism in, 123- 26, 117-1 8; continuity and discontinu ity in , 10, 24-28 , 29, 43,2 10, 213-1 4, 225, 283, 314; and cross-cultural research, 6, 29, 210; decentr alization and autono my in, 8-9, 342-43, 347- 50; disunit y in , 254- 55; and every day life, 283; failur es and successes of, 343-45 ; goals of, 95, 216; as ideationa l, 10, 28, 43, 210; identity issues in (seeunder Identit y); ideological charact eristics of (seeunder Ideolo gy); instituti on alization of, 116, 125; latency and visibility of, 127- 29, 213; mobili zation patt ern s of, 8, 123- 26; network s in, 24-25, 117; origins o f, 9, 115, 213; as spiritual qu ests, 122, 125; theories of (see New social m ovem ent theor y) New social movem ent theor y, 211, 259n l ; Europ ean , 26, 59, 210, 243; grievances in , 234- 35; social construc tion pro cesses in, 234-3 5, 256- 59, 259-6 0n2, 260n3 ; in th e Unit ed States, 36, 37, 210 NFP. See Nebr askan s for Peace NHT SA. See N ational High way Traffic Safety Admini stration Ni chir en Shoshu Buddhist m ovem ent (N SA), 186, 194, 195,20 2 Ni chols, Jam es R ., 146, 161n . 11 1960s mo vem ent s, 93, 96, 255; con cern for prob lem s of protes t and riot s arising from , 59, 75nl ; impa ct on popular culture of , 51, 53-54; and Mannh eirri's dialectical analysis, 89-9 4; and th e new social mov em ent s, 94, 98n6, 341- 42 Nomads of the Present (Melucci), 235 N orth Atlant ic Treaty Org anization (NATO), 172, 321
" No tes from the First Year ," 250 Notesf rom the Second ~ar, 252 N OW. See Nati onal O rga niza tion for Wome n N SA. See Ni chir en Shos hu Buddhi st move me nt Nu clear prot est . See Antinucl ear m ovem ent Nu gent , Neill, 93 Oc to ber 17 Movem ent , 248 O ffice of Substance Abu se Pr eventi on (OS AP) , 159 O lson , Mancur , 18, 61, 276 OS AP. See Offic e of Substance Abu se Preventi on Pacificism. See Peace mo vem ent s Paine, Th oma s, 49 Palestini an nationalism , 7 Park , Robert , 66 Parkin , Frank , 93- 94 Parti qu ebe cois, 51 Pax C hristi, 171 Peace movem ent s, 3, 105, 347; activist subcultures in , 44; and identit y issues, 94, 118; importan ce of, in Am erican histo ry , 91, 98n8; and the Left, 330, 338; in th e Neth erland s (see Dut ch peace m ovem ent ); roots of, 42, 282; subme rge d network s in, 238; unit y perceived in by social movem ent theorist s, 221 Peace Week , 171-72 , 173, 174 Peopl e's Petition , 173 Perez-A got e, Alfon so , 272, 277, 278 Perot , Ross, 12 Persian Gulf War, 195, 201, 203, 204 Person al identity. See Indi vidu al ident ity Phillip s, Cynthi a, 91 Ph ysical fitne ss mo vem ent , 62 Poland , 41, 42, 49, 290 Political parti es, 3, 4, 8, 68 (see also D emo cratic party ; Republi can party ) Political pro cess th eor y , 36 Politics, C ulture, and Class in the French Revolution (Hun t), 46- 47 Porritt, Jonath on , 93 Postindustrialism, 15, 108, 119 Postm od ern ism, 11, 26, 28, 224 Pra gg , Philip van , 170
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Index 365 Preysl er, Isabel, 326n27 Protestant Reforma tion, 49 Pu blic Ci tizen , 138 Pub lic health : framing of, 136, 159, 160n2 , 160-6 1n7 Pub lic ident ity, 18-29, 214, 219, 269-70 Quak ers, 44, 282 Racial movements , 95, 96 Racist movements, 30 Radical Student U nion , 229n4 Rammste dt, O tthein, 287 Randol ph, A . Philip, 40 Reagan, Ron ald, 133, 173, 198, 199, 26009, 347 Reddy, William, 22 Reform , pro fession alization of, 138, 160n4 Reformatio n, 49 Reicher, Stephen, 12, 17 Religio us moveme nts, 49, 97, 195 Religious organizatio ns , 44; and iden tity, 112- 13; and nationa lism, 271, 273-75 , 284-85n2, 28503 Remove Int oxicated Drivers -USA (RID) , 143, 144, 161-62n 16 Republican part y, 199 (seealso Political parties) Resour ce mo bilizatio n theory, 36, 60, 61, 156, 234-35 Revolut ions, 49, 50 RID. See Remove Int oxicated D rivers U SA Riesman, D avid, 242 Right -w ing m ovements, 44 Rivera, Primo do, 307 Romania, 288 Roosevelt, Frankl in D., 40, 96 Rossi, Alice, 242 Rupp , Leila, 24, 25, 44 Russian Revolutio n, 49 Ryan, Charlotte , 157 Rytina, Steven, 21, 276 SAC. See U nited States Air Force Strategic Air Command SADD . See Students Agains t Driv ing Drunk Saudi Arabia, 196 Schennink:, Ben , 170, 173- 74
Schneider, William , 91 SDS. See Students for a Demo cratic Society Sectionalism , 96 Seleaiv idad, 219, 221, 229n8 Self-transformation movem ent s, 8 Skinhe ads, 30 Skocpo l, Theda , 39, 133 Slow -growt h movements , 94 Smith, Chri stian, 51, 280 SNCC. See Student Nonviolent Coor dinating Commi ttee Snow , David A., 29, 75, 91, 202; and framing , 37, 41,134, 190-92 ,257 Social cons tructionist , 9-10, 189 Socialism, 3, 21-22 , 59, 330, 338 Social movemen ts, 3-5 , 63, 71, 79 (see also New social moveme nts); activist subcultures in, 43-45 ; as associations and as meanings, 58-62, 64; und er authori tarian systems, 287-88, 293; changi ng character of, 169; com municative action of, 125-26 ; and conflict, 107-8, 109; con tinuity and unity in, 211, 212, 219-19 ,226, 227, 235-36, 260n4; cultura l im pact of, 37, 48-54, 116, 239-40; and culture , 45 (seealso Move ment culture); and every day life, 103, 107; genera l and specific, 79, 80; ideologies of (see Ideology) ; latent and visible, 238, 239, 26005; linear and fluid qualities of, 64-66 , 73, 77, 75; motivation for par ticipation in, 276; new (see New social moveme nts); nin eteenth- centur y, 95; orig ins and evolutio n of, 37-45 , 209; and political systems and organization, 103, 107- 8, 155, 32403 , 339; reflexivity of, 69-70; durin g regime transition , 299; and state actors, 156; strategies of, 50, 75nl ; as tem pora l events, 217, 218; as theater, 73-7 5; theori es of (see Social move men t theor y); in transitiona l regi mes, 302 Social movement theory, 3-5 , 7, 9, 218, 221; class em phasis in, 26; and collective behavior paradigm (see Collective behavior); contin uity and unity in, 216, 218-19 , 221-22, 22905, 229n7, 229n12 ; and cultura l
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Index 366 Social m ovem ent theor y (continued) tran sform ation , 239, 256; and economi c analysis, 61; in Europ e, 26, 59, 210, 234; and identit y, 17, 187- 90; levels of analysis in, 234-3 5, 256-57 ,2 58- 59; and m ass society theo ry (see Mass society theor y); and origins of social move me nt, 213, 228n2; poli tical pr ocess perspective em phasized in, 36, 39; politi cal versus pr ofessiona l point of view of, 214,2 18; ration alist model for , 276; and resour ce mob ilization (see Resource mobili zation th eor y); structur al bias in, 36, 37, 39, 43; and student movem ent s, 213, 228n1 ; in the U nit ed States, 26, 36, 37, 59, 210, 234 Society, 71, 72, 73 Solidarity m ovem ent , 41, 49, 290 Southern Chr istian Leadership Co nference, 60 Soviet Uni on , 7, 50, 172, 281, 334; collapse of , 21, 41, 42, 330; collective identity centered on class consciousness in, 238; nation alism in , 267, 268-69 , 270, 271- 73, 275, 277, 279, 282 (seealso Arm enia; Estonia ; Latvia; Lithu ania) Spain, 14, 22, 27, 42, 274; activist subcultures in , 44; ana rchism in , 306- 7, 308, 311, 324n8 ; antipo liticism in, 224-25, 307, 308, 316, 322, 323, 325n 19; church-s tate relation s in , 273, 274-7 5; citizen's m ovem ent in, 3D, 315, 319- 20; " classic" model of mobili zation in , 304, 305- 8, 310- 11, 316, 322, 323n l; framin g in oppos ition al m ovement s in, 19, 226; Franco's dictator ship of , 309; labor movem ent in , 310, 325n 16; m odernization in , 309- 10, 311, 316, 32425n9 ; nationali sm in , 7, 267, 268, 270,277,2 82,3 11, 325n 17 (see also Basqu e nationali st mov em en t; C atalan nation alist m ovem ent ; Eu zkadi) ; new social mo vem ent s in , 313- 17, 320-2 1, 322, 323, 325n 16; social m ovem ent s in m od ern , 304, 309- 17, 322-23, 223-2 4n2; social m ovement s in, and polit ical organization, 304- 5, 324n3; social m ovem ent s in
postm odern , 317-21 , 323, 32526n2 1, 326n27, 326n28 ; studen t mov em ent in (1986-1 987) (see Spanish student movem ent [1986-1 987]); student movem ent s in , 42, 311-12, 325n 15; wo rke rs ' m ovem ent in, 313- 15 Spanish Civi l War, 304, 305, 309, 310, 311,313,3 16,3 17,322 Spanish student m ovem ent (1986-1 987),44 ,2 27, 229n8, 229n9, 321; antipo liticism in , 224-2 5; characterized as m obili zation s, 212-13 ; cons tituency of, 209, 219-20 , 227, 229n l0 ; disco ntinuity in , 209, 221, 223-2 4; discour se analysis of , 221, 224; dissolved durin g tr ansition to dem ocracy, 319, 326n23; distin ctive because of dictat or ship , 312, 315; framing in , 19, 222- 23, 224,2 26, 227; ident ity confusio n in , 219, 220-21,223,22 4; and the m edia, 19, 219-20, 224, 229n11 ; strateg ic rath er than ideological issues centered on in, 226 State Com missio ns on th e Statu s of Wome n, 246, 258 Status politi cs theor y, 98n5 Str ain th eori sts, 187 Student Democ racy move me nt (Beij ing),38 Student m ovem ent s, 3, 74, 213, 227, 228; activis t subculture in, 45; and the civil right s m ovem ent , 42; consensus m ob ilization in , 225; continuity and discontinuit y in, 16, 212, 214- 15, 227- 28; for ces included in, 310, 325n12; ident it y issues in , 18, 2 13, 225, 227-28; and new social m ovem ent s, 226, 34 1- 42; in 1960s, 5, 59, 75n l , 89; and other stude nt movement s, 42, 312; at the U niversity of Ca lifor nia, Berkele y (see Berk eley student m ovem ent ); w hite Left , 40, 53, 54 Studen t Non violent Coo rdina ting Com m ittee (SN C C), 213, 249 Stud ent s Against Dri vin g Drunk (SAD D) , 161n9, 161- 62n16 Stud ent s for a Dem ocratic Society (SD S), 169,226, 229n4, 249, 256; and ideology and identit y, 227, 228
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367 Suffrag e movemen t, S, 9, 44, 95 Sugg , Maril yn , 134, 157 Swid ler, Ann, 43 Symbolic int eractionism, 189- 90, 216- 17 Tajfel, Henri, 14 Tarrow , Sidn ey, 39, 79, 107, 259n l, 259- 60n2 Taxi- drivers ' movem ent (Hun gary), 288, 296-300 , 301-2 Taylor , Verta , 25, 44; on abeyance structur es, 24, 214, 238; and boundary framing , 20, 194; collective identity defmed by, 168-69 , 189 Temperan ce mov em ent,S , 95, 98n5 Terrorism , 228 Third World , 198, 228 Thomp son , E. P., 22 Thoreau, Henr y David , 8 Three Mil e Island , 40 Tilly , Cha rles,S, 39, 79, 107, 324n3 Timmons , Marin elle, 147 Tocquevill e, Alexis de, 26 Totalitariani sm, 72 Tourain e, Alain , 68 Troeltsch , Ern st, 4 Trotsky , Leon , 49 Turner , Ralph H ., 10,21 ,4 9, 60, 189, 210 Ukrain e: nationalism in, 268, 273, 281 (see also Soviet Union, nationali sm in) Unionism, 45 Unitarians, 44 Unit ed Auto Worker s, 248 United States , 23, 172, 198, 238; decade of domesticity in, 240; declining pub lic identific ation with government , large busines s, and large labor in, 91- 92; driving crash deaths in, 133; freedom defmed in terms of individual autonomy in, 336-37 ; social movem ents in, 3, 7, 26-27 , 42, 95, 133, 337-3 8, 339-40, 344, 346, 350n4 ; social movement theor y in, 26, 36, 37, 59, 210, 234; and World War II , 91, 98n8 United States Air Force Strategic Air Command (SAC), 194, 199
Unit ed States C ongress, 137, 138, 143, 254; and wom en' s right s, 253, 260118 Unit ed States Departm ent of Labor , 136 Unit ed States Senate, 141 Unit ed States Supr eme Co ur t, 41, 161- 62n16 Uni ted We Stand Am erica, 12 Use em , Bert, 40 Utopia ; con stituenc y for , 85- 86, 87-8 8, 98n5; defined, 80-81 ; dialectical relation ship with ideolog y of, 81, 85; historic al sequence of, 81-8 4, 98nl , 98n4 Victim s' gro ups, 144 Vietnam War, 195,312 Walsh, Edward, 40 WEAL. See Women 's Equity Action Leagu e Weatherm an, 228 Weber, Max, 4, 189, 220 Whit e, Harrison , 53 Whittier , Nancy, 20, 27-28 , 47, 168-6 9, 189 Whitton , Rex, 160113 Whole World Is Watching , Th e (Gitlin) , 74 WIT CH. See Women 's Int ernat ion al Conspiracy from Hell Wolfson , Mark , 143 Women : collective identit y of, post World War II, 240-43 ; sexist treatment of, in 1960s mov ement s, 255, 249 " Women as a Minorit y Group" (Hacker), 240-41 Women for Peace, 170 Women's Equity Action League, 248 Women's groups, 144 Women's Int ernational Conspirac y from Hell (WITCH) , 250 Women 's mov em ent, 3, 47, 48, 61, 121; abeyance structure s in, 214, 238; activi st subcultur e in, 44; actor s in, 120; boundary maintenance by , 20; and the civil rights mov ement , 40, 42, 49; and collective identity , 17,50 ,16 9,219,235 ,244 -45 , 246, 247-4 9, 250, 251-52 , 255, 259, 260118; communication by, 119- 20;
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Index
368 Women's movement (continued) and the D em ocratic part y, 340, 341; equal rights femini st br anch of, 247- 48, 260n8; failur es of, 345; as fluid m ovem ent, 65, 74; framing in , 244; generational relation s in , 27- 28, 29; grievances in , 8, 284; as histori cal acto r, 252- 53; as ideational and associational movem ent , 62; identit y issues in, 7, 13, 23,9 4, 118-1 9, 121; institutionali zation of, 125; and the Left, 330, 338; in Lithuani a, 281; and the media, 250, 251, 253, 254, 255; mobilization pot ent ial in, 225-26; or ganizational continuity in, 24, 25-26; and other social m ovem ent s 347; and the polit icization of every~ day life, 23; roo ts of, 9, 26, 44, 48, 97, 105, 106, 243-4 9, 251-5 2, 282, 342; and social m ovem ent theory, 105; Spanish, 313- 14, 315; structural theori es of origins of, 243- 46; submerge d networ ks and collective identit y in, 235, 246-49, 251-52; unit y and disunit y in, 221, 254- 55, 260n lO; wom en 's liberation br anch of, 248- 49. See also Suffrage move-
m ent ; Wom en 's right s m ovement (19th cen tury) Wome n 's right s m ovem ent (19th centur y), 40, 105, 106, 241 Wom en 's Strike for Equ alit y Day, 247, 252- 55, 258 Woolard , Kathr yn A. , 279-80 Work ers' movem ent s, 23, 116, 227, 313- 15. See also Labor m ovem ents Workin g-cl ass m ovem ent s 6 313-14 · an tipo liticism in, 224; a~d ~conomi'c grievances, 7, 9; m obili zation patterns of, 8, 9; in social m ovem ent theor y , 218, 219, 236; in Spain , 304, 305-8,313 - 15, 316-17, 322-2 3, 323n 1 Working consensus, 225, 230n 14 World War 1, 316, 334 World War II, 91, 98n8, 171, 198,3 16 Xeno pho bic m ovem ent s, 30 Young Socialist Alli ance, 229n4 Youth for Peace, 194- 95 Youth m ovement s, 5, 221 Yugoslavia, 267 Za ld, Mayer , 5 Zi mrin g , Franklin , 143
Copyrighted Material
Sociology/Political Science
Cultur al changes over the past two decades have led to a proliferation of new social move ments in Europe and the United States . Ne w soc ial m ovem en ts such as eco logy , peace, ethnicity , Ne w Age phi losophies , alternati ve med icine , and gender and sexual identit y are among those th at are emergi ng to challenge tra ditiona l categories in social movement theor y . Synthe sizing classic and modern perspectives , the con tributors help to redefine the field of socia l movements and advance an und erstand in g of them through cross -cultural research , comp arison wit h older movements , and an examination of th e dim ensions of iden tity -in dividua l, collective , and melding of the two.
"There has been remarkable interest in social constructionist approaches to social movements and integrating classical collective behavior theory and European new social movements approaches . This collection of articles does the best job that I have seen of accomplishing both of these agendas . The editors' introduction pulls together one of the first and most coherent statements of new social movements . . . clearly on the cutting edge ."
Th e contribut or s to thi s volume are Jose Al varezJunco , Robert D . Benford , Ri chard Hack s, Scott A . Hunt , Bert Kl anderman s, Do ug McA dam , John D . McCarth y, Alb ert o Melu cci, Carol Mueller , M ate Szab 6, D avid A . Snow , Ralph H . Turner , and the editors . Enrique Larafia is Titular Prof essor of Sociolog y at th e Uni versit y of Madrid , Spain . Hank Johnston is a lecturer in the D epartment of Sociology at San Die go State Uni versit y. Joseph R. Gu sfield is Professor Em eritu s of Sociolo gy at th e Uni versit y of C aliforni a, San Di ego.
Verta Taylor, The Ohio State University
Des ign : Ellen C . Dawson
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