Understanding basic theories on social movements

1. Democracy and Social
Movements
Prof. Lourdes Veneracion-Rallonza, PhD
Department of Political Science
Ateneo de Manila University

2. Context
• Domination fosters
resistance (Marx,
Foucault)
• Assumption of consent
also presupposes
withdrawal of such thus
transforming the polity
• Critique
Alternative Social
Imaginary

3. Mobilizing Social Movements
• Response to societal stresses, injustices, and
conflicts (e.g. economic transformation,
population shift, social disruption) (Taylor
2000)
• Combination of processes (e.g. urbanization
and social interaction; social classes;
universities and mass education; ‘freedom’
spaces)

4. Social Movements
• Collective action (from mass behavior to political
process and resource mobilization)
• Way by which ordinary people participate in
public politics (Tilly 2004)
• Collective challenge by people with common
purpose (Tarrow 1994)
- campaigns
- modes of political action (e.g. awareness raising,
demonstrations, rallies, public meetings)
• Agents for change

5. Narrative of Paradigms: Theories of
‘Collective Action’ (Edelman)
• Mass/collective behavior
• Resource mobilization
• Political process
• New social movements

6. Mass/Collective Behavior Theories
• Functional
- Collectives as symptoms of social disequilibria and new patterns
of social behavior (e.g. Park 1967)
- Incapacity of social system to manage tensions; fostering of
solidarity (Smelser 1962)
• Psychological
- mass response to totalitarianism through ‘mob mentality’ (Arendt
1962)
• Economic
- strategic decision of rational individuals (Olsen 1965)
- class (Marxist) analysis (Thompson 1971)

7. Resource Mobilization Theories
• Organizational
- omnipresent discontent
- ‘strategic-oriented’ (Cohen 1985)
- resolution of ‘free-rider’ puzzle through analysis of available
resources (McCarthy and Zald 1977)
- interest group politics deployed by socially-linked groups
- identification of preference structures

8. Political Process Theories
• Organizational and Process-flow
- jumped off from RM’s failure to explain spontaneous
mobilizations and scarce-resourced movements
- ‘political opportunity structures’ or strategic analysis of
threats vis a vis opportunities (Tarrow 1998)
- diachronic approach or analysis of the frequency of
contentious events over long periods of time (Tilly 1986)
- synchronic approach or examination of conflicts occurring at
the same time in relation to space (Shorter and Tilly 1977)

9. New Social Movements Theories
• Identity-Oriented
- ‘central conflict’ in society, e.g. labor vs. capital according to
Marx
- ‘actor’ and ‘social action’ dynamics according to Weber
- Structural preconditions of collective action in post-industrial
societies that studies contention as focused on ‘way of life’
- actors have the capacity to act and struggle for historicity
(Tourraine 1988)
- components: (1) recognition of commonalities and shared
identities and interests; (2) adversarial relations with opposing
side; (3) actions beyond the capacity of social system (Melucci
1989)