Notes on G. Edwards, Social Movements and Protest, Chapter 5 Old to New Social Movements: Capitalism, Culture and the Reinvention of Everyday Life In this lecture. 1. Out with the Old? Marxism and the labour movement 2. New Social Movements (NSMs) 3. What is new about NSMs? 4. Where did NSMs come from? Jurgen Habermas: the colonization of the lifeworld Alain Touraine and Alberto Melucci: rebel subjects in information society 5. Implications of NSM theory 6. Criticisms Marxism and the Labour Movement European social movement theory evolved through critical engagement with Marxism and the fortunes of the labour movement So what kind of theory of social movements does Marxism offer? Ironically, Marxism does not contain a theory that specifically explains the emergence, character and development of social movements (Nilsen 2009,109) Why? Because it is in itself a theory of social movements (Nilsen and Cox, 2007,1). i.e. Marxism grew out of, and was designed to shape, a social movement itself the labour movement (or the working class movement ). In fact, Marxists see the labour movement as the one true social movement of capitalist societies. 1
Marxism and the Labour Movement Each social formation contains structural contradictions in its economic base. These structural contradictions produce social conflict and actual political struggles between social groups (Communist Manifesto, 1848) The social formation called capitalism is ridden with economic contradictions and crises. These give rise to a struggle between social classes (capitalists and labourers) who have diverging interests Capitalism will produce its own gravediggers workers mobilize the labour movement Labour movement is the historical agent of change trade unions form, then political and socialist parties, then a (communist) revolution Trade Union Density (% of workforce in a Trade Union), UK, 1984-2009 Data source: Certification Office and Office for National Statistics Number of working days lost to labour disputes in the UK, 1891-2009 Data source: Office for National Statistics 2
New Social Movements (NSMs) 1970s and 1980s labour movement in decline, working class identity eroding is it the end of social movements??? No! Argued the NSM theorists. Instead, a range of new social movements emerged at this time to take place of labour movement: Movements around peace and nuclear energy, Environmental movements, health-related movements, Autonomy movements (anti-psychiatry, school reform movements, self-help groups, youth movements), Movements around feminism and sexuality (Women s and Gay Liberation) These new social movements are no longer rooted in class (i.e. they are post-material ). Class identities no longer able to give rise to politically significant collective identities and social movements (they are old ). i. A new politics - to defend identities or to gain recognition for new personal and collective identities. To challenge dominant definitions of who we are and how we should live (rather than labour and citizenship issues). ii. iii. iv. What is new about NSMs? A new site of struggle - protest = counter-cultural activities. Creation of autonomous spaces in everyday life in which people can experiment with new cultural values, new ways of relating to each other, new selves, outside of control by state and market. Less focused on confrontation with the state. Political struggle takes place within people s personal lives and relationships. A new composition not working class, but cut across classes (if anything middle class radicals are over-represented in the NSMs). Involve women, young people, students not traditionally seen in labour movement. A new organizational form shift away from SMOs and big bureaucratic institutions (like unions, political parties) towards a network structure. Often rooted in informal ( submerged ) networks of everyday life, like kinship and friendship. Concern for participation, internal democracy, decentralised power structures. Where did NSMs come from? European scholars (Touraine, Melucci, Habermas) adopted Marx s form of explanation but rejected the content of his theory as outdated. Society had moved on to a post-industrial phase (Touraine 1974), with a new key conflict, and a new historical agent of change. The key conflict of post-industrial society does not surround the workplace and production, but culture, and the dominance that is exerted by state and market over cultural meanings, values, and even our sense of self And the new historical agents of change are the NSMs (not workers). 3
Jürgen Habermas: the Colonization of the Lifeworld New conflicts surround the growth of the state (bureaucracy, law) and market (commodification) in advanced capitalist societies State and market expand into the lifeworld, i.e. the world of everyday life - shared cultural meanings, personal relationships, personal identities. This happens through growth of welfare state, privatisation, commercialisation (e.g. of education, health, culture) Habermas calls this process the colonization of the lifeworld by the system. It creates conflicts not around labour, but around culture Jürgen Habermas: the Colonization of the Lifeworld Our world of everyday life is under attack becoming increasingly bureaucratised and commercialised and stripped of meaning Cultural impoverishment and a loss of freedom is the result NSMs seek to defend the lifeworld from this attack to protect existing identities and ways of life, or to construct new ones away from system control Alain Touraine and Alberto Melucci: Rebel Subjects in Information Society Melucci had been Touraine s student. They both refer to post-industrial society as Information Society a society where wealth depends upon circulating, utilising and controlling information rather than manufacturing goods. E.g. the new knowledge-based economy, ICT, financial markets, mass media & culture industries, branding and consumer culture 4
Alain Touraine and Alberto Melucci: Rebel Subjects in Information Society Information is the resource that is fought over those who control information control the meaning that the world has for people This is increasingly important in post-industrial society to control what consumer goods mean to people, what the natural environment means to them, what their bodies mean to them, what other people mean to them, even to control their psychological needs and sexual desires Post-industrial economy does not just need to control the production of material goods, but control the production of symbolic meanings as well (i.e. culture). Culture is exactly what is produced and manipulated for the sake of capital accumulation in post-industrial society Touraine (1988) this leads to a programmed society i.e. a society in which material and symbolic reproduction is controlled from above, manipulating human values, needs and representations : Melucci (1996) dominant cultural codes attempt to define us as particular kinds of individuals, whose identities, bodies, and desires conform to dominant needs (i.e. heterosexual mothers or breadwinners, with a work ethic, who like to buy lots of stuff!) Post-industrial society supposed to be about freedom to be an individual and to choose but actually there is pressure to conform, to all be the same The only way to escape is to try to define things for yourself, to construct alternative understandings of human existence, to truly become an individual on your own terms, i.e. to become a rebel subject These rebel subjects found in NSMs who contest the process of cultural reproduction, offer alternative cultural values, ways of living, ways of relating to others, and even to your self (e.g. Feminism) 5
Implications of NSM theory Political protest can take different forms: not just SMOs targeting the state with their demands through public demonstrations, but constructions of alternative cultural meanings, values, ways of living, in people s private lives Political protest can also be about constructing your own sense of self that escapes the pressures to conform to dominant cultural codes People can therefore be involved in a social movement outside of SMOs: they don t have to join an organization, but can live their lives, and think of themselves, differently They imagine that their individual action is part of a wider collective effort (i.e. they share a collective identity, e.g. as vegetarians, as voluntary simplifiers, as straight edgers ) Lifestyle and identity projects can be a form of political protest Criticisms There are problems with the NSM argument, however: i. NSMs are not totally new - Feminism had material as well as postmaterial concerns, and targeted state with demands. ii. Plus, labour movement had (and has) some new characteristics - about identity, lifestyle, recognition and not just wages (Calhoun, Tucker, Edwards). iii. What was seen as new about NSMs didn t really last informal network structures eventually gave way to bureaucratic institutions, e.g. Environmental movement So trying to explain movements by relating them to particular periods in history is problematic, suggesting shift from old to new is exaggerated Has there been a fundamental break in the nature of society and its key conflicts? Or are NSMs part of a cycle of protest? (class conflicts will come back around?). 6