Call for Papers: The Changing Role of Citizen Engagement in Today's Challenges: Participation, Movements, Protest (original) (raw)
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Social movements and participation in collective action
This chapter is devoted to the mechanisms of engagement and disengagement in collective action as they are currently conceived in social and political psychology. Dynamics of collective action are decomposed into dynamics of demand, supply, and mobilization. Dynamics of demand are about people and their motives, dynamics of supply about organizations and their appeals, and dynamics of mobilization about the convergence of demand and supply. So far, the core business of political psychology has been the demand side of protest. This chapter describes five core concepts affecting collective action participation: grievances, efficacy, identity, emotions, and embeddedness. As for the supply side of protest and mobilization, new research lines (framing, the perceptions of the sociopolitical context, and the role of social media for dynamics of mobilization and participation) are discussed. The chapter closes with a discussion of new directions research methodology has taken.
Political Participation: Deprivation and Protest
There is increasing evidence to indicate that protest and dissent are not the activity only of the irrational and opportunistic sectors of society. They represent a particular mode of political participation chosen by those of the citizenry who, stilt retaining notions of personal effectiveness, feel that the system can and must be hurried, or pushed, into action. Whatever understanding ongoing socio-political research furnishes seems to point away from conceiving protest and dissent as political pathology, as irrational political behaviour; instead, it seems to be increasingly apparent that the conscience of protesters often represents a repository of articulated and accepted—but in practice denied—community values. Participants in protests—as more than one profile seems to indicate—are likely to be among those who, otherwise personally effective, are moved by fates other than their own in particularly crucial areas of their lives. In this article, we are concerned with this segment of the citizenry—those who have participated in or sympathise with mass political protests. In particular, we shall explore those economic, social and attitudinal characteristics which tend to be associated with them, in order that we may better understand what motivates them. This in turn may then lend greater insight into the nature of these protests, Many of the sources we draw upon have been derived from studies outside our country. The inferences we draw from these cross-cultural studies, therefore, must be regarded more as suggestive than conclusive when we evoke our own conditions.
Social Movements, 'Popular' Spaces, and Participation: A Review
Sociological Bulletin 61(2), 2012
People's movements have been viewed as possible ways in which people's participation or empowerment of the marginalised may be achieved. This paper, through a review of literature and using the metaphor of space, explores the role of mediating factors between people's movements and participation. The presence and the relationship of people's movements with the state, political parties, support groups, and transnational networks create the enabling environment in which popular spaces may be enlarged. Using illustrations of movements in India, Brazil, and Mexico it has been seen that, through enlargement of popular spaces, a social movement can achieve participation.
Political activism: New challenges, new opportunities
2007
This body of work documented levels of participation within and across nations, and distinguished modes of political action. Empirical research draws upon multiple methods, including case-studies, focus groups, experiments, and formal models, although during the last half century the study of participation has been dominated by analysis of the sample survey.
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-13895-0\_98-1 Social movements have become a constitutive part of contemporary societies, especially so in democratic contexts where the institutional conditions allow for movements to be formed and express themselves freely. They involve conflictual relations with clearly identified opponents, are linked by dense informal networks, share a distinct collective identity, and engage primarily – but not exclusively – in protest activities. Explanations of movement mobilization have typically stressed a number of key factors, or combinations thereof: in particular, grievances, mobilizing structures, political opportunities, and framing processes. This chapter provides an overview of some key aspects relating to the study of social movements. Given the breath of this field, it can only be very selective in doing so. The chapter first addresses the question of the definition of social movements. Then it moves on to looking at the ways in which they have been studied. Finally, it briefly discusses what movements leave behind them, that is, the issue of their outcomes and consequences. The chapter concludes with a summary of the most salient aspects addressed and some directions for future research.