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Disciplinary Approaches: Handbook of Social Movements Across Disciplines

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Disciplinary Approaches: Handbook of Social Movements Across Disciplines

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Disciplinary Approaches: Handbook of Social Movements Across Disciplines

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The chapter from "Klandermans' Handbook of Social Movements Across Disciplines" discusses the

evolution and dynamics of social movements, particularly focusing on their historical context and
interdisciplinary approaches. This chapter also discusses the significance of social movements and
their academic study over the decades, particularly focusing on the changes in theoretical frameworks
and methodologies used in social movement research. It covers various interdisciplinary approaches
to studying social movements. It delves into how different academic fields like sociology, political
science, anthropology, and history contribute to understanding social movements.

The study of social movements has become increasingly important due to the rise of various
movements in recent decades. In the 1960s, sociologists predicted a decline in social protest, but this
proved to be incorrect. Instead, the 1960s saw a surge of activism, including student, women's, peace,
and ecology movements, as well as right-wing organizations like the pro-life movement. In the 1970s,
Islamic fundamentalist and Marxist movements emerged in Iran and Nicaragua, while radical leftist
terrorist groups formed in Germany and Italy. More recently, transnational protests, ethnic
mobilizations, internet protests, and Islamic movements have gained prominence. The diversity of
movements, issues, and action forms has fueled the growth of social movement studies.

The study of social movements has become more international, with scholars from different countries
collaborating to bridge theoretical gaps and develop shared concepts and frameworks. This
internationalization has allowed for the study of cases from around the world and has led to increased
theoretical debate and attempts to synthesize different perspectives. However, the field remains
fragmented due to disciplinary boundaries, geographic areas, historical era, and types of contention.

The focus is on sociology, political science, anthropology, social psychology, and history, which are
considered the core disciplines in this field. Each discipline raises its own specific questions and
approaches social movements from different angles, with unique working arrangements, vocabularies,
and standards of explanation. For example, social psychologists focus on individual factors while
neglecting the broader political and cultural context, while political scientists explore political
opportunities and the impact of protest. Sociologists and historians study the rise and decline of social
movements, and anthropologists and sociologists examine the role of culture in shaping protest.

DISCIPLINARY APPROACHES
The "Disciplinary Approaches" section from the Handbook of Social Movements Across Disciplines
highlights how different academic fields contribute unique perspectives to the study of social
movements.
Sociology, as one of the main disciplines in this field, emphasizes collective behavior, extra-
institutionality, network character, and the willingness of members to disrupt order. It also focuses on
how social institutions influence people's choices and how collective actions bring about social
change.
Within sociology, there are two main approaches: structural and cultural. The structural approach
emphasizes the importance of mobilizing structures, distribution of material resources, and political
opportunities for the emergence of social movements. The cultural approach focuses on how
individuals and groups perceive and interpret these material conditions, and concentrates on the
cognitive, affective, and ideational roots of contention.
Political science emphasizes the role of social movements in the political arena and how political
opportunities shape collective action. While the state-movement interaction is often a focus, political
science has not developed a specific framework for studying social movements. Instead, it offers
insights into social capital, political institutions, political strategy, and the impact of collective action
on public policy.
Social psychology focuses on the individual's role in social movements, including collective beliefs,
transformation of discontent into action, and participation. It highlights four fundamental processes:
social identity, social cognition, emotions, and motivation. These processes contribute to a specific
motivational constellation for participation in collective action.
Anthropology examines the role of culture in social movements, focusing on meaning, identity, and
"cultured dispositions." It analyzes cultural characteristics of societies, cultural narratives and
symbols, and the "emic" perspective, which focuses on intrinsic cultural distinctions meaningful
within a society.
History studies social movements as historical phenomena, examining long-term developments and
avoiding general explanations. Historians aim to provide credible accounts of specific sequences of
events and motives, but their explanations are often context-dependent. They have made contributions
to social movement studies by analyzing a wide range of mobilizations, both large-scale and small,
isolated movements across different time periods.

DYNAMICS OF INTERDISCIPLINARY EXCHANGE


The Dynamics of Interdisciplinary Exchange section from the Handbook of Social Movements Across
Disciplines discusses the dynamics of interdisciplinary exchange in the study of social movements. It
characterizes the relationships between different disciplines as a network model of reciprocal
influence, where sociology functions as the core discipline due to its numerical and theoretical
centrality. Sociology has become the largest and most important discipline in this field, and other
disciplines often follow developments in sociology and borrow its frameworks and paradigms.
This chapter also highlights examples of theoretical exchange between sociology and other
disciplines. For instance, Meyer and Lupo point out that key concepts like "resource mobilization"
and "political opportunity structure" originated in political science but were further developed in
sociology. Additionally, the conference organized at the University of Michigan aimed to explore
social psychology in order to complement the structural-political framework of the Resource
Mobilization approach. Concepts like "collective action frame" and "identity" were discussed and
elaborated by scholars from different disciplines.
Researchers have employed various theoretical and methodological approaches to understand the rise
and development of social movements, including examining cross-border, interdisciplinary, historical,
and geographical dimensions.
CROSS CUTTING AND DISTINCTIVE ISSUES AND THEMES
This chapter discusses the central issues and themes that dominate the agenda of social movement
studies in different disciplinary approaches. It compares the "classic agenda" of the 1980s and 1990s,
which focused on collective action frames, mobilizing structures, and political opportunities, with the
current dominant themes of globalization, culture, identity, and emotions.
The text argues that while the classic agenda has lost its centrality or is being questioned and re-
elaborated, it has not completely disappeared. It has been substituted by related concepts like identity,
cognition, and culture. The decline of the classic agenda has led to greater diversity but also
fragmentation within the field of social movement studies.
While globalization is an important topic in structural sociology, it receives little attention in other
disciplines like anthropology, political science, cultural sociology, history, and social psychology. This
may be due to the recent nature of globalization processes, the lack of attention to contextual factors
in social psychology, and the focus on local effects of globalization in anthropology.
Identity is another shared central theme, particularly in social psychology, anthropology, and cultural
sociology. However, there are differences in how identity is defined and conceptualized in these
disciplines. Social psychology distinguishes between collective identity and individual identity, while
anthropology and cultural sociology focus on collective identity and its construction and negotiation.
The text discusses the role of emotions in social movements, particularly in relation to identity and
culture. It argues that emotions are important in motivating people to participate in collective action
and that they are central to identity construction and negotiations.
The text compares the social psychological and cultural sociological approaches to emotions. Social
psychology views emotions as an important constitutive element of identity, while cultural sociology
sees emotions as central to identity construction and negotiations. Social psychology emphasizes the
idea that the stronger the group identification, the more people experience group-based emotions.
Social psychologists have developed instruments to measure emotions and models to explain how
emotions influence cognition and behavior.
The text also examines the relationship between culture and identity in anthropology and cultural
sociology. Both disciplines see culture and identity as intertwined concepts, with identity being a
"carrier" of culture and culturally constructed. Both approaches recognize that collective identities of
social movements reflect and react against the dominant culture and contribute to cultural change.
However, they differ in their focus. Anthropology primarily focuses on how processes of globalization
affect and mobilize local identities, while cultural sociology views collective identity as a possible
carrier of culture among many others.
The text concludes by highlighting two prevalent lines of research in the study of social movements: a
macrostructural approach focusing on the impact of globalization, and a micro and meso level
approach examining the relationship between cultural change and identity construction. It also calls
for more actor-oriented analyses that focus on individual participants in movements and their
motivations, aspirations, and considerations. The text suggests that combining different disciplinary
perspectives can provide a more comprehensive understanding of social movements.

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