Culture and Movements

Abstract

Scholars have paid increasing attention to the role of culture in social movements' emergence, trajectories, and impacts. Culture is no longer conceptualized as a subjective lens through which people perceive objective structures, but rather as a key dimension of those structures. This has allowed researchers to shed new light on why certain areas of social life come to be contested when they do, as well as to understand the limitations on activists' ability to act strategically, and the sometimes surprising ways in which movements have influence. We focus on one vein of research: the role of institutional schemas in spurring mobilization and accounting for its effects. Schemas are accepted ways of doing things—doing business, obstetrics, race relations, or Internet protest. Research has investigated both the conditions in which institutionalized schemas become vulnerable to challenge and whether winning the acceptance of a new institutional schema counts as movement success.

Student Activism Within Christian College Cultures: A Symbolic Interactionist Perspective

“…Christian institutions are also often accountable to sponsoring denominations or church traditions, which are often represented on respective boards of trustees. This pattern is consistent with Polletta's (2008) institutional schema of culture that is "constitutive of interests and identities but also as circulating through networks, backed up by resources, and employed in the service of organizational agendas" (p. 85). Thus, in regard to student activism, great efforts are made by administrators to proactively influence and present a unified and idealized culture of activism, rather than a culture of studentinitiated activity on issues and methods deemed important by groups of students, as consistent with Schein's (1996) findings.…”

“…Student activism at Christian colleges, demonstrated by this case study at two institutions, can be viewed through the sociological concept of symbolic interactionism (Blumer, 1969;Charon, 1979;Mead, 1934;Stryker, 1980) and through the study of organizational culture (Musolf, 1992;Polletta, 2008;Sanderlands & Stablein, 1987;Schein, 1996;Smircich, 1983;Yanow, 2000). This lens is especially pertinent for institutions, which can influence how student activists conceive themselves, act in response to these social interactions, and make meaning of these actions.…”

“…These institutions dominated their cultural schema through resources and power, accomplishing it through the investment of funds and staff in the creation and support of a certain type of activism, as consistent with Polletta (2008). This domination is illustrated by the organizational structures built to involve students in narrowly defined activism, primarily through official student organizations and college-sponsored programs.…”

“…There must also be a focus on meaning created at that specific site through organization member perspectives based on the artifacts they create, engage, and sustain, and through their process of ongoing engagement with these artifacts. Polletta (2008) viewed culture through an institutional schema, allowing culture to be treated as "constitutive of interests and identities but also as circulating through networks, backed up by resources, and employed in the service of organizational agendas" (p. 85). Resource and power is Downloaded by [McMaster University] at 12:41 01 December 2014 connected to culture, in that resource and power determine what schemas dominate an institution: "Once a schema begins to gain purchase, however, it creates stakes in its enforcement and interpretation (and for some, in its challenge)" (Polletta, 2008, p. 85).…”

Are Student Protests in Arab States Caused by Economic and Political Grievances? Empirical Evidence from the 2006–07 Arab Barometer

“…Some scholars examine the role of culture in social movements(Polletta, 2008;Rochon, 1998;Zhao, 2010), granting more agency to cultural contexts in movement emergence and maintenance. Social-psychological perspectives examine group behavior, emotional manipulation, and collective identity in movements(Hirsch, 1990;Jasper, 2011;Klandermans, 2005;Melucci, 1995;Snow & Oliver, 1995).…”