Culture and Social Movements

McAdam, Doug

doi:10.1007/978-1-349-62965-7_14

Cited by 37 publications

(44 citation statements)

References 12 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…One of the consequences of the ‘cultural turn’ in social movement theory which happened in mid‐eighties was the development of the concepts that highlighted the importance of the cultural context in understanding of social movements. The wave of studies concerned with cultural environment showed that cultural context affects political mobilisation through shaping discursive and cultural opportunities for collective actors (Buechler 1993; Johnston and Klandermas 1995; McAdam 1994; Polletta 1997, 2004, 2008; Swidler 1986, 1995; Williams 2004). Cultural context, they argued, simultaneously provides social actors with meanings, symbols and myths to draw on as well as constrains through dominant discourse and norms.…”

Section: Opportunity Structuresmentioning

confidence: 99%

Social Movements Through the Gender Lens

Zemlinskaya

2010

Sociology Compass

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Although it is widely acknowledged that many aspects of social life are gendered, only relatively recently have feminist researchers begun to address the ‘gender blindness’ of the social movement theory. Integrating findings from multiple studies, the article considers how gender affects social movement dynamics. It is argued that gender exerts pervasive influence on every aspect of social movement activities. The patterns of mobilisation, political and cultural opportunities, framing process and intra‐movement dynamics are all gendered. It is argued that although ample evidence demonstrates that protest is gendered, we do not yet know whether there is any general pattern of influence of gender on social movements, a pattern that enables a systematic explanation of the effects of gender on social movement dynamics. In conclusion, I will examine the reasons for this and suggest avenues for research.

show abstract

Section: Opportunity Structuresmentioning

confidence: 99%

Social Movements Through the Gender Lens

Zemlinskaya

2010

Sociology Compass

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Activists’ strategies for dismantling symbolic boundaries demonstrate the importance of culture for structural change. We need to consider changing cultural codes as a goal, not as an unintended consequence of social movements (McAdam, 1994).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…These broader goals of fighting for “symbolic and cultural stakes, for a different meaning and orientation of social action” (Melucci, 1984:827), however, have continued to be understood as external goals of recognition of collective identities (Polletta and Jasper, 2001). These recognition claims may be one way to right cultural injustices and create cultural change (Fraser, 1997), but beyond collective identities, sociologists have paid much less attention to these broader cultural goals and outcomes of social movements (McAdam, 1994).…”

Section: Collective Identities As Boundary Workmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Symbolic boundaries between humans and animals are so fundamental to our notion of “humanity” that they arguably comprise part of the dominant culture. Relatively permanent, deeply embedded, and difficult to change, such boundaries are often supported not only by cultural beliefs, values, or norms, but also by institutional and structural relations (McAdam, 1994). These cultural codes are so hidden and embedded in cultural and social structures that they seem more normal than differences based on race, gender, or sexuality.…”

Section: Animal Rights and Symbolic Boundariesmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Shifting Symbolic Boundaries: Cultural Strategies of the Animal Rights Movement1

Cherry

2010

Sociological Forum

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

How do activists create cultural change? Scholars have investigated the development and maintenance of collective identities as one avenue for cultural change, but to understand how activists foster change beyond their own movements, we need to look at activists’ strategies for changing their targets’ mindsets and actions. Sociologists need to look at activists’ boundary work to understand both the wide‐sweeping goals and strategies that activists enact to generate broad‐based cultural changes. Using data from participant observation and interviews with animal rights activists in France and the United States, and drawing on research on ethnic boundary shifting, I show how activists used two main strategies to shift symbolic boundaries between humans and animals, as well as between companion and farm animals—(1) they blur boundaries through focusing and universalizing strategies and (2) they cross boundaries physically, discursively, and iconographically. This study contributes a new theoretical and empirical example to the cultural changes studied by scholars of social movements, and it also provides a useful counterpoint to studies of symbolic boundary construction and maintenance in the sociology of culture.

show abstract

“…through policies or court rulings). In later work, McAdam (1994) recognized that such political shifts among elites create ‘cultural opportunities’ for challengers. In other words, the meaning‐making processes of movements are, from the beginning, a response to signals given by political elites to indicate an openness to change.…”

Section: ‘Because Of’ Political Elites: Elites As Resourcementioning

confidence: 99%

Political Elites and the Culture of Social Movements

Irons

2009

Sociology Compass

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

While sociologists have paid a great deal of attention to how political elites matter for the emergence and development of social movements, they have focused less explicitly on how political elites matter for the culture of social movements. This essay reviews work that directly and indirectly addresses this relationship, showing how political elites matter for various aspects of movement culture, like collective identity and framing. It also reviews literature that suggests how movement culture comes to impact political elites. The essay concludes by drawing from very recent scholarship to argue that to best understand political elites and the culture of social movements, we need to think about culture and structure as intertwined and to understand how relations matters in the construction of meaning.

show abstract

Culture and Social Movements

Cited by 37 publications

References 12 publications

Social Movements Through the Gender Lens

Social Movements Through the Gender Lens

Shifting Symbolic Boundaries: Cultural Strategies of the Animal Rights Movement1

Political Elites and the Culture of Social Movements

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About