The Meaning of Contention

Abstract

Contention is everywhere nowadays, permeating the fabric of society and constituting an important element of many different social relationships. It is also a central topic across a wide range of social scientific disciplines. Following the most contentious decade in over a century, scholarship on the topic of “contention” is booming. Nonetheless, we still lack a conceptual approach to “contention” as a general academic term beyond the bounds of the study of “contentious politics.” What is the meaning of contention? Drawing on a decade of editorial and research work on contention, this article surveys the profound breadth and variety of academic research on the topic, ranging from politics, psychology, and sociology to material culture, criminology, and beyond. We outline the common conceptual thread across these various areas, where “contention” generally indicates conflictual collective contests concerning competing claims.

Symbolic objects in contentious politics

“…However, we are particularly interested in the intersection of these two perspectives: where the cultural or semiotic qualities of symbolic objects become intertwined with their material properties in important and often transformative ways. Most specifically, we are interested in how this happens in the context of contentious politics: interactions or series of interactions "in which actors make claims bearing on someone else's interests, in which governments appear either as targets, initiators of claims or third parties" (Tilly 2008, 5;Abrams et al 2022).…”

Crime as Protest, Protest as Crime

“…In this special issue, we analyze the linkage between crime and protest by addressing how illegal practices may sometimes be employed to challenge unjust power relations. Historically, some forms of crimes have been seen as expressions of dissent against the powerful (Abrams et al 2022). For instance, groups such as smugglers, pirates, and bandits or-more recently-gangsters, hackers, and mafias have sometimes been able to attract support and help from communities perceiving authorities as unjust and unresponsive (Hobsbawm [1969(Hobsbawm [ ] 2001Travaglino 2019;Travaglino and Abrams 2019).…”