Social Movements and Political Participation theories

The first three definitions are asociated with Social Movement definitions and theorics, the fourth one is a description about political participation and includes a clasification which can be use as a theorical frame.

1. Charles Tilly

2. Sidney Tarrow

3. Alain Touraine

4. Eva Anduiza

1. Tilly's work emphasizes how dynamics of social protest are tied to their political, social and economic context. Tilly uses a narrower definition. Conceptually, he argues that social movements share some elements with other forms of political contention such as coups, electoral campaigns, strikes, revolutions, and interest-group politics, but have their own distinct characteristics.

Tilly argues that social movements combine:

A) A sustained, organized public effort making collective claims on target audiences: let us call it a campaign;

B) Employment of combinations from among the following forms of political action: creation of special purpose associations and coalitions, public meetings, solemn processions, vigils, rallies, demonstrations, petition drives, statements to and in public media, and pamphleteering; call the variable ensemble of performances the social-movement repertoire. and

C). Participants' concerted public representations of worthiness, unity, numbers and commitment (WUNC) on the part of themselves and/or their constituencies: call them WUNC displays.

 

Tilly, Charles (2004). Social Movements, 1768–2004. Boulder, Colorado, USA: Paradigm Publishers. p. 53.

2. Sidney Tarrow defines the social movement as a collective challenger [to elites, authorities, other groups or cultural codes] by people with common purposes and solidarity in sustained interactions with elites, opponents and authorities. He specifically distinguishes social movements from political parties and advocacy groups.

He studies the oportunity structures which are exogenous factors which limit or empower social movements or social actors.The opportunity structures are influenced to grow or to be reduced by these factors :

a) increasing access

b) shifting alignments 

c) divided elites

d) influential allies 

e) repression and facilitation.

 

He defines that movements can affect various spheres of life, such as personal lives, policy reforms and political culture. And that exist requisites of sustainable social movements which are: 

a) political opportunities,

b) diffuse social networks, 

c) familiar forms of collective action (or contention according to Charles Tilly´s Theory), 

d) cultural frames that can resonate throughout a population. 

He claims that the Social movement is a part of political struggle influenced by the existence (or lack of) the political opportunity structures.

 

Tarrow, Sidney (1994) taken from his book "Power in Movement: Collective Action, Social Movements and Politics"

 

3. Alain Touraine is a social scientist who studies "post-industrial society" and develops theories of the new social movements to make a tremendous contribution to sociology and politics. According to him the New Social Movement study is meant to signify more recent movements break with ‘old’ movements for the power of workers and other categories that had fallen out of relevance.

The movement for reappropriation which claims control over the resources produced by society is therefore carrying its fight into new territory. The personal and social identity of individuals is increasingly perceived as a product of social action. The Defense of the identity, continuity, and predictability of personal existence is beginning to constitute the substance of the new conflicto.

 

Touraine, A. (1981). The voice and the eye: An analysis of social movements.

4. Political participation According to Eva Anduiza and Agustin Bosch (2004) political participation is "any citizen action aimed to ionfluence the political process and its outcomes. Such actions may focus on the election of public officials, to the formulation, development and implementation of public policies, or the action of other political actors. Political participation requires both observable behavior carried out in a public or group by a citizen to be considered as such. "

 

The forms of politcal particpation according to these authors are:

A) Electoral participation and Not electoral participation: This clasification distinguish the participation in reference to the electoral process like voting, making campaing and proselitism versus other actions which are inserted in formal institutions which are out of the electoral frame.

B) Conventional and Unconventional: This criteria determines the actions which are adjusted to the social norms and predominant values of promoted by the legal institutions, versus not conventional forms of participations like demonstrations like Street protest or which can be violent or not violent.

Anduiza Eva (2004) Political and Electoral Behaviour