Download Social Movements - Rochelle Terman

Review: [untitled]
Author(s): Alvin Y. So
Source: Contemporary Sociology, Vol. 29, No. 3 (May, 2000), pp. 538-540
Published by: American Sociological Association
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/2653970 .
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538 Politics, Social Movements, and the State
owninternallogicandwayof portraying
reality. convincing.The bookshouldappealto a broad
Hermanarguesthat the antigaystanceof the and literateaudience,and wouldseem quite
for undergraduates
in lesbianand
Christian
Rightderivesfroma hostofothercon- appropriate
servativeProtestantdoctrines,includingthe gaystudies,religiousstudies,andpoliticalstudinfallibility
of biblicaltextsand,forourpurpos- ies. Coursesin the sociologyof religion,social
es, the ascetic,stoic, and patriarchal
prescrip- issues,andthe sociologyof sexualitycouldcerone,
tions for sexualitythat dwell at the heartof tainly use the text as a supplementary
althoughstudentswill need to bringa wellthosetexts.
to the task
Readingthebookasa sociologist,
I foundthe developedsociologicalimagination
workwithsociological
analysiswanting.Analyzingthe accountspro- of reconcilingHerman's
videdbyChristianity
Todaywritersoffersinsight theoryandresearch.
into how these adherentsmakesenseof their
world,butfailsto offera compelling
explanation References
of whythesepeoplefindpostmillennialism
and Altemeyer, Bob. 1988. Enemies of Freedom:
UnderstandingRight-wingAuthoritarianism.
San
Christian
conceptions
of sexualorderso appealFrancisco:Jossey-Bass.
ing.To positthe doctrineof postmillennialismHerek, Gregory.1995. "PsychologicalHeterosexism
as the primarymotivationfor conservative
in the United States." In Lesbian, Gay, and
Protestant
organizational
responseto the lesbiBisexualIdentitiesover the Lifespan,edited by A.
gaymovementneglectsotherplausible
explanaD'Augelli.New York:OxfordUniversityPress.
New
tions,onesthatburrow"beneath
the superficial Lerner,Gerda.1986. TheCreationof Partriarchy.
York:OxfordUniversityPress.
rhetoric."
Manyscholarshave advancedcompelling social, historical,and psychological
explanations
forthe heterosexism
thatpervades
right-wingpolitical and social movements Social Movements:An Introduction,by
(Altemeyer1988;Herek1995;Lerner1986).I Donatella Della Porta and Mario Diani.
suspectmanysociologists
wouldwantto know Oxford& Malden,MA: Blackwell,1999.326
more,muchmore,aboutthe socialcontextsin pp.$24.95paper.ISBN:0-631-19213-1.
whichCRwritersandreaders
dwell.
ALVIN Y. So
I also found Herman'sanalysisstrangely Hong Kong University of Science and
silenton theeconomicutilityof gay-hating
pro- Bechnology
pagandain the fundraising
strategiesof CR [email protected]
movement organizations.nWhile Herman
advancesthe notionof a consistentdoctrineto Fromthe 1960s onward,social movements,
explain heterosexismwithin the Christian protestactions,and, moregenerally,political
Right,I cameawayfromthe text with a pro- organizations
unaligned
withmajorpoliticalparfoundsenseof CRideological
flexibility.Inoth- ties or tradeunionshavebecomea permanent
er words,whateverideologicalstrategies(e.g., component
of nWestern
democracies.
Theaimof
pathological accounts, gender deviance this bookis to introducethe readerto someof
accounts,economicprivilegeaccounts)devalue theprincipal
issuesraisedbythegrowthof social
or stigmatizelesbigaypeople,CR activistsuse movements.
them.Thisleadsme to questionthe salienceof
The introductory
chapterreviewsbrieflythe
the postmillennialism
hypothesis.
nWhen
one of fourdominantperspectives
in the analysisof
the CR activistsassertsthat homosexuality
is socialmovements:
collectivebehavior;
resource
the "sexualization
of an emotionalpathology" mobilization;
politicalprocess;and new social
(p. 71), I wonderhowmuchof sucha response movements.
As thechapterexplains,thecollecis derivedfroma postmillennial
ideology.This tive behaviorperspective
hasdrawnthe attenworkeffectivelyprobesbeliefsand rhetoricof tion of the analyststo collectiveactionas an
the CR throughpresentinga wealthof new activity concernedwith meaning.Resource
information,
butthe workoffersno compelling mobilization
stresses
the importance
of theratioconceptualtool to explainwhatreallypropels nal andstrategiccomponents
of seeminglyirrathe antigayagenda.
tional phenomena.Questionsrelatingto the
I considerthe worktimely,original,well importanceof the transformations
that have
written,andwellorganized.
It offersa clearthe- occurredin industrial
societycan be explored
sis, althoughmanysociologists
will not find it throughthe new socialmovementsapproach.
Politics, Social Movements, and the State 539
The political processapproachhas focused othersturninward,
becoming
similarto religious
attentlonon socla movements
as newprotago- sects.And in "Forms,
Repertoires
andCyclesof
nists in the aggregation
and representation
of Protest,"
the authorsexaminethe anti-nuclear
differentinterests.
movementto explainthefactthatdifferent
logThe introductory
chapterhas also defined icsof actionweresimultaneously
presentin each
the logicof numbers,
whichseeksto
social movement"as (1) informalnetworks, repertoire:
based(2) on sharedbeliefsandsolidarity,
which displaythe strengthof supportfora movement;
mobilizeabout(3) conflictualissues,through the logic of materialdamage,basedon the
(4) the frequentuseof variousformsof protest" capacityto interrupt
everyday
routine;andthe
(p. 16). The authorsarguethattheseelements logic of bearingwitnesses,which seeks to
will enableus to distinguish
socialmovements demonstrate
the emotionalcommitment
of profromvariousformsofcollectiveactionwhichare testers.
morestructured
andwhichtakeon the formof
Althoughthis volumeis designedas a textparties,interestgroups,orreligious
sects,aswell book,I wouldstill hopethat it spellsout more
assingleprotesteventsoradhocpoliticalcoali- clearlythecruciallinkages
betweentheoriesand
tions.
empirical
studies.Althoughthe empirical
chapThe restof the bookfocuseson fourlevelsof terson structural
changes,identityandcollecanalysisthatthe authorsbelievearefundamen- tive action, movement networks and
tal for the studyof movements:
the structural organizations,
cycles of protest,and political
basesof contemporary
movements;
the roleof opportunity
structure
areverywellwrittenand
theygenerally
containlittle
symbolicproduction
in the evolutionof collec- highlyinformative,
tiveactionandin identityconstruction;
the rel- discussionon theoriesor theoreticalimplicaevance of organizationalfactorsand social tions of their empiricalstudies.Thus,readers
networks;
andinteraction
betweensocialmove- wouldliketO know,forexample,to whatextent
mentsandpoliticalsystem.As the authorshave thechapters
on movement
networks
andorganiacknowledged,
the bookis not a reconstruction zationscanbe takenasfindingsto support(orto
of the "stateof the art"in thisfield.It is, rather, refute)resourcemobilization
theory.Sincethe
an attemptto presentcertaincentralproblems introductory
chapterhasspelledoutfourdomiof recentdebates.Thus,the authorshavepaid nanttheoriesof socialmovements,
it wouldbe
particular
attentionto studiesthat have com- nice if the booktracedhowthesefourtheories
bined theoretical analysis and empirical arelinkedto itsempirical
chapters.
research.
To maketheirtreatmentmorecoherIn addition,readersmayalso questionthe
ent, the authorsalsohavechosento introduce book'sdefinitionof socialmovements,which
the issuescoveredby eachchapterwithexam- includeonly "informalnetworks."
The book
plesdrawnfroma particular
movement,
focusing even assertsthat "socialmovementsare not
their attention selectively on the relevant organizations,
not even of a peculiarkind"(p.
research.
16).Thisfocuson informal
networks,
according
In the chapter"Structural
Changes,"for to theauthors,
allowsus"toappreciate
morefulexample,the authorsaddressenvironmental ly the space reservedfor individualswithin
movements
to showhowthe profound
transfor- movements"
(p. 17).AlthoughI amsympathetmationsin the economyandthe statefroman ic to the argument
that"socialmovements
and
industrialsocietyto a postindustrial
(or post- the organizations
involvedin themarenot the
modern,disorganized,
post-Fordist)
societyhave same thing"(p. 139), nonethelessan underproduced
newsocialclasses,newpoliticalcleav- standingof thesocialmovement
organizations
is
ages, and new social movementsin the late centralto anystudyof socialmovements.
It is
twentiethcentury.In "Organizational
Form," betterto studythedynamicinteraction
between
the authorsuse the student movementto informal
networks
andsocialmovementorganidemonstrate
thatthe evolutionof socialmove- zationsthanto assertthat"socialmovements
are
ment organizations
is far fromunidirectional: not organizations."
Some organizations
become institutionalized, The abovecommentsnotwithstanding,
the
turningthemselves
intopoliticalpartiesorinter- authorshavedoneanexcellentjobin synthesizestgroups;
othersbecomemoreradicalandturn ing an enormousvarietyof theoreticaland
to violentformsof action;someturncommer- empiricalmaterialson socialmovements.The
cial andinvolvethemselvesin the market;yet authorshavealsobeenquitefairin theirevalu.
.
540 Politics, Social Movements, and the State
and
betweeninstitutional
ceivedtheboundaries
noninstitutionalmodes of action in the
he argues,worAmericancontext.Tocqueville,
riedtoo muchthat an "excessof democracy"
collective
leadto antistatist
wouldautomatically
action.Instead,Tarrowshowshow the institusystem
tionalsetupof the Americandemocratic
shapedthe natureof conhas fundamentally
tentiouspolitics,even as that setuphas itself
expectachanged.In contrastto Tocqueville's
finds
conflict,Tarrow
tionof an insider-outsider
of
cycles of protestin which the repertoires
Social Movements and American Political action (conventional or nonconventional)
Instituiions:People,Passions,and Power,edited employed
by variouskindsof actors(insidersor
by Anne N. Costain and Andrew S. outsiders)
will varyin accordwiththe political
McFarland. Lanham, MD: Rowman & opportunity
of the moment.
structures
1998.368pp.$65.00cloth.ISBN:0Littlefield,
PaulBurstein,in one sense,takesTarrow's
8476-8357-5.$22.95 paper. ISBN: 0-8476- argument
to its logicalextreme.As anyonewho
8358-3.
seminar
or undergraduate
hastaughta graduate
attest,
the
can
likely
movements
in
social
KENTREDDING
conventional
and
between
movement
boundary
Indiana University
politicalactorsis ratherdifficultto sustainin
kred d ing(Dind ia na. ed u
as
nonmembers
practice.If, as Tarrowsuggests,
both
seek
polity
often
members
of
the
well
as
and
sociologists
Forsometimenow,numerous
andnondisruppoliticalscientistshavedecriedwhattheyhave socialchangeandusedisruptive
seen as artificialintellectualand disciplinary tive tactics to attain it, Bursteinasks, why
tryto drawa linebetweenmovebetweenthe studyof noninstitutional shouldscholars
barriers
interest
groupsthatactorsthemselves
ments
and
(partyor
(orsocialmovement)andinstitutional
and interestgroups,
Movements
fail
to
heed?
papers
that
By
collecting
group)
politics.
interest
and then,simplyreduceto "interestorganizations."
betweenmovements
examinerelationships
Americanpoliticalinstitutions,the editorsof Farfromneedingdifferentkindsof theoriesfor
differentkinds of organizationand action,
thisvolumehopeto helpbridgethisgap.
arguesthatwe needuniinto five sections, Bursteincompellingly
The volumeis organized
action.In this
issues,mobi- fied theoriesof (simply)political
whichexaminegeneraltheoretical
areseenas organizationmovements
lization,partiesand elections,the presidency approach,
because
and the Congress,and socialmovementsand allydistinctfrominterestorganizations
foroffice.Oneof the interthe court.As in manyeditedcollections,espe- theyoffercandidates
ciallyof papersthathavebeenwritteninitially esting implicationsof Burstein'sapproach,
of thisvol- among others, is that ratherthan studying
the contributions
forotherpurposes,
perse, we shouldconsiderstarting
umeareunevenandnotalwayscomplementary.movements
theirdeterand withoutcomesandtryto understand
byintroductory
Thisproblemis exacerbated
writtenbytheeditors,that minants. This is a significantlydifferent
chapters,
concluding
The approachfromthe moreprevalentone today
briefand superficial.
are disappointingly
movementandthen
additionaltheoreticaloverviewprovidedby thatstartswitha particular
matter?"
that
movement
asks
"did
because
it
is
helpful
is not especially
McFarland
Othersof the 17 chaptersare particularly
rathernarrowand not especiallywell written.
by Cressand interestingand useful at bridgingthe gap
And one chapter,a contribution
does betweenmovementsand politicalinstitutions:
meritorious,
Snow,despitebeingotherwise
not seemto fit with the themeof the volume. Green,Guth,andWilcoxusesocialmovement
provide theoriesto analyzethe effectof the Christian
However,somenotablecontributions
partiesand the
betweenmove- Coalitionon stateRepublican
new insightinto relationships
a novlimitsthereof.MichaelMcCannprovides
mentsandpoliticalinstitutions.
the
forunderstanding
Sidney Tarrow,for example,providesan el andsyntheticapproach
accountof howTocquevillemisper- interactionamonglaw, the courts,and social
interesting
both the
ationsof conflictingviews,providing
of socialmovestrengthsand the weaknesses
ment theories.In addition,becauseof their
areableto bringin
origins,theauthors
European
examplesandstudiesfromthe
manyinteresting
context,thus enrichingthe field of
European
(whichtendsto bedominated
socialmovements
As a result,
by North Americanresearchers).
thisshouldbea veryusefultextbookforstudents
of socialmovements.