Sadly, most contemporary social movement theories are rather reduced in their scope. There are still many people talking about collective identity or "framing". The most interesting recent theory seems to me that of transnational social movements, developed, among others, by Sydney Tarrow.

One thing concerning the disciplines: I have been working quite some time on social movements and it seems to me that this field of study is really interdisciplinary. Political studies, social psychology, sociology -at times even cultural studies or history- all work this field. And in some occasions, establish a quite fruitful interchange of ideas.

Sadly, most contemporary social movement theories are rather reduced in their scope. There are still many people talking about collective identity or "framing". The most interesting recent theory seems to me that of transnational social movements, developed, among others, by Sydney Tarrow.

One thing concerning the disciplines: I have been working quite some time on social movements and it seems to me that this field of study is really interdisciplinary. Political studies, social psychology, sociology -at times even cultural studies or history- all work this field. And in some occasions, establish a quite fruitful interchange of ideas.

With regard to new social movements I have attached two papers regarding the social space of sport Hope the may be useful.

Conference Paper Athletes United for Peace: Reconciliation through Sport, pp. 187-202

Chapter PEACE EDUCATION: MOVING FORWARD THROUGH SPORT– ATHLETES UNIT...

The dominant perspectives in social movements, the largely American resource mobilization theories including political process as well as the more European theories, New Social movement Theories have generally avoided a critical perspective. By clear choice, neither has much looked at political economy especially from a critical Marxist or neo-Marxist perspective. In a similar way, although NSM theories have looked at identity, culture and meaning neither perspective has given much attention to emotion. Last year, the there was an issue of Current Sociology dealing with the Arab spring, southern European and occupy movements. In that volume, and for full disclosure I was one of the editors, one can see the beginnings of a critical theory of social movements that begins with the dysfunctions and crises of capital that culminate and legitimation crises – as Habermas argued. Moreover, as he noted, system crises migrate to the life world that is they evoke a variety of emotions. Although several social movements theorists/researchers have talked about emotions, in general this is not been within a critique of political economy. In the volume noted, several the papers point in this direction and the conclusion outlines a critical theory of social movements rooted in the traditions of the Frankfurt school of critical theory yet considering recent developments in social movement perspectives.  Based on work with global justice movements and  the WSF,  then the 2011, with Tova Benski, we have been working on the idea of the importance of gaining dignity for these movements, and in our view, dignity cannot be thought of apart from a political economy that provides community, autonomy, recognition and above all, dignity.  Yes, Karl M had a major influence

For those interested in pursuing the issues, I can be reached at   [email protected]

I have attached some of my more philosophical papers. 

Lauren Langman

An interesting perspective is offered by some Latin American authors, such as the Colombian scholar Mauricio Nieto. You could check his pubblications at:

http://historia.uniandes.edu.co/index.php/profesores/mauricio-nieto

or contact him at:

mnieto [at] uniandes.edu.co

He is considered as the most eminent expert on social movement in Latin America.

Best regards

http://historia.uniandes.edu.co/index.php/profesores/mauricio-nieto

Thank you, will look him up,   as a matter of fact, I have a student doing dissertation on Chilean student movement.   I do get to South America at least once/year.  

I am not sure if you are in France or S. America, but if France

Merci beaucoup,   if S. America,   Muchas Gracia

Lauren

Mauricio, I just checked Nietos page - but it seems he does not work social movements at all (but rather "history" in a more narrow sense) - could you provide us with a reference, please?

Dear Mauricio

I have the same experience as Phillip, my email bounced, and his work did not really deal much w/sms.   I have some contact w/critical theorist, and indeed, Robespierre de Oliviera who has written on sms from a Marcuse perspective, is actually in the USA now.   So can you provide ref on CT/social movements. 

The recent books by Cox, Barkan etc, are good, and while they do expand the more classical Marxist approach, IMHO,  they do remain in a class based perspective whereas my approach, like the FS tradition, or Gramsci, puts more emphasis on culture, character (emotions). and while  proletarian organizations often play a role, they have not been the primary actors. 

Lauren

Regarding the Marcusean perspective, see: Laurie E. Adkin, "Ecological politics in Canada: Elements of a Strategy of Collective Action," in Roger Keil, David V. J. Bell, Peter Penz and Lisa Fawcett, eds., Political Ecology: Global and Local. London and New York: Routledge, 1998. http://marno.lecture.ub.ac.id/files/2012/05/EKOLOGI-POLITIK.pdf

A more recent, critical overview of social movement theory is: Laurie E. Adkin,“The Rise and Fall of New Social Movement Theory?” in Abigail B. Bakan and Eleanor MacDonald, eds., Critical Political Studies: Debates and Dialogues from the Left (Montreal and Kingston: McGill-Queen’s University Press, 2002). http://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt80wbx

Very interesting work is being done on the "Arab spring" movements. For example:

Bayat, Asef. 2005. "Islamism and Social Movement Theory." Third World Quarterly 26, no. 6: 891-908.

Bayat, Asef. 2007. Making Islam Democratic: Social Movements and the Post-Islamist Turn. Stanford, Calif.: Stanford University Press.

Beinin, Joel. 2012. "Egyptian Workers and January 25th: A Social Movement in Historical Context." Social Research 79, no. 2: 323-348.

In addition, scholars have begun to study the populist far right movements in Europe as social movements. You might find these sources useful:

Caiani, Manuela, Donatella della Porta, and Claudius Wagemann, 2012. Mobilizing on the Extreme Right: Italy, Germany, and the United States. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Wodak, Ruth et al., eds. Right-Wing Populism in Europe: Politics and Discourse. Bloomsbury Books, 2013.

Zaslove, Andrej. 2008. "Exclusion, Community, and a Populist Political Economy: The Radical Right as an Anti-Globalization Movement." Comparative European Politics 6, no. 2: 169-189.

I have found this paper to be quite insightful:

Campbell, Al. 2006. “Competition, Conscious Collective Cooperation and Capabilities: The Political Economy of Socialism and the Transition.” Critique 34(2):105–26.

I agree with Phillip Altman's observation, it is true this field of study is  interdisciplinary, something absolutely necessary to have a fruitful interchange of ideas.

Hi Satya.From my point of view one of the most promising conceptual perspectives on contemporary social movements is the focus on the dynamics of communication thereof, including the use of alternative media and the use of digital technologies. See among others: John Downing: Social Movement Theories and Alternative Media: An Evaluation and Critique.

I agree Roberto, for example, do you remember the Egyptian paradigm. Namely, with regard to the Arab Spring, Facebook and Twitter overthrew the Egyptian president. It helped people in organizing and coordinating protests, by cross-communicating and information spreading during the revolution in Egypt against President Hosni Mubarak. Twitter and Facebook also helped people organize and disseminate news during the demonstrations in Athens by the movement called “Aganaktismenoi” (the Resentful or the people fed-up with austerity measures). 

   A study by Nadine Kassem Chebib & Rabia Minatullah Sohail (2011) explores the impact social media had on the Egyptian Revolution in 2011 which ended with President Hosni Mubarak’s resignation on February 11, 2011, thus ending his 30 year old regime. According to an anonymous Cairo activist: “We use Facebook to schedule the protests, Twitter to coordinate, and YouTube to tell the world" The combination of different social media channels under a coherent and concrete strategy can mobilize not only political changes but also every aspect of our lives.  Undeniably, social media is extremely powerful. But is it as easy as is seems?

Irene: Many emblematic cases can be added to the trend: in Spain 15-M movement or Indignados movement (May 2011), In Chile protests by university students that would lead to the victory of the socialist presidential candidate Michelle Bachelet in 2014, and in Mexico the youth movement called # yosoy132 in 2012 ...

Thanks Irene and Roberto for your meaningful comments. In fact, the significance of the role of social as well as the alternative media has been prominent in the context of the contemporary movements in a country like India.

All the hype about the 'revolutionary' role of the new media in Egypt is misplaced. Why didn't the same media play the same revolutionary role when the entire movement was turned up side down on its head first by electing a president who became hostage to fundamentalists only to be replaced  by a military ruler: history came full circle - from the military ruler (Mubarak) to the fundamentalist and back to the military. New media have little to offer to understand the anatomy of social movements, action from below and reaction from top.