Wedging Open Established Civil Spheres

doi:10.1017/9781108571050.003

1 - Wedging Open Established Civil Spheres

A Comparative Approach to Their Emancipatory Potential

Published online by Cambridge University Press: 25 November 2019

Trevor Stack

Edited by

Jeffrey C. Alexander ,

Trevor Stack and

Farhad Khosrokhavar

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Jeffrey C. Alexander: Affiliation:
Yale University, Connecticut
Trevor Stack: Affiliation:
University of Aberdeen
Farhad Khosrokhavar: Affiliation:
Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales, Paris

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Summary

In this chapter, I develop a theoretical account to explain how and when civil spheres can become emancipatory, noting that they need first to become established in institutions but recognizing that their establishing can itself block further emancipation – unless they can somehow be wedged open to admit causes and constituencies hitherto deemed uncivil. Radical acts can, on occasion, help to wedge open civil spheres. Having set out my theoretical account, I go on to explain how it has been read through the case of the United Kingdom in which I was born and raised – the House of Lords inspired my concept of civil establishment – as well as the case of Mexico where I have conducted research over twenty-five years, here drawing on the Zapatista movement of the 1990s as an example of radical action.

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Type: Chapter
Information: Breaching the Civil Order
Radicalism and the Civil Sphere
, pp. 11 - 41

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108571050.003 [Opens in a new window]

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Print publication year: 2019

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