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  • Print publication year: 2006
  • Online publication date: December 2009

6 - Performing opposition or, how social movements move

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Summary

Introduction

The concept of social movement is a well-established term in the sociological lexicon. The aim of this chapter is not so much to once again attempt to define a social movement or to offer criteria for determining when forms of collective action qualify as genuine movements. In fact, some of the examples I use to illustrate my argument are not taken from “social movements” properly defined. Rather, the aim is to explore what “movement” means, and to ask what is or can be said to be “moved” in the performance of opposition or extended protest. Social movement is a form of acting in public, a political performance which involves representation in dramatic form, as movements engage emotions inside and outside their bounds attempting to communicate their message. Such performance is always public, as it requires an audience which is addressed and must be moved. Following Goffman (1971) and others (for example, Schechner 1985; Hetherington 1998; Apter, chapter 7, this volume; Alexander, chapter 1, this volume), the application of a theory of performance calls attention to the place and space of movement, as well as how opposition is performed. Performance theory focuses on corporality, presence, and the pre-discursive, while at the same time including it. This allows us to better address questions concerning what happens when people enter a movement, how this affects their actions and the actions of others, and to ask how social movements move.

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Social Performance
  • Online ISBN: 9780511616839
  • Book DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511616839
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