“Change Agents” on Two Wheels: Claiming Community and Contesting Spatial Inequalities through Cycling in Los Angeles

2019 ◽  
Vol 18 (3) ◽  
pp. 965-982
Author(s):  
Jennifer Candipan
Keyword(s):  
Social Movements ◽  
Social Change ◽  
Los Angeles ◽  
Collective Identity ◽  
Participant Observation ◽  
Change Agents ◽  
Spatial Inequalities ◽  
Everyday Practices ◽  
Communities Of Color ◽  
Urban Cycling

This study uses participant observation to examine how an all–female collective in Los Angeles uses urban cycling culture as a way to contest inequalities and advocate for social change in communities of color. Bridging the literatures on gentrification and social movements, I examine how the collective uses the bicycle as a unifying tool to draw disparate individuals together and, through the group's practices and rituals, generates a shared sense of collective identity and politicized consciousness embedded within the uneven spatial development of Los Angeles. I demonstrate how this politicized consciousness drives a collective spirit of resistance that challenges gentrification by reimagining and re–embodying space through organized actions and everyday practices. I find that organized anti–gentrification resistance is not merely reactionary, but rather entails pre–figurative action and visioning for space and community. Overall, findings speak more broadly to how communities of color facing exclusion and marginalization make claims to space and community.

scholarly journals The politics and practices of intersectional prefiguration in social movements: The case of Sisters Uncut

2019 ◽  
Vol 67 (5) ◽  
pp. 985-1001 ◽  
Author(s):  
Armine Ishkanian ◽  
Anita Peña Saavedra
Keyword(s):  
Social Movements ◽  
Social Change ◽  
Action Research ◽  
Participatory Action Research ◽  
Collective Identity ◽  
Democratic Politics ◽  
Participatory Action ◽  
Depth Study ◽  
Transformative Politics ◽  
Do So

Considering contemporary movements as sites of struggle between attempts at inclusiveness and enduring tendencies to exclude and reproduce power hierarchies, this article examines how movement actors confront and tackle inequalities within their organisational spaces. Drawing on an in-depth study, which relied on Participatory Action Research methods, of the intersectional feminist anti-austerity group Sisters Uncut, the article analyses how actors collectively define and translate intersectionality into practice and the challenges they face in enacting this form of politics, which the authors call intersectional prefiguration. The authors consider intersectional prefiguration as a form of radical democratic politics which acknowledges relations of domination and seeks to transform them within both movements and society. The article discusses how enacting intersectional prefiguration is predicated on actors developing a collective identity, embracing a commitment to organise intersectionally, and adopting specific methodologies through which to do so. The findings have relevance to scholars of social movements and intersectionality and can help advance our understandings of the ways in which movements, prefigurative and otherwise, drive social change and transformative politics and the challenges they face in this process.

Everyday Routines in Free Spaces: Explaining the Persistence of The Zapatistas in Los Angeles

2010 ◽  
Vol 15 (2) ◽  
pp. 199-216 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pepper Glass
Keyword(s):  
Social Movements ◽  
Los Angeles ◽  
Participatory Democracy ◽  
Participant Observation ◽  
Daily Activities ◽  
Small Scale ◽  
Community Centers ◽  
Repetitive Tasks ◽  
Political Talk ◽  
Free Spaces

While examining the radical potential of "free spaces"—small-scale, grassroots sites for social movements—researchers neglect the daily activities underlying their continued existence. Based on participant observation at Zapatista community centers in Los Angeles, this article argues that everyday routines are important for the persistence of free spaces. Participants spent the majority of their time involved in routines. These were repetitive tasks for maintaining the organization; their focus was practical and immediate, as opposed to theoretical; and the rituals of participatory democracy structured them. At rare times, members reflected on their work, initiating abstract political talk to inspire and unify themselves in response to tedium from mundane activity or a crisis. Yet, reflection also distracted from applied work and even proliferated organizational schism. This suggests that free spaces retain stability by balancing both routine and reflection.

Living in and out of time: Youth-led activism in Aotearoa New Zealand

2021 ◽  
pp. 0961463X2198985
Author(s):  
Karen Nairn ◽  
Joanna Kidman ◽  
Kyle R Matthews ◽  
Carisa R Showden ◽  
Amee Parker
Keyword(s):  
Social Movements ◽  
Social Change ◽  
New Zealand ◽  
Participant Observation ◽  
Attribution Of Responsibility ◽  
Environmental Disaster ◽  
Aotearoa New Zealand ◽  
Research Interviews ◽  
Zero Carbon ◽  
Past Injustices

Addressing past and present injustices in order to create more just futures is the central premise of most social movements. How activists conceptualise and relate to time affects 1 how they articulate their vision, the actions they take and how they imagine intergenerational justice. Two social movements for change are emblematic of different relationships with time: the struggle to resolve and repair past injustices against Indigenous peoples and the struggle to avert environmental disaster, which haunt the future of the planet. We report ethnographic research (interviews and participant observation) with young activists in these two social movements in New Zealand: Protect Ihumātao seeks to protect Indigenous land from a housing development, and Generation Zero is lobbying for a zero-carbon future. We argue that analysing activists’ articulations and sensations of time is fundamental to understanding the ways they see themselves in relation to other generations, their ethical imperatives for action and beliefs about how best to achieve social change. Protect Ihumātao participants spoke of time as though past, present and future were intertwined and attributed their responsibility to protect the land to past and future generations. Generation Zero participants spoke of time as a linear trajectory to a climate-altered future, often laying blame for the current crises on previous generations and attributing the responsibility for averting the crisis to younger generations. How activists conceptualise time and generational relations therefore has consequences for the attribution of responsibility for creating social change. Understanding and learning about temporal diversity across social movements is instructive for expanding our thinking about intergenerational responsibility which might inform ways of living more respectfully with the planet.

Social marketing and social movements: creating inclusive social change coalitions

2018 ◽  
Vol 8 (4) ◽  
pp. 354-377 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lauren Gurrieri ◽  
Ross Gordon ◽  
Jo Barraket ◽  
Andrew Joyce ◽  
Celia Green
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Social Issue ◽  
Social Movements ◽  
Social Change ◽  
Social Marketing ◽  
Collective Identity ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Individual Responsibility ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Self Acceptance

Purpose This paper contributes to emerging discourse about social movements in social marketing by examining how tensions, issues and challenges may arise in areas of social change that have attracted social movements and the ways actors can come together to drive inclusive social change agendas. Design/methodology/approach Through the lens of new social movement theory, a case study of the interactions and dynamics between fat activists and obesity prevention public health actors is examined. This is undertaken through a multi-method qualitative analysis of interview and archival blog data of fat activists located in Australia, which was compared with the campaign materials and formative and evaluative research related to two high profile Australian Government funded anti-obesity campaigns. Findings The case analysis highlights the disconnect between public health actors and the marginalized voices of those they are meant to be representing. Whilst public health actors characterise obesity as a social issue of individual responsibility, disease and rational-decision making; fat activists frame a competing collective identity of well-being, support and self-acceptance that characterise their social change efforts. Research limitations/implications This research highlights how complexities arise but can potentially be overcome in creating inclusive social change coalitions that incorporate the voices of citizen groups whom have mobilised into social movements. Specifically, we highlight the importance of generating a common language around obesity, the significance of collaborative and supportive relations and the need to create common unity through emotional investment and returns - a departure from the highly rational approaches taken by most social change programs. Practical implications Obesity is a complex social issue marked by conflict and contestation between those who are obese and the very actors working to support them. Our research contends that creating an inclusive social change coalition between these stakeholders will require a shift towards language anchored in well-being as opposed to disease, relations defined by support as opposed to an emphasis on individual responsibility and emotional investments that work to bolster self-acceptance in place of rational appeals as to the “correct” behaviours one should chose to engage in. Such steps will ensure social change program design is collaborative and incorporates the lived experiences of the very citizens such initiatives are targeted towards. Originality/value We contribute to wider discussions in social marketing about the development of holistic and progressive, multi-stakeholder, multi-level programs by advocating that inclusive social change coalitions united through the collective identity elements of cognitions and language, relational ties and emotional investment offer an important step forward in tackling the wicked problems that social marketers work to address.

A Battle for Authenticity: An Examination of the Constraints on Anti-Iraq War and Pro-Invasion Tactics

2010 ◽  
Vol 15 (4) ◽  
pp. 511-533 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sharon Oselin ◽  
Catherine Corrigall-Brown
Keyword(s):  
Social Movements ◽  
Social Change ◽  
Iraq War ◽  
Participant Observation ◽  
Local Context ◽  
Collective Identities ◽  
The Public ◽  
Movement Trajectories

Social movements are arenas where individuals can voice concerns about politics, culture, and social change. Movements work to create frames and collective identities that resonate with the public and bind participants together. However, movement participants are not always completely free to cultivate and adopt frames and identities. The emergence of countermovements, in particular, can fundamentally affect these tactics. However, we find that frame and identity resonance can also be influenced by other factors and conditions. We explore these issues based on participant observation and interviews with activists at two ongoing anti-Iraq war protests and one ongoing pro-invasion protest, both of which occurred over a three-month period in early 2003. We find that local context, movementcountermovement dynamics, the ability to assuage oppositional challenges, and intramovement unity and cooperation shape overall movement trajectories and success.

Communicative Action in Practice: Intersubjectivity and New Social Movements

1995 ◽  
Vol 43 (2) ◽  
pp. 291-311 ◽  
Author(s):  
David Schlosberg
Keyword(s):  
Social Movements ◽  
Social Change ◽  
Critical Theory ◽  
Dispute Resolution ◽  
Alternative Dispute Resolution ◽  
Communicative Action ◽  
Direct Action ◽  
New Social Movements ◽  
Everyday Practices ◽  
First Moment

Critical theory has two distinct aims: the analysis and critique of particular existing oppressions, and the more emancipatory or reconstructive method or goal needed to move beyond current conditions. But often critical theory is too preoccupied with the first moment to consider the second. This essay examines the evolution of the notion of communicative action and a number of current debates surrounding especially Habermas's theory. It then examines two existing social change movements which incorporate aspects of communicative action into their everyday practices–the Alternative Dispute Resolution movement and the Direct Action movement–and illustrates how certain theoretical dilemmas are actually played out. The argument is that the practices of communicative action can help illuminate academic debates. Critical practice is not only an expression of critical theory, but can be used as an ongoing reflective guide for that theory.

Este lugar sí importa

2016 ◽  
Vol 93 (3) ◽  
pp. 52-74
Author(s):  
Laura Dominguez
Keyword(s):  
Los Angeles ◽  
Cultural Identity ◽  
Historic Preservation ◽  
East Los Angeles ◽  
Popular Imagination ◽  
Cultural Importance ◽  
Communities Of Color

The evolution and construction of cultural identity and memory in unincorporated East Los Angeles, both in scholarship and the popular imagination, establishes a critical framework for understanding changing relationships between communities of color and the broader historic preservation movement. East Los Angeles embodies slowly shifting paradigms within the historic preservation movement that compel practitioners and advocates to contend with the meaning of seemingly ordinary places that have tremendous cultural importance within their communities.

Getting to a Utopian World Beyond Gender

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Barbara J. Risman
Keyword(s):  
Social Movements ◽  
Social Change ◽  
Utopian Vision ◽  
Structure Framework ◽  
And Gender ◽  
Inclusive Society ◽  
Fourth Wave ◽  
Different Levels

This final chapter suggests that the incompatibilities of expectations and realities at different levels of the gender structure create “crises tendencies” that may provide leverage that future activists can use to push for social change. While some contemporary social movements agitating for a more feminist and gender inclusive society appear to conflict with each other, Risman argues that using a gender structure framework allows seemingly contradictory feminist and gender inclusive movements to understood they are not alternatives but rather a tapestry, each one taking aim at a different level of our complex gender structure. The chapter concludes with a utopian vision: a call for a fourth wave of feminism to dismantle the gender structure. Since the gender structure constrains freedom, to move toward a more just future we must leave it behind.

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