When are social movements born?

Abstract

What do we say when we date the birth of a social movement, and more importantly, what do we forget to say? Can we understand the origin of a social movement simply from its birth certificate, which usually derives either from the drafting of a statute or from a founding congress? We may have a tendency to read a movement’s history with its “success” in mind, which leads us to emphasize breaks and innovation. On the contrary, trying to understand collective action in the making rather means trying to find continuity, conversion, trajectories, and in the end social factors. The revitalization of contentious politics does not mean that we can simply forget the past: the invention of a new kind of political or social activism depends in many ways on previous experiences, whether it be at a personal and micro social level (trajectories of founding members) or at a more general and structural level. Both dimensions are of course consistent (for example the experience of World War II for 50s-60s movements, or post-May 68 movements in France). Starting with the study of different movements, as regards both ideologies and means of action, we intend to offer a contribution to the knowledge of collective action and its genesis. The question is apparently naive: when is a social movement born? How is such a project formulated, and what timeframe does it follow? The foundation of a movement can hardly ever be regarded as an answer to some kind of extraordinary event, which would serve as a revelation. It is best explained when referred to a series of previous experiences, which give us an idea of what is both possible and desirable and a certain point in time and in a certain context. In that sense, the more general state of the field of contentious politics must also be taken into account. It does not mean that nothing can ever be new in social movements, but rather that innovation is rooted in social conditions: what makes us feel the need for a new kind of collective action, the urge to found a new organisation? In what circumstances can pre-existent contentious politics appear not to offer enough opportunities? From what social conditions does this need to intervene in the public sphere stem from?

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