Collective Identities in the New Cycle of Contention

Abstract

The scope and rapid transnational diffusion of protest in the Middle East, Europe and Americas have led observers to evoke a new wave of contention. These mobilisations have developed in different contexts and around different claims: democratisation in the Middle East; social justice and political participation in Europe and North America; access to education and public services in Chile and Quebec… While there is some continuity with past mobilisations in terms of repertoires of action, discourses, and organisational structures, this recent wave of mobilisation has also innovated and is not a simple replica of past social movements. In this panel, we will explore the continuities and innovations in these recent protests through a focus on collective identities, a question that has received renewed interest in social movement studies since the mid-2000s (Bernstein, 2005). What types of identities have emerged in the course of these protests? How do they relate to specific interests, organisational forms, and modes of action? How do they relate to the personal experience of activists and potential supporters? We will welcome contributions that propose empirical observations and theoretical interpretations of these questions, in particular from a comparative perspective.

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