This paper proposes a theoretical framework to analyze contentious social movements as self-organizing networks. It combines structural network analysis with interpretive ethnography to understand the evolution of relations in large-scale contention.
Accounting for the spontaneous and contingent nature of movements, they are conceptualized as polycentric, non-hierarchical, and complex. Building on recent studies of the Occupy and Indignados movements, it is argued that the growth of contentious self-organization can be modeled structurally in terms of scaling. Movements start as a core group with strong ties. This core extends contingently over time to increasingly broader shells of participants.
Having determined structural network features, we can then analyze conditions that facilitate collaboration and the roles that demarcate clusters and shells. We contribute to existing network analysis by subsequently examining found patterns using interpretive ethnography. This allows us to combine structural network dynamics with a qualitative analysis of various roles and interdependencies within networks.
