This presentation aims at demonstrating how social network analysis (SNA) helps studying activism. Activists are frequently affiliated to different organizations (such as labour unions, political parties, and non-profit associations). Using such data, SNA allows to move from an individual to an organizational analysis: it reveals how activists relate to each other, thus mapping a specific space, with its breeding grounds for activists, constellations of groups that are more or less impervious to each other, and organizations or activists bridging those clusters. Different organizations are also connected by their members participating to demonstrations or strikes for example. In doing so, SNA appears to be a particularly relevant tool for studying configurations of activism at a local level. Eventually, the charts and diagrams produced through SNA can be used jointly with life narratives in order to analyze activists' careers.
