Social movements represent a phenomenon that in contemporary democracies seems increasingly crucial given the often discussed political apathy. It represents a form of political participation that goes beyond the traditional set of action ascribed to the citizen and it is not clearly defined. This is in part also true because social movements can indeed counter not only a current government but even more fundamental components of the system. The main research on social movements takes the new social movements of the 1960 and 1970s as a subject. But through technological, organizational, and political change civic action and social movements today take different forms. Beyond the specific emphases of technological revolution and globalization this evolvement has not been taken into account enough in the field.
This paper will attempt to shed light on what different perspectives offer to the reflection of the role of social movements in contemporary society. There are scholars like Barker et al. that criticize the disappearance of capitalism from social movement studies, calling for more Marxist involvement in the current analysis. Others, like Donatella Della Porta or Manuel Castells, both long established social movement scholars, in their most recent publications deal with the peculiarities of the last wave of social movements all over the world, including the Arab Spring, Occupy, or the anti-austerity movements in Europe. Finally, some scholars investigating right-wing populism call attention to the fact that also this side of citizen activism is to be discussed more in social movement studies.
In particular when looking at the past year in Europe, the issue of how to deal with the increasing numbers of incoming refugees has not only challenged governmental actors. There has been a polarization of activism, giving rise on the one hand to right-wing movements like Pegida in Germany but also to grassroots action in support of refugees and their rights, be it through guidance, accommodation, food or demonstrations. These actions are political as well as social because they challenge and even question governments. It seems thus a promising insight for the field of social movement studies to have a closer look at these two diverging movements that challenge the European Union, and analyze their differences but also their similarities. The paper will develop such a perspective by analyzing the media coverage of the two poles in Germany, as one of the European countries where both are equally present and highly emotional, to gain initial insights for the conceptualization of social movements today.
