An Introduction of The Study of Social Movements Touraine

An Introduction to the Study of Social Movements
Author(s): ALAIN TOURAINE

Source: Social Research, Vol. 52, No. 4, Social Movements (WINTER 1985), pp. 749-787
Published by: The New School
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An Introductionto
the Study of
Social
/
Movements / byALAIN TOURAINE
A he notionof social movement,like most notionsin the
social sciences,does not describepart of "reality"but is an
socialreality.Too
elementof a specificmode of constructing
studies
of
social
movements
are
many
dangerouslynaive.Too
often,authors,whiletheythinktheyare describingcollective
actionsor historicalevents,expressverycrudelytheirown
opinionsor ideologies.The limitedvalue of moststudiesof
socialmovements
becomeseven moreconspicuousif we comand socialhistory.Social
pare different
periodsof intellectual
movementsin the postwarperiod were mainlyconsideredas
disruptiveforces;even "liberals"like L. Coser1werereadyat
bestto grantthatconflicts
can be functional
forsocialintegration.Afterthesixties,socialmovements,
on thecontrary,
were
identified
withthecounterculture,
thesearchfor"alternative"
formsof social and culturallife. In the early eighties,the
subjectmatterlosesground.How is itpossibleto overcomethe
obviousprejudiceswhichso oftenmake discussionsabout social movementsuselessbecause theyinformus mainlyabout
social opinionsof some limitedsectorsof academia?
To overcomethisnaive and illusorypositivism,
each social
scientist
mustmakeclear the meaningof thewordshe or she
uses, situatingthemin a more generalintellectualframeof
reference.But to explain "whatI think"is not enough: it is
1 L. Coser, The Functions Social
of
Conflict(Glencoe, 111.:Free Press, 1956).
SOCIAL RESEARCH, Vol. 52, No. 4 (Winter 1985)

750
SOCIAL RESEARCH
indispensableto compare one's own categorieswith other

of social reality.The aim here is not to
typesof construction
but, on the
separateand definevarious Weltanschauungen
various
into
to
a
contrary, integrate
approaches
generalrepresentationof sociallifewhichgivessome amountof autonomy
to each approach.It is truethatsuchan integratedand diversifiedview is itselfrelated to specific"theories"and is not
entirely
objective.The problem,however,is not to pursuean
butto pushbackthelimitsof ideology
abstractpureobjectivity
and to make discussionsamong social scientists
more meanof our ideas and
ingful.If we eschewthiscriticalself-appraisal
we
fall
into
and
useless
results,
pretentious
expressionsof our
personalor nationalpreferencesand representations.
Manystaysin different
partsof the worldhave convinced
transferable
me of the necessityto build an internationally
with
which
cannot
be
identified
categoriesused by
knowledge
the actorsthemselvesin any partof the world.The timehas
gone when ideas correspondingto importantsectorsof "advanced"countrieswere able to spread all over the worldand
to be transmitted
by dependentor imitativesocial scientists.
For thesereasons,and to help eliminatesuperficialcritiques
and artificial
whatI mean by
discussions,I willtryto identify
"'social movement"and to relate it to a broader frameof
referencewhichshould at the same time providespace for
othernotionsand otherapproaches.
TypesofSocial Conflicts
There is an almostgeneralagreementthatsocialmovements
shouldbe conceivedas a specialtypeof socialconflict.Many
typesof collectivebehaviorare not social conflicts:panics,
crazes,fashions,currentsof opinion,culturalinnovationsare
not conflicts,
even if theydefinein a preciseway whatthey
react to. A conflictpresupposesa clear definitionof oppoactorsand oftheresourcestheyare fightnentsor competiting

THE STUDY OF SOCIAL MOVEMENTS
751
to takecontrolof. Such an elementary

ing foror negotiating
the
leaves
definition
approaches,
wayopen to manydifferent
butitalreadydrawstwolimitswhichshouldnotbe trespassed.
A socialconflictcannotbe analyzedentirelyas a featureof a
socialsystem.If a "society"feelsthreatenedor even no longer
- some exampleshave been describedin Afwantsto survive
- the manifestation
ricain particular
of thissocietalcrisiscannotbe analyzedas a socialconflict.The agentsof thisconflict
mustbe identifiedas specificsocial categories.On the other
side, if a collectiveactor cannot define its goals in social
- if for example a group wants its specificity
to be
terms
recognized its strugglefor freedomor identitycannot by
itselfcreatea socialconflict.Even whentheconflictis veryfar
frombeinga zero-sumgame,it mustbe definedby a "field,"
thatis, by "stakes"whichare valued and desiredby two or
have in commoreopponents.So all kindsof socialconflicts
- actorsand to
mon a referenceto "real"- thatis, organized
ends which are valued by all competitorsor adversaries.
it is necessaryto separatevarious
Withinthisbroaddefinition,
kindsof social conflicts.
(1) A firstand easilyperceivedcategoryof socialconflictis
In itsmostextreme
interests.
thecompetitive
ofcollective
pursuit
who
wantto maximize
it
individuals
or
form, opposes
groups
theiradvantageson a market.In a moreclassicalsociological
tradition,it is defined as the expressionof a relationship
or of
betweenactors'inputsand outputsin an organization,
theirrelativedeprivation.If employeesof a companybring
high or low inputs(measuredby skill,for example) and receive highor low rewards(in termsof incomein particular),
the hypothesishas been elaboratedthatfour main typesof
exists
behaviorwillappear. The highestprobability
of conflict
when low rewardscorrespondto high inputs. When both
willreplacegrievance.
inputand outputare high,competition
On the contrary,a low input associatedwithlow rewardis
and a low inputwhichreceives
likelyto producewithdrawal,
The actorshere are
highrewardsleads to passiveconformity.

752
SOCIAL
RESEARCH
defined by their positions on a hierarchical scale, and the

"stakes" of the conflictsare organizational rewards. This "rationalist"view of collective behavior has been well presented
by A. Obserschall.2
(2) Both similar and opposed to the firsttype is the reconstruction
Here the oppoof a social,cultural,or politicalidentity.
nent is defined more as a foreigner or invader than as an
upper class, a power elite, or management. The actor defines
himselfas a communitywhose values are threatenedby invasion or destruction.Messianic movementsin Brazil at the time
of abolition of slavery,for example, expressed firstof all the
defense of rural communitiesagainst the domination of trade
and urban interests.C. Tilly, analyzing the Vendean counterrevolutionarymovement in France, instead of interpretingit
as an aristocraticreaction, sees in it the communitarian defense of a rural societywhich is threatenedby a risingurban
bourgeoisie.3
During recent years, many strikes have expressed, in declining industries, or in sectors which are upset by new
technologies,the resistance of occupational groups. This second type of conflictcan be called defensive, while the first
- is offensive.Smelser's
one- the pursuitof collectiveinterests
idea that collective behavior corresponds to the crisis of an
element of the social systemand effortsto reconstructit fits
with the definitionof the second type of social conflict.4The
Chicago school has analyzed gangs and ghettos as forms of
defense of dominated social and ethnic groups.
These two typesof conflictbehavior are located at the same
level: they"respond" to an organizationalstatusand to organizational change. Their analysis is generally made in terms of
"system"more than in terms of actors. But they are opposed
in most ways to each other. The firstone can be called instrumental,the second expressive. Both can easily driftout of the
2 A. Oberschall, Social
Conflictand Social Movements(Englewood Cliffs, N.J.:
Prentice-Hall, 1973).
3 C.
(Paris: Fayard, 1970).
Tilly, La Vende:Rvolutionet contre-rvolution
4 N. Smelser,
Theoryof CollectiveBehavior(New York: Macmillan, 1963).

753
If thefirstone is reduced
limitsof definition
of socialconflict.
itselfto a socialconflict
to rationalbehavior,it stopsreferring
becausetheenvironment
is describedin nonrelational,
purely
in
have
no
common
and
actors
terms,
competitive
competition
cultural or social orientationexcept their own interests.
remindedus thatHomosociusis not
Sociologyhas constantly
If thesecondone is reduced
just a varietyo Homooeconomicus.
it equally
and communities,
values
to a propheticdefenseof
to a social conflictbecause it opposes culture
stopsreferring
and barbarism,
Good and Evil,in a purelymilitary
waywhich
of anykindof referenceof bothcamps
excludesthedefinition
to commonvalues.
forceaims at changingthe rulesof the game,
(3) A political
not just the distribution
of relativeadvantagesin a given
In
of the actorsand of
this
case, the definition
organization.
the stakes of theirconflictseems easy, because either the
conflictis stronglyorganizedor it has a great capacityfor
In bothcases,each camp clearlydefinesitself,its
mobilization.
and
theaspectof thedecision-making
processor of
opponent,
therulesof thegamewhichshouldbe changedor maintained.
Most studiesof industrialrelationsreferthemselves,often
The sociologyof
to suchan imageof socialconflict.
explicitly,
even
broader
has
in
an
waytheefforts
organizations analyzed
of variouscategoriesor individualsto controlwhatM. Crozier
calls "zones of uncertainty"
and act accordingto whatMarch
and Simonhave labeled "limitedrationality."5
These authors
others
have
which
that
conflicts
demonstrated
among
many
were considered "organizational"are in fact "political."
E. Shorterand C. Tillyfollowthe same line:
Studyingstrikes,
insteadof consideringstrikesas responsesto "relativedeprivation,"they observe that they are closelyconnectedwith
sharp progressesor declines in the politicalinfluenceof
unions.6
5J. G. March and H. Simon, Organizations(New York: Wiley, 1958).
6 E. Shorter and C.
Tilly, Strikesin France, 1930-1968 (Cambridge: Cambridge
UniversityPress, 1974).

754
SOCIAL RESEARCH
(4) In the same way,as the defenseof an identityis the

oppositeside,thenegativeequivalent,of thecollectivepursuit
of interest,the defenseof a statusor privilegesis the negative
equivalentof a politicalpressure.P. Schmitter,

followingan
idea introducedbyJ. Linz, has demonstrated
the importance
in Europe and in Latin Americaof neocorporatist
policies
whichappear whenan interestgroupis incorporatedintothe
State in which it defends its interestsby emphasizingits
its usefulnessfornationallife.7Farmfunctionalimportance,
ers or teachers,insteadof defendingtheirincome directly,
proclaimthat a high priorityshould be recognizedfor agricultureor education.At a broaderlevel,politicalmovements
can expressthe fearof crisisand a call to a nationalintegration whichdefendsmoral or communitarian
values and denounces dangerous minorities.Since the end of the nineteenthcenturyour politicaland intellectual
lifehas been rethe
of
a
influenced
fear
mass
peatedly
by
societywhichoften
whichcan no
expressesthe protectionof normsand interests
be
defended
usual
institutional
channels.
longer efficiently
by
In Latin America,the factthatmanyimportanteconomic
decisionsare takenby foreigncompaniesor the international
bankingand trade systementailsas anvindirect
consequence
theextremeautonomyof thepoliticaland ideologicalforcesin
relationto economicinterests.This mechansim,whichI call
weakensrepresentative
"disarticulation,"
democracy.The resultis thatpoliticalmovements
are oftenorientedbya defensive nationalismwhichgivesa priorityto the defenseof nationalintegration
againstforeigninfluenceand "dualization"
of the countryover the organizationof directlyconflicting
politicalparties.
levelof analysis,existsa
(5) Abovethispolitical,institutional
whosestakeis thesocialcontrol
different
typeof socialconflict,
that
the
main
cultural
of
patterns, is, of the patternsthrough
7 P. Schmitter,
"Corporatism and Policy-Making in Contemporary Western
PoliticalStudies,April 1977, pp. 7-38.
Europe," Comparative

755
withtheenvironment
are normatively
whichour relationships
are
of
three
mainkinds:a
These
cultural
patterns
organized.
and ethicalprincimodelof knowledge,a typeof investment,
and morality
of
ples. These representations truth,production,
of
of self-production,
depend on thecapacityof achievement,
a
because
is
to
a givensociety.Society opposed community,
whichhas a highcapacityto act upon itselfand to
collectivity
itselfis necessarilydividedbetweenleadersor rultransform
pating groups,whichimposesavings,deferredgratification
terns,abstractideas, and moral principlesand at the same
timeidentifytheirown interestswiththeseuniversalprinciples, and "people" or "masses,"whichare bothsubordinated
to thecontrolof culturalvaluesbyrulinggroupsand eager to
withthese
themselves
eliminatethisdominationand to identify
culturalvalues.This centralconflictis endlessand cannotbe
solved. If the masses win, theytransforman activesociety
into an immobile,reproductivecommunity;if the elite imthe "selfwithvalues, it transforms
poses its identification
interests
and
of
into
entrepreprivate
production society"
neurshipinto speculationor privileges.
(6) These lastremarksmakeclearhow shortthedistanceis
betweenthis "positive"conflictbehaviorand the "negative"
to them.Creation
ones whichcorresponddirectly
ofa neworder
of sociis the oppositeof the conflict-loaded
self-production
action"
is
a
"critical
form
of
such
The
most
extreme
ety.
eswhichalwaysaims at recreatinga community,
revolution,
more
a
new
social
more
rational
or
national,
order,
tablishing
but definedby its integrationand its capacityto eliminate
conflicts,a capacitywhich is rapidlydemonstratedby the
police. The rulinggroup,in a parallelway,tendsto impose
but order
orderas a precondition
foreconomicdevelopment,
forprotectoftenbecomesan end in itselfand an instrument
revoFrench
and
Russian
The
influence
of
the
ing privileges.
lutionshas long imposedthe idea thata revolutionwas the
politicalexpressionof a popular class movement.This continuityfromsocial mobilizationto revolution,whichis still

756
SOCIAL RESEARCH
criticizedby historical
acceptedby Tilly,has been efficiently
thatthedevelopment
studies.WhileV. Bonnelldemonstrated
of labor movementin Russiabefore1914 was quite independentof revolutionary
politicalgroups,8T. Skocpolemphasized
in an important
book thatrevolutions
are notdirectresultsof
a socialupheavalbut mustbe explainedfirstof all bya breakdownof theStateand of thepoliticalsystem.9
Earlier,F. Furet
had criticizedthe traditionalimageof the FrenchRevolution
and of its "natural"radicalizationfrom1789 to 1794.10This
of politicalanalysisis obviouslya consemajortransformation
withthe politicalregimeborn
quence of the disenchantment
fromthe 1917 revolution.
The six typesof conflictbehaviorwhichhave been rapidly
describedcorrespondon one side to three levels of social
life- organizationalprocesses,politicalinstitutions,
and cul- which cannot be separated from"class"
tural orientations
conflicts,
and, on the other side, to two opposed and com- offensiveand defensive.The
plementarytypesof conflicts
firsttypedistinguishes
actorsand impliesa someconflicting
whatautonomousexpressionof the stakesof thisconflict;the
secondtendsto identify
an actorwithsocialand culturalvalues
and to exclude the opponentas an externalenemyor as a
traitor.
None of thesetypesshould be confusedwithotherswhich
are no longerdefinedbya certainlevelof sociallifebutwhich
manifestconflicting
effortsto controla processof historical
that
the
is,
change,
passage fromone culturaland societaltype
to anotherone. In moreconcreteterms,we mustseparatethe
which
of an industrialsocietyfromconflicts
internalconflicts
distinction
This
are linkedto the processof industrialization.
is stillsomewhatdifficult
to acceptforWesterncountriesbe8 V. Bonnell, RootsofRebellion:Workers'
and
in St. Petersburg
Politicsand Organizations
Moscow,1900-1914 (Berkeley: Universityof California Press, 1983).
9 T.
A Comparative
AnalysisofFrance,Russia and
Skocpol, Statesand Social Revolutions:
China (Cambridge: Cambridge UniversityPress, 1979).
10F. Furet, Penserla rvolution
franaise(Paris: Gallimard, 1978).

757
cause theirspecificexperienceis thattheirown industrializationhas been mainlyendogenous,rootedin science,technology,education,"achievementmotive,"and the open market,
so thattheircentralimage of themselvesidentifiedfunctioning and change, modernityand modernization.Modern
societieswere defined,fromthe Enlightenment
on, by their
and
to
traditions,
particularisms, religionsand
capacity destroy
to open the way to Reason and its achievements.
But aftera longcenturyof developmentpolicies--thatis,of
voluntaristic
actionsof States againstthe politicaland economicdominationexertedby foreigncountriesand resulting
in the growingdualizationof society,actionsthatreinforce
traditionalsocial and culturalcontrolsand impede protest
- the distancebetweeninternalendogenouspromovements
cesses of change and State-ledor foreign-ledmodernization
has becomeobvious.We are even sometimestemptedto give
and to consider
up the idea of internal,structuralconflicts,
that all social problemsshould be understoodas parts of
processesof change.Such a viewis as erroneousas theoppoof structuralproblemswithmodernization
site identification
processes.
A complete typologyof conflicts should elaborate a
of "historical"conflicts,parallel with the one
classification
whichhas been presentedfor "social" conflicts.Diachronie
conflicts.
conflicts
belongto the same categoriesas synchronie
are
located
at
a
certain
level
of
social
and
life,
theyare
They
hereto mentiononly
or defensive.But itis sufficient
offensive
the twotypesof "historical"
conflicts
whichcorrespondto the
in bothitspositiveand negative
highestlevelof socialconflicts,
aspects.
(7) It is appropriateto give a veryconcretename to the
positivehistoricalconflictsat theirhighestlevel: theyare nationalconflicts,
because the identity
and continuity
of a changcannot
be
based
on
social
actorsand
ing,developingcountry
socialrelationswhichare preciselytransformed,
or
destroyed,
createdby the processof historicalchange- forexample,of

758
SOCIAL
RESEARCH
industrialization.State and nation are the only actors which

can maintain their identity and proclaim their continuity
throughout a process of change. In all countries, conflicts
about the controlof change are conflictsabout the State. That
indicatesthe necessityto separate the politicalsystemas representative of internal economic, social, or cultural interests
from the State as central agent of historicaltransformation.
Here again, the experience of "central" countries and especially of the hegemonic ones, like Britain in the nineteenth
centuryand the United States in the twentieth,is misleading,
or has been ideologically misrepresentedwhen the State was
identified in these countries with a ruling class, with the
people, or with the balance of social forces. The separation
between highestlevel social and historicalconflictscan be represented by the opposition between class conflictand national
conflict which has dominated contemporary history since
Austro-Marxists tried to combine them and the First World
War demonstratedthe limitsof "proletarian"internationalism.
(8) The negative equivalent of national conflictis neocomthe effortto reject a historicaltransformation
munitarianism,
which comes from abroad and destroystraditionalvalues and
formsof social organization. It could be called an antirevolution,and it is as importantat the end of the twentiethcentury
as the revolutionarymovements were a century ago. From
limited Western neocommunitarian tendencies or sects to
fundamentalist,nativist, indigenous ideologies and to the
powerful Islamist movement, the planet is more dominated
today by the opposition between social and democratic movements on one side and neocommunitarianStates or political
groups on the other than by the internal social conflictbetween capitalismand socialism. The Leninistrevolutioncorresponds to the hinge which permitted the passage from the
central role of social conflictsand ideologies to the predominance of historical,State-orientedconflicts.
Behind this cold classification,it is easy to perceive hot
ideological and politicalproblems. For example, the verydefi-

759
nitionof the leftistintellectual,

especiallyin France,sincethe
Dreyfuscase, is one who proclaimsthe convergenceof liberal
reforms,class conflicts,revolutions,and nationalliberation
of these
movements.
Jean-PaulSartrewas themostinfluential
- thatis,
he definedhimselfas a petitbourgeois
intellectuals:
- but located himself
as a defenderof Westerndemocracy
horizonof Marxismand supported
withinthe untrespassable
activelythe Algerian independence movement.These inwars,at the
tellectualsopposed colonialismor "imperialist"
same timethattheywere supportingleftistreformsin their
own country.But it became more and more difficultfor
people who approvedthe Vietnameseliberationmovementto
supportthe Hanoi regime,withoutmentioningCambodia,
and it is impossibleto considerStalinistregimesas expression
of proletarianrevolutions.
So the convergencebetweenliberties and liberationappears more and more contradictedby
historical
experience.The separationof variouskindsof social
or
and historicalconflicts
help us to understandthe conflicts
tensionswhichoppose themto each otherand whichconfront
each of us withdifficult,
sometimesimpossiblechoices.
It is relativelyeasy to see that many analysesof "social
to one typeof conflict,
limitthemselves
movements"
generally
becausethistypeis predominantin a giventypeof society.It
is difficult
in manyThird Worldnationsto analyzeclassconflictswhere anti-imperialism
struggles,neocommunitarian
and the creationof a "Statebourgeoisie"are the
movements,
more visibleforces.In an opposite way,manyWesternobserversdiscovered"socialmovements"
onlyin the sixtiesand
weremainlypreoccupiedto understandhowsocialintegration
could be restoredeitherby reformor by a neoconservaitve
tide.
But suchrelativist
remarkscan be misleading.It is necessary
ratherthanto
to proposea generalinterpretation
of conflicts
and separatingtypes.So we must
limitourselvesto classifying
nowproceedto a moredifficult
task,whichis to givea general
and relationsamongvarioustypes
analysisof the differences

760
SOCIAL RESEARCH
of conflicts.More concretely,
thatmeans thatwe mustnow
a termthatwe have
introducethe notionof socialmovement,
until now carefullyavoided using in the strictsense. Two
solutionsare possible.The easiestone is to considera social
movementas a genericcategorywhichincludesall kindsof
Butwhatis theuse ofsucha wide
socialand historical
conflicts.
withcollectiveconflicts?
notionwhichis onlysynonymous
we must
To proposea moreelaborateanalysisof conflicts,
intoa generalhypothesis
integratethe previousclassification
whichgivesa different
to
From
importance variousconflicts.
the beginning,we actuallyhad to introducesuch a hierarchizationwhenwe constructed
a typology
whichopposespositive
and negativemovementand threelevelsof conflicts,
an image
whichclearlygives a priorityto the "highest"level, where
conflicts
are organizedaround the controlof centralcultural
patternsand resources.
The UnityofSocial Conflicts
To make myhypothesisquite clear,I willuse the concept

"socialmovements"
around the social
onlyto referto conflicts
controlof themainculturalpatterns,
thatis,type5. This is an
semanticdecision.Othersmaypreferto keepa much
arbitrary
of socialmovements,
widerand morevague definition
but,if
theydo so, theyrun the riskof fallingintothe confusionwe
criticizedat the beginning.
(1) A privilegecan be given to a specifictype of social
conflictif othertypesof conflictcan be consideredas disintegratedor partialformsof the centraltype. The type of
is defined
conflictI willfromnowon call a "socialmovement"
actors and the
betweenconflicting
by a clear interrelation
stakes of their conflict.These three components,which I
of the identity(i) of the
identifiedlong ago as the definition
of the opponent(o), and the stakes,that
actor,the definition
is, the culturaltotality(t) whichdefinesthe fieldof conflict,

761
belongto the same universe;theyexpressthe centralconflict

of a societaltype.11
For example,in an industrialsocietymanaboutthesocialcontrolof
agementand workersare in conflict
These
three
workers,inindustry.
components,management,
are homogeneous;moreover,theyare interdependent:
dustry,
neverexistsper se- thisculturalmode of investment
industry
is alwaysmanagedbya rulinggroupwhichhas thecapacityto
impose on workerssome formof divisionof labor. On the
a political
pressure
contrary,
representsa morelimitedintegration of its components:there is no directinterdependence
betweenpoliticalforcesand politicaldecisions.Politicalparties
in representative
are generallymultidimensional,
particularly
and
their
aims
are
defined
democracies,
by strategiesand
tacticsas muchas byprinciplesor directly
expresseddemands.
do
not
a
parties
Competitive
represent permanentopposition
likethe couple managementworkersdoes. That can be symbolizedbywritingthata socialmovementis i-o-t and a political strugglei-t, o-t, or i-o. The collectivepursuitof interests
correspondsto an even lower level of integrationof these
and the fieldof their
elements:the actorsare self-centered
can
even
be
defined
as a market,which
or
conflict
competition
fromactors.That correspondsto i,
is definedindependently
is
where
each
element
o, t,
separatedfromtheothers.So political pressureand defenseof interestmustbe definednotonly
and lower-level
by theirspecificnaturebut as nonintegrated
social movements.
This hypothesishas an importantconsequence: political
pressureand collectivepursuitof interestare alwayscompletedby expressionsof a nonactualized,virtualsocial movement.A politicalpressureis notjust partof a politicalgame; it
refersto interestand, at a higherlevel,to a social movement
thatit represents,
and it affirms
thatitsown actionwillnever
reach
its
Most
referto nonnegotiable
entirely
goal.
negotiators
11A. Touraine,TheSelf-Production
of ChicagoPress,
ofSociety
(Chicago:University
1977).

762
SOCIAL
RESEARCH
demands, to basic rightsof workers,or, on the other side, to

superior interestsof the industryand of the nation. What a
social movement expresses directly and practicallyappears
here as principles, ideas, or convictionswhich are relatively
separate fromactual practices.The same holds for the defense
of interests.Before the First World War, in Western Europe
and in the United States,business unionism was predominant,
but its instrumentalorientationwas completed by intellectual
and politicalradical movementswhich created myths,like the
Sorelian idea of the general strike.That does not mean that
every form of defense of interest reveals a possible social
movement,but rather that the defense of interestis always a
combination between rational economic behavior and social
movement.In a parallel way, a politicalpressure is intermediate between a social movement and a strategy.Here we go
much beyond our classification;we introduce the hypothesis
that social movementsin a given societycan be observed not
only directlybut indirectly,in partial,disintegratedforms,or,
to put it more precisely,thatsomecomponent of social movement must be found in all social conflicts.Theonly limithere
of the penetrationof social movementis the territoryof Homo
but where this territorybegins, if it really exists,
oeconomicus,
social conflictactuallydisappears, is displaced by the triumph
of economic rationality.
(2) "Negative" conflictbehavior, as has already been suggested, can be analyzed as overintegrated forms of social
movements. Here the actor identifies himself with values,
eliminatesthe idea of an internalstructuralconflict,and presents the image of an homogenized communityto opponents
who are transformedinto enemies. A revolutionrefersfirstto
an internal conflict which, after its triumph, builds a new
social and political order, looks for purity,and wages war
against external enemies and traitorswho undermine the new
community.Thus everyrevolutionarycreation of a new order
is led to destroythe social movementit is based on. Saturn ate
his children,revolutionseat theirfathers.This self-destruction

763
is supportedbytheideal of a homogeneoussystem
mechanism
thatwe call sect at a microsociological
level and totalitarian
are notjust
level.These systems
regimeat a macrosociological
main
is
the
destruccommunities,
preciselybecause their
logic
tionof socialconflicts,
of all kindsof socialrelations,and, by
way of consequence,of all actors.So social movementsare
limitedon one side byHomooeconomicus
and, on theother,by
Big Brother.
na(3) The subordinationof "historical"and particularly
tionalmovements
to socialmovements
is evenmorevisibleand
has been for a long time at the verycenterof the world's
We are firsttemptedto recognizethe
politicaltransformation.
and
separation
parallel importanceof what is generallyexbecauseour century
pressedas classand nationalmovements,
has been dominatedby nationalliberationmovementswhich
have dominatedor destroyedclass-oriented
action.The Algerian example shows clearlythe defeat of Marxist-oriented
MessaliHadj or even of revolutionary
populistBen Bella and
the triumphof the armyheaded by Boumedienne.In a differentcontext,FidelCastro,whowas eventually
goingto build
to
a MarxistLeninistregime,gave in theSierraa totalpriority
and strikesorganized
guerrillawaroversocialdemonstrations
the
movement
which
had
a
broad socialbasis in
26th
by
July
Havana. Communismand nationalismhave often joined
forces,but neverhas a social movementdevelopeditsautonomousactionin a national-revolutionary
regime.Nevertheless,
such a separation,whichimpliesa totaldominationof social
is nevercomplete.In manydependent
bynationalmovement,
countries, especially in Latin America, "mixed" threedimensionalsociopoliticalmovementspredominatewith a
or anti-imperialist,
and a nationalinteclass,an anticolonialist
grativedimension.There is no clearseparationbetweensocial
so it is
movements,politicalforces,and State intervention,
necessaryto analyze "national-popular"regimesas indirect
expressionsof social movements.In countrieswithstronger
Statetraditions,
the movements
or warsof nationalliberation

764
SOCIAL RESEARCH
are not just national; on the contrary,they are similarto

movements.They create a new politicaland
revolutionary
social order by rejectingwhat they call imperialism,colonialism,or decadentbourgeoislife.In moregeneralterms,it
is difficultto completelyseparate structuralconflictsand
politicalprocessesof historicalchange.The processof industrializationis not independent of peasant, plebeian, or
So "historical"
socialmovements.
movements
are
working-class
mixturesof socialmovements
and of the
alwayscontradictory
of
new
State.
Here
a
a
risingpower
appears thirdand last
limitof social movements:the intervention
of an absolute
"absolute"
here
to
a
definition
of the
State,
referring
pure
Stateas agentof historical
developmentand notas a centerof
the institutional
system.
(4) If we combinethesethreelinesof analysis,we are able
to defineall typesof conflictby referenceto the centraltype
whichhas been called social movement(Figure 1). This presentationindicatesthe threeprocessesof transformation
of a
social movementinto more instrumental
action,into more
and communitarian
and intohistorical,
movement,
integrative
Figure 1.
HomoOEconomicus
Totalitarian systems
N,
Collective pursuit of
interests
(Sub-movements) >v
Political
Reconstruction of
identity
anti-movements)
>j*
Defense of privileges
pressure
National^ movements
tari an
> Neo-communi
movements
H^torijCaLjyjgmej3ti
Pure State

765
And it drawsthelimitsbeyond
especiallynationalmovements.
whichthe influenceof a socialmovementis destroyed,in the
firstcase byeconomicrationality,
in thesecondbythelogicof
a totalitarian
in
and
the
third
case by a Statewhichis
system,
an agent of economicdevelopment.
essentially
The CentralRole ofSocial Movements
in SociologicalAnalysis
The main meaningof thisreconstruction

of the analysisof
socialconflicts
is not to isolateand underlinethe importance
of socialmovement
as a specifictypeof collectivebehaviorbut
to reorganizeour representationof social life around the
notionsof social movement,structuralconflict,and cultural
stakes.
The bestwayto understandthe proposeduse of the term
social movementis to compare the theoreticalapproach it
implieswithothers,each of whichactuallycorrespondsto one
of theformsof disorganization
of a socialmovementwe have
just encountered.
(1) There is a clear opposition between a sociological
or even
analysiswhichis organizedaroundthenotiono society
socialsystem
and a sociologywhichgivesa centralrole to social
movements.
The firstimpliesthatactors'behaviorsare interas
indicators
of the internalprocessesof differentiapreted
and pattern-maintenance
of a socialsystem.
tion,integration,
An absenceof correspondence
betweeninstitutional
rulesand
socializationagencies,asynchrony
betweensectorialchanges,
between
cultural
values
and
institutional
channels,or
gaps
more simplyinequalityor upward and downwardcollective
social mobilityproduce conflictsand crises whichare both
disruptiveand adaptative.The consciousnessof the actor is
alwaysmisleadingforthissociologicalschool,simplybecauseit
interpretsin actor-centeredtermssituationsand behavior
whichmustbe conceived,accordingto it,as elementsofa social
systemand as effectsof itsinternalproblems.

766
SOCIAL RESEARCH
of such an approach
Nobodywillchallengethe superiority
which
identifies
itselfwith the
to a "subjectivist"
sociology
actors'opinionsand is unable to explainthevisiblediscrepancies and contradictionsbetween various actors' representations.But who is temptedto defendsuch a naivesociology
whichreducestheanalystto theroleof a tape recorderor of a
"historianof the king"?The conceptof social movementimview of social life. Instead of analyzingthe
plies a different
social systemas a set of transformations
and specifications
of
culturalpatternsinto institutional
normsand formsof social
and culturalorganization,
it emphasizesthe structural
conflict
in a given"society,"especiallywhenit has a highcapacityof
modernizationand achievement,around the controlof the
instruments
of transformation
and "production"of sociallife.
Accordingly,all aspects of social and culturalorganization
insteadof generalvalues,bothculturalpatternsand
manifest,
power relations,and the social movementswhich express
them.This antipositivist
viewof modernsocietiesopposes to
the image of a rationalized,integrated,and flexiblemodern
and, even
societythegrowingimportanceof socialmovements
level of
more directly,the consequencesof an insufficient
integrationof conflictsinto a centralsocial movement:wild
conflictsof interests,pseudocommunitarianwithdrawal,
arbitrary
power,and violence,whichis the oppositeof social
conflict.
Our approach is centeredon the representation
of social
actorsas both culturallyorientedand involvedin structural
- that is, in a society
conflicts.Actorsin a modern society
- are neitherpurely
whichhas a highcapacityof achievement
values. None of
rationalnor identifiedwithcommunitarian
with
themcan be identified
withmodernity
or, moreprecisely,
- epistemic, economic, and
the set of cultural patterns
- thatI call historicity.
ethical
Managersare not more rational
than workers,professorsthan students. Differentsocial
categoriescan participatemore or less in centralcultural
orientationsand organizesocial movementsbut can equally

767
and even
developdefensiveattitudesor createsubmovements
antimovements.
Marxistschoolhas
(2) In an opposite way, the structural
recentlydiffusedthe idea thatactors,insteadof being inteitsvalues,are submittedto
gratedin a societybyinternalizing
a logic of dominationand are unable to be real actors.This
idea was alreadypresentin Lenin'sWhatIs toBe Done} Workers cannotliberatethemselves
becausetheyare prisonersof a
which
limits
their
system
spontaneousaction to reformist
negotiations.In the sixties and seventies, disenchanted
inand scientific
Leninistsrecognizedthatthe revolutionary
whichwas supposed to build a new and liberated
telligentsia
itselfintoaparatchiki
for
the
workershad transformed
society
of a totalitarian
Stateand thatthe sacrificedgenerationwas
followedby manyothers.So a new typeof Marxist,ex- or
builtthe image of a closed society,in which
para-Marxists,
conflictsand protestsare no longer possiblebecause of the
of a central
and manipulation
growingcapacityof intervention
H.
a groupof
of
After
work
the
Marcuse,
pioneering
power.
French social thinkers,L. Althusserand N. Poulantzas,P.
Bourdieuand M. Foucault,the latterwithgreattalentand a
diffuseda kind
complexand changingintellectual
personality,
of criticalfunctionalism
for whichsocietyis dominatedby
ideological apparatuses of the State or by omnipresent
powerssymbolizedby Bentham'sPanopticonor is identified
with its mechanismsof reproduction.The decline of the
labor movement,
the transformation
of Third Worldnational
liberationmovements
intooppressiveor even fanaticregimes,
the influence of Soviet dissidents, had destroyed the
traditionaleschatologicalconfidence in some movements
whichwere supposed to be popular and libertarian.Disillusions withall kindsof revolutionary
forcesled theoriststo
substitute
the idea of an all-powerful
logicof dominationfor
the abandoned hope of liberatingsocial movements.At the
same time,thesesocialphilosophersrefusedto exchangetheir
ancientcreeds for a neoliberalismmore and more satisfied

768
SOCIAL RESEARCH
withWesterncountrieswhichidentifiedthemselveswithrationalitywhile they were torturingin Algiersor dropping

napalmon Vietnamesevillages.This double rejectioncreated
a totallynegativeimage of social lifein whichalienationand
heteronomous
could be challengedonlyby margiintegration
nal revoltsor by individualist
aestheticculture.Such a social
philosophyplayed an importantrole in the historyof ideas
and ideologies,but it has been highlydestructiveof social
analysis.The necessarycritiqueof a decliningor corrupted
in theimageof a
typeof socialmovementended up arbitrarily
societywithoutactors.The image of our societiesas entirely
dominatedby systemsof controland manipulationis so far
fromobservablefactthatit lured manysociologists
to replace
fieldstudiesby doctrinaireinterpretations.
It transformed
itself in some countriesinto the dominantideologyof a selfdestroying
intelligentsia.
(3) A sociologyof social movementsand more generallya
definedbyopposisociologyof actioncan be moreconcretely
tion withanothersociologicalapproach forwhichany reference to "structural"
problemsor conflictsshould be deleted.
We no longerlive in a social system,says thisschool,but in
flow
whichcannotbe definedexceptas a diversified
situations
of changes. They take so seriouslythe ideas of modernity,
and developmentthattheydefinesocial actors
achievement,
their
entirelyby
strategies,by theirroles and relativeinfluence in theprocessof change.The mostconspicuousexample
manof thisapproach is the critiquemade againstscientific
and
business
schools,in
agement,as definedbyTaylor,Ford,
the
viewof management.
thenameof a strategic
Symbolically,
model
of
the
American
model
management.
Japanese
replaces
This sociologyproposesa pragmaticviewof actorsand conflictsand rejectsany referenceto a "center,"be it definedin
termsof culturalvalues, of a logic of domination,or as a
centralsocialmovement.Whatis generallyknownas sociology
of thistheory,which
has been the stronghold
of organizations
of
the
actuallydestroys concept organizationand replacesit

769
withconceptslike decisionand strategy.It recognizesas a

centralvalue not reason and its general principlesbut the
capacityto elaboratean efficientstrategyin a movingenvironment.Like structural
Marxism,thispoliticalviewof society
deservescreditbecauseit contributed
to destroying
efficiently
both analysis of industrial conflict, which had been
transformed
into ideologiesor even myths,and the naive
identificationof our own society with universal values.
are stilllooselyformulated
Moreover,whencollectiveconflicts
and organized,thestrategic
approachis a kindof spontaneous
naturalsociologyof theelitegroupswho are richor powerful
in a highlycompetitive
enoughto elaboratecomplexstrategies
world.But it does not correspondto the experienceof most
people, who resistthe initiativeof the elite groupsby withhedonisticsearchforidentity
drawingintoan individualistic,
or intomarginality
or fighting
back in the name of traditions,
or
alternative
views
of social life.
principles,
The notion of resource mobilizationhas been used to
transform
the studyof socialmovements
intoa studyof strategies as if actorswere definedby theirgoals and not by the
- in
- and especiallypower relationships
social relationshps
whichtheyare involved.Such a transformation
is sometimes
when
radical
or
acceptable
apparently
ideologicalmovements
are actuallyinstrumentally
orientedinterest
groups.But in too
this
notion
is
to
eliminate
used
manycases,
enquiriesaboutthe
could
meaningof collectiveactionas if resourcemobilization
be definedindependently
fromthe natureof the goals and
the social relations of the actor, as if all actors were
finallyled by a logic of economicrationality.
(4) If we considertheworldtoday,themostdynamicrepresentationof sociallifeis neitheroptimistic
functionalism,
pessimisticstructuralMarxism,nor pragmaticstrategicconceptionof social actionbut the call foridentityand community.
Througha seriesof meetingsand programsorganizedbythe
United Nations Universityin Tokyo, especiallyunder the
leadership of Anouar Abdel Malek, can be perceived a

770
SOCIAL RESEARCH
of different
nationalor
passionatedefenseof the specificity
which
is
to
regionalcivilizations,12
directlyopposed a universalisticrationalist
it givesto Zweckapproachand theprivileges
rationalitt.
Of course wide differencesexist between in- thatis,
tellectuals
whogivetotalpriority
to culturalpluralism
- and socialscientists
tothestruggle
againstculturalcolonialism
who tryto combinetheuniversalistic
valuesof development
- withrespectforor revivalof
science,technology,
efficiency
culturaland nationalspecificity.
But all of themare linked
withthe neocommunitarian
movementswhichare the "negative"formof nationalmovements
and developan idealistand
oftenreligiousview of social life.
(5) This reviewof fourschoolsof socialthoughtwhichare
differentfrom a sociologyof collectiveaction and social
movementsraises the problemof the relationships
between
themand the sociologyof social movements.Here we must
followthe same principleof analysisas before.Each of these
sociologicalschoolsmustbe granteda certainautonomy,but
at thesametimeitcorrespondsto a specificformof disorganizationof a sociologyof action,whichdeservesa centralplace
preciselybecauseof itscapacityto understandand reinterpret
otherapproaches.
The four schools we opposed to a sociologyof actionstructuralMarxism,"strategic,"
and "civilizafunctionalism,
tional"schools- correspondto the formsof decomposition
of
socialmovements
whichhave been representedin theschema
alreadypresented.
When we pass fromsocial movementsto submovements,
beforecrossingthe frontier
of sociologicalanalysisand enterwe tend to use a
ing the territoryof Homo oeconomicus,
actors
of
a politicalpressure
because
the
functionalist
analysis,
or of the defenseof collectiveinterests
are definedno longer
- that
as "producers"of socialorganization
butas "consumers"
12A. Abdel Malek,
in a Changing
Alternatives
Projecton SocioculturalDevelopment
World:Final Report(Tokyo: United Nations University,1985).

771
Insteadof analyzinga form

is, by theirlevelof participation.
of social life as the resultof a centralconflictand of its
institutional,
politicalconsequencesand solutions,functionalist
valuesand normswithformsof organizaapproachesidentify
But a
tion and processesof integrationor disintegration.
sociologyof actionobjectsthatno situationcan be reducedto
rulesand hierarchizedstatutes:thereis alwaysa
institutional
certainamount of uncertainty,
negotiation,conflict,transformation.
Marxistschoolrightlyunderlinesthe constant
The structural
of an open conflictbetweenopposed social
transformation
movementsinto a "closed"order whichhas a certaininertia
of socialand culturalcontrol.What
reinforced
bymechanisms
we objectto is thatno societyis completelyclosed,and certainlynotindustrialand democraticsocieties,so thatthe main
itselfintoa selferrorof thisapproach- whichcan transform
when
it
is
fulfilling
prophecy
predominant is to deny and
ignoretheubiquitousexistenceof actors.WhenI metHerbert
Marcusein thestreetsof Parisin May 1968,nearmassdemonstrationsand barricadesbuilt by middle-classstudentsin
the heart of the city,I was entitledto express to him my
about his idea thatour societiesmade movements
misgivings
of protestimpossible.At thesame time,studentsand blacksin
theUnitedStates,sometimes
inspiredbyMarcuse'sideas,were
excessive
his
pessimism.
demonstrating
The "strategic"
schoolis not directlyincludedin the general
of social
schemapresentedabove because its representation
conflict
lifeas a complexflowof changewithoutanystructural
is the directoppositeof a sociologyof social movementsand
cannotbe consideredas one of its formsof decomposition.
But social actorsare not orientedonlytowardtheirenvironment;theyare not only agentsof change; theybelong to a
certaintypeof sociallife,of productionand culture.A sociolis rightly
ogy of strategies
predominantin the studyof internationalrelations;it cannotbe centralin the studyof social
relationsin general.It is arbitrary
to mergestructural
prob-

772
SOCIAL
RESEARCH
lems and historicaltransformationsinto one central category,

social change, and it is excessive to react against functionalist
and structuralMarxist theories by isolating the actor from a
systemwhich is reduced to an environmentin which the actor
is oriented by his interest.
Finally, the sociological school which gives priorityto nationalcultureand the defense of the specificityof civilizations
which are threatened by the cultural and economic imcountries,capitalistas well as
perialismof universalist-oriented
which was created by
tradition
communist,maintainsthe long
the German historicalschool of law and other forms of historicistthought.Our main critiqueagainst it is thatit identifies
social life with ideologies and political philosophies and neglects the real social actors. It is dangerous to identifyEgyptian peasants or Moroccan workers with Islam or Japanese
white-collaremployees with Buddhism, even if it is necessary
to give the greatestimportance to the specificityof each civilization. Cultural orientationscannot be separated from social
relations and in particular from relations of power or domination.
TheNatureofSocial Movements
Let's now present more directlysome principlesof analysis
of social movementswhich have been already implicitlyintroduced.
(1) Social movementsare always defined by a social conflict,
that is, by clearly defined opponents. Actors often live their
own actions firstof all as a rupture withpredominantcultural
values or institutionalrules. Alberoni insisted on this opposition between institutionand movement.13But many revoltsor
uprisings can be nothing but signs of an internal crisis and
reorganizationof a social system.A social movementcannot be
defined by its intensity, its emotions, or its "volcanic"
13F. Alberoni, Movimentoe istituzione(Bologna: II Mulino, 1977).

773
- imageswhichcorrespondbetterto disruptionswhich
force
can be betteranalyzedfroma functionalist
pointof view.
idea whichhas been defended
(2) The mostcontroversial
in
here is that a givensocietaltypethereis onlyone central
social movements.This idea seemsvery
couple of conflicting
near to the Marxistconceptof classstruggleand is constantly
challengedby observerswho describea greatvarietyof conflictswhichcannot be consideredas specific"fronts"of a
general war. These observersrejectthe ideologicalor even
eschatologicalconnotationof such a view, which seems to
express a religiousbelief in the end of the prehistoryof
mankind.
I sharethesecriticisms
and agree thatit is indispensableto
eliminate the eschatologicalaspects of many nineteenthcenturytheories.But theconceptof socialmovementhas very
littlein commonwiththe ideas whichare here rightlycritare notpositiveor negativeagentsof
icized.Social movements
or of the liberationof mankind.
history,of modernization,
in
act
a
of
social
productionand organization.
They
giventype
This is the reason whywe emphasizethe priorityof social,
Once thismisconflicts
over historicalmovements.
structural
has been eliminated,it becomesclear thatthe
understanding
the idea that
of
social
conflicts
or, moreprecisely,
multiplicity
thereis no centralconflictcorrespondsto a system-centered
analysis.In the same wayas a car can breakdownfora series
of reasonsand as thereis nothingin commonbetweena flat
tire,a lack of gas, and a brokengearbox,manypeople are
satisfiedwithobservingthat there is apparentlynothingin
commonbetweenethnicminoritiesprotest,women'slib, industrialunions,urbancrisis,and antiwarmovements.
Who is
to
that
these
conflicts
are
going deny
largelyseparatedfrom
each other?But thispedestrianobservation
is no argumentto
idea
that
the
a
central
in
conflict
exists
a giventypeof
reject
society.And even in industrialsocieties,it was easyto observe
greatdistancesbetweenunions,socialistparties,cooperatives,
popular culturemovements,
municipalaction,and so on.

774
SOCIAL RESEARCH
If I devotedtheprecedingpages to a ratherlongdefinition
of a givenapproachin relationwithothers,mypurposewas to
get rid of a primitivetypeof social thoughtwhichidentifies
analyticalcategorieswithhistoricalfacts.We have no rightto
say thatthe United Statesis an industrialor postindustrial,
democraticor capitalistcountry,as if all aspectsof American
life should be consideredas attributes
of one of these definitions.Onlyconcreteresearchand discussionscan definethe
of specificconflicts
intoa generalsocial
degreeof integration
movement.
I devoteda seriesof researchprojectsto theanalysisof what
is oftencalled new social movements,
thatis, more precisely,
new socialconflicts.
still
was
and
is to detectwhether
My goal
or notthereare somecommonelements
insomeofthem,ifthere
is somesocialmovement
in conflicts
whichhave obviously
other
components.What is strikingtodayis thatthishypothesisis
often accepted,even if it is in rathervague terms.Many
observersare aware of the factthatcentralconflicts
deal less
withlabor and economic problemsthan withculturaland
especiallyethicalproblems,because the dominationwhichis
challengedcontrolsnot only "means of production"but the
and
productionof symbolicgoods, that is, of information
intend
to
brief
remarks
do
not
of
culture
itself.
These
images,
such a generalhypothesis
but onlyto makeclear
demonstrate
thatthe precedingpages can help us to understandhow a
centralconflictand social movementcan appear througha
in whichothercomponentscan have
greatvarietyof conflicts
more weightand be even predominant.
con(3) The reasonwhyso manypeople are spontaneously
social
vincedof the pluralityof conflictsis thattheyidentify
movementswithoppositionor "popular" movementswhich
challenge"social order." On the contrary,a popular social
of the
movement
cannotbe separatedfroma socialmovement
"rulingclass," and only theirconflictcan be consideredas
central.Holdersof economicor politicalpowermustbe analyzed as a social movementinsteadof being identifiedwith

775
centralculturalvalues and social norms.Referringto an industrialsociety,I wouldconsidermanagementa social movementexactlyin the same wayas labor,and Ford as a movementleader or an ideologistin the same wayas Gompersor
Reuther.So the centrality
of social movementsnevermeans
their hegemony,theircapacityto identifythemselveswith
socialorder,modernity,
or rationality.
Such an identification
is
neverobtained,even by a "rulingclass,"but onlyby an absolute State,whichdestroyssocial actors,both powerfuland
powerless.
withtheidea of a central
(4) If we oftenfeeluncomfortable
socialmovement,
it is becausewe are stillinfluencedbya long
traditionwhichidentifiessocial movementsand politicalaction, that is, organized action aiming at controllingState
power.This confusionhas been centralin European thought
wherethe labor movementhas oftenbeen consideredsynonbothin Communist
circlesand in socialymouswithsocialism,
democraticStates.Americanintellectual
lifehas provedmore
able to understandthe concept of social movementwhile
Europeansand LatinAmericansfora longtimespokeonlyof
revolutionsor of State-ledreforms.
It is typicalof evolutionistsocial thoughtnot to separate
structureand change, "social" and "historical"movements.
ClassicalsociologydefinedWesternsocietyboth as a system
and as a processof modernization.
Durkheiminsistedmoreon
one aspectand Weberon the other,but Parsonsreachedan
extremepointof identification
of modernity,
as a processof
rationalization
and secularization,
withprinciplesof unityand
of modernWesternsocieties.In the same way,in
integration
Latin America and in other parts of the world today,
sociologicalanalysisis stillidentifiedwiththe studyof the
formation
of a nationalState.
The noveltyof the conceptof social movementas I use it
here is thatit opposes itselfto thistypeof socialthoughtand
emphasizesthe analyticalseparationbetweensocial movementsand transformations
of theState.To putitin traditional

776
SOCIAL RESEARCH
idea of the septerms,it is based on the eighteenth-century

arationbetweencivilsocietyand State.That is whytheidea of
social movementinterpretsverypowerfully
the attemptsof
to
liberate
itself
from
to
use
theexactwords
"society"
"power,"
defineditsactionagainsttheparty-state
in
bywhichSolidarity
Poland.
It would be a mistaketo look todayin our countriesfora
politicalprincipleof unificationof social movements.For
intoa classforitself
Lenin,theclassin itselfwas transformed
a
onlyby revolutionary
avant-gardeparty.The idea of social
movementis clearlyanti-Leninist
and impliesthatthe nature
of a socialmovementcan be definedonlyin termsof cultural
stakesand conflictsbetweensocial,"civil"actors.That obviouslysupposesthatthewholeof civilsocietyis not"mobilized"
or repressedby an absoluteState.
shouldbe distin(5) Three mainkindsof socialmovements
in
Social
a
strict
movements,
sense,
guished.
representconflicting effortsto controlculturalpatterns(knowledge,investmovements
are
ment,ethics)in a givensocietaltype.Historical
organizedactionsto controla processof passage fromone
societaltypeto anotherone. Here actorsare no longerdefinedin purelysocial termsbut firstof all by theirrelationships withthe State,whichis the centralagent of such historicaltransformations.
Nevertheless,historicalmovements,
as I alreadymentioned,are not completelyseparatedfrom
socialmovements
becausetheycombinea classdimensionwith
a nationaland modernizingone, as is visibleboth in Communist movementsand in national-popularregimes. The
cultural
movements.
characterizes
same complexity
They cannot
be reduced to culturalinnovations,which are defined in
purelyculturaltermsas a quarrelbetweenancientsand modof Frenchliterature.
erns,to referto an episodein thehistory
A culturalmovement,on the contrary,is a type of social
of culturalvaluesplays
in whichthetransformation
movement
a centralrole but in whichsocial conflictappears withinthis
of values. A good contemporary
process of transformation

777
definedbya
exampleis thewomen'smovement.It is centrally
of
women's
status
and
image,and
critiqueand transformation
more broadlyby the emergenceof new ethicalvalues,but it
is constantly
divided by a social conflictwhichopposes two
of
women'sprotest:a liberalaction,aiming
ways interpreting
betweenmen
at achievingequalityof rightsand opportunities
and women,and a more radical tendencywhichrejectsan
equalitywhichappears to be imitativeof the dominantmale
of women'sculture,experimodel and assertsthe specificity
whichhas been espeence, and action.This internalconflict,
in
United
States
and
the
visible
France,draws a clear
cially
separationbetweenculturalinnovationand culturalmovement.
New Social Movements?
(1) The mostseriouscritiqueof the notionof social movement,as I use it here, is that it corresponds,like all macrosociological
concepts,to a specifictypeof society.We cannot
withthe conceptsof caste or Standand
our
societies
analyze
less and less of class.In the same way,is not socialmovement
an abstractname for labor movement,a generalizationof a
giventypeof industrialsociety?Some introducea moreposiin our vocabulary"minorities"
tivecritique:let'ssubstitute
for
to a newsociety
socialmovements,
let'sabandonall references
do
and recognizethatin our mass societyprotestmovements
and to getlegitimate
notpretendto becomea majority
power
but definethemselvesas minorities.
They do not pretendto
transform
and tryto
society;theyare liberalor libertarian,
lowerthelevelof socialcontroland integration.
Theyfightfor
a societydefined by its diversity,adding ethnic or moral
pluralismto politicalpluralismand freeenterprise.The most
extremeformof these critiquesassertsthat all models of
collectivelife should be respectedand the only paramount
value is individualism:
the onlypossiblemovementshould be

778
SOCIAL RESEARCH
antisocial,pushingback theinvasionof collectivecontrolsand

destroyingstatusesand roles to freethe indiorganizations,
vidual,his desires,dreams,and imagination.
(2) All thesecritiques,excessiveas theysometimesare, help
us to free ourselvesfromsocial and politicalmodels which
wereinheritedfroma decliningtypeof society.I have already
indicated some deep differencesbetween industrialsocial
movementsand present-day
conflicts.We mustnow deepen
our analysis.
All social movementsin the past were limited,because the
fieldof theiraction- thatis, the capacityof a societyto pro- was limited,even in the most achievementduce itself
the capacityto proorientedsocieties.What I call historicity,
duce an historicalexperiencethroughculturalpatterns,that
of natureand man,was limitedby whatI
is, a new definition
call "metasocialguaranteesof social order." Men thought
includedin a macrocosmwhoselaws
theylivedin a microcosm
social
imposeda definitionof human natureand legitimated
at the same timeas theywere
norms.All social movements,
definingstakesand enemies,were referringto a metasocial
principlewhichwas calledorderof things,divinerule,natural
is one of the
evolution(theidea of modernity
law,or historical
last metasocialprinciples).In our times,we feel thatour caand selfpacity of self-production,self-transformation,
destructionis boundless. Industrialsocietieswere able to
"meansof production"to inventmechanicaldevices
transform
and systems of organization, but our society invents
technologiesto produce symbolicgoods, languages,information. It produces not only means but ends of production,
It is alreadyable to transform
demands,and representations.
our mentallife.The resultis thatthe
our body,our sexuality,
extendsitselfto all aspectsof social
fieldof socialmovements
and cultural life. This conclusionis the opposite of the
structuralMarxistidea accordingto whichsocial life is controlledby a centralagency.The publicspace- ffentlichkeit
limitedin a bourgeoissociety,was extendedto labor
strictly

779
problemsin an industrialsocietyand now spreads over all

fieldsof experience:privatelife becomes public and social
scientistswho announced some yearsago that,aftera long
into privatelife,
period of public life,we were withdrawing
did notsee thatthemainpoliticalproblemstodaydeal directly
with privatelife- fecundationand birth,reproductionand
sexuality,illness and death, and, in a differentway, with
home-consumedmass media.
which makes all
(3) This extraordinarytransformation,
createstwomainobstaclesto
principlesand rulesproblematic,
The firstone is thedisapof socialmovements.
theformation
pearanceof metasociallimitswhichprovidedcollectiveaction
witha principleof unitywhichwas bothnegativeand positive.
Marcuseand othersraisedthequestion:whengods are dead,
when guiltand redemptionlose theirmeaning,whatcan we
or hedonism?The Westernexperioppose to utilitarianism
ence can be consideredas a shortand dramaticperiod of
which correspondsto the ecosecularization,
Entzauberung,
nomictakeoffbut rapidlyends up in a utilitarianconsumer
society.Big Brotheris not a dangerous enemy for social
movementsin democraticsocieties;egotismis. But here is
enterthescene.
exactlythepointwherenewsocialmovements
Past social movementswere linked to metasocialprinciples,
but theyopposed themselvesto the dominationof tradition
and naturalprinciples;new social movementsare threatened
but theydefend the self and its creativity
by utilitarianism,
interest
and
against
pleasure. Dominationcan no longerbe
challengedby a call to metasocialprinciples;onlya directcall
to personaland collective
freedomand responsibility
can foster
protestmovements.In a parallelway,rulinggroups are no
ethicor its equivalent;only
longermotivatedby a Protestant
self-realization
and creativity
can motivatethemas entrepreneurs.Social movements
are no longerspurredbytheimages
ofan idealsocietybutbythesearchofcreativity.
The utilitarian
traditionis the main limitand obstacleto social movements
todayas religionwas in more traditionalcultures.

780
SOCIAL RESEARCH
(4) New social movementsare less sociopoliticaland more

sociocultural.The distancebetweencivilsocietyand State is
whilethe separationbetweenprivateand publiclife
increasing
is fadingaway.The continuity
fromsocialmovementto political partyis disappearing;politicallifetendsto be a depressed
area betweena strongerState in a changinginternational
movements.
environment
and, on theotherside,sociocultural
absorbed
The main riskis no longerto see socialmovements
by politicalparties,as in Communistregimes,but a complete
separationbetweensocial movementsand State. In such a
situation,social movementscan easily become segmented,
transform
themselves
intodefenseof minorities
or searchfor
while
dominated
life
becomes
identity,
public
by pro-or antiStatemovements.
That is whatis happeningtoday,especially
in Germanyand the UnitedStates,withpeace movements.
It
is possiblethatthroughsuch "historical"
new somovements,
cial movementswill eventuallyachieve a high capacityof
to a Green
politicalaction,progressingfromBrgeriniziativen
newformsof politicallife;buta different
partyand inventing
of an anti-State
evolutionis equallypossible:the crystallization
more
from
socioculmore
and
distinct
scattered
movement,
turalmovements.
This situationcorrespondsto thebeginning
and
of manyindustrialsocietieswhen anarchist,communist,
ChristiangroupswerechallengingStateand churchwhile,far
and riotsexpresseda
fromthem,weakunions,wildcatstrikes,
confusedmixtureof workers'grievancesand of decline of
craftsand cities.
preindustrial
to takeshape
(5) The mainconditionforsocialmovements
is the consciousnessthatwe are enteringa new typeof social
life.Duringthe sixtiesand earlyseventies,thecrisisof industrialvaluesprevailedover the notionof postindustrial
society.
wereso closelylinkedwiththe
The firstnewsocialmovements
that theycollapsed when risingexpectations
counterculture
were replacedby shrinkingprospects.Thus, duringthe late
seventiesand even,in Europe,theearlyeighties,our historical
experiencehas been dominatedbythe idea of crisis.Individ-

781
ual and nationallifeseemed to be determinedby unforeseeable events,like changes in the dollar or the price of oil,
or Sovietmilitary
pressure.I criticized,
Japanesecompetition
as earlyas in 1969, the notionof postindustrial
society,as it
had been conceivedby D. Bell, thatis, as a hyperindustrial
society.Fifteenyearslater,aftera shortperiodof enthusiasm
for the "thirdwave," few observers,especiallyin business
revolution.A
circles,are ready to speak of a postindustrial
new industrialrevolutionor a new leap forwardin industrial
seemsto be a moreadequate expression.Ameriproductivity
cans in generalhave been verycautiousin theirjudgments,
countrieslikeJapan and Franceare
whilemorevoluntaristic
still speakingof an electronicrevolution,in the firstcase
withtheprideof a Japanmade number
becauseitis identified
in
Frenchgovernment
the
second
because
one,
agenciesare
filledwithanguishas theyconsidertheadvanceof theUnited
industries.
Statesand Japan in manyhigh-tech
Postindustrial
societymustbe definedin a moreglobaland
radicalwaytoday,as a new cultureand a fieldfornew social
A broad occupationaldefinitionof
conflictsand movements.
is
information
an
society misleadingand cannotjustifythe
idea thata different
societyis takingshape. On the contrary,
by the
societymust be defined more strictly
postindustrial
technologicalproductionof symbolicgoods whichshape or
of human nature and of the
transform
our representation
externalworld.For thesereasons,researchand development,
informationprocessing,biomedicaiscience and techniques,
and mass media are the fourmaincomponentsof postindusor productionof felecwhilebureaucratic
trialsociety,
activities
tricaland electronicequipmentare just growingsectorsof an
industrialsocietydefinedby productionof goods more than
and thecreationof artifibynewchannelsof communications
cial languages.
Only the organizationof new social movementsand the
of different
culturalvaluescanjustifytheidea of
development
a new societythatI preferto call a programmed
morethanjust

782
SOCIAL
RESEARCH
a postindustrialsociety. The comparison with the historyof

industrialsocietyis once more useful: in the Western World,
crises of old values and new economic challenges come first
before new social actors and conflictstake shape; new formsof
political life and new ideologies appear even later. This is a
practical reason why sociology today must give a central importance to the concept of social movement- not only to separate itselffrom an old definitionof its object as the studyof
society,which should be replaced by the studyof social action,
but, more concretely,because the constructionof a new image
of social life requires, right now, the concept of social movement as a bridge between the observationof new technologies
and the idea of new formsof politicallife. This concept could
not play a centralrole in previous formsof social thought;for
the first time, it can become the keystone of sociological
analysis.
(6) The danger here is to be lured by voluntaristicassumptions. The concept of social movementis useful when it helps
one to rediscover social actors where they have been buried
beneath either structural Marxist or rationalist theories of
strategiesand decisions. During the seventies,the "dominant
ideology" was that ethnic minorities, like all dominated
groups, school students,hospitalinmates,and othershad to be
defined by the exclusion, labeling, and stigmatizationthey
suffered,in other words, as victims.Only an analysisbased on
the idea of social movement can challenge directlyand efficientlysuch a view and help rediscover that these alienated
and excluded categories are neverthelessactors and are often
more able than the "silent majority"to analyze theirsituation,
define projects, and organize conflictswhich can transform
themselves into an active social movement. In the same
way, how many Jews today would accept to be defined without any referenceto Jewishculture or to Israel? A similaruse
of the concept "social movement"can aid in the criticismof an
image of the school systemwhich emphasizes the impact of

783
social inequalityon academicresultsand futureoccupational

Instead of consideringteachersand pupils as
achievements.
determinedby social and culturalinequalitiesbeyond their
reach, the emphasismust be put on the autonomyof the
on itscapacityto increaseor decreaseinequality
schoolsystem,
of opportunities,
so thateducationcan be conceivedas a field
of debatesand projectswhichcan probablynotbe interpreted
as directsocialmovements
but,in a morelimitedand indirect
of a tensionbetweeneducationas soway,as manifestations
cializationand as "individuation,"
oppositionwhichexpressesa
moregeneralconflict.In situationswhichare generallyinteror exclusion,of conformity
pretedin termsof participation
and deviance,the idea of social movementintroducesa differentapproach because it triesto evaluate the capacityof
intoactorsof their
themselves
variouscategoriesto transform
own situationand of its transformation.
But we should distrusttoo simpleimages of social movementsas "consciousand organized"actions.Especiallyin our
times:today,as at thebeginningof the IndustrialRevolution,
itis easierto describemasses,"dangerousclasses,"riots,or the
whichare not
of a newelitethansocialmovements
formation
are
and politicalconflicts
yetorganized.Culturalorientations
more visiblethan social problems,and these are too easily
and exclusion.It took some
analyzedin termof marginality
timein the nineteenthcenturyto discoverthe "politicalcapacityof the laboringclasses"; we are only approachingan
analogousstage of evolutionof the new social movements.
Let's considerthreemore examplesof the complexnature
use of
The actionsagainsttheindustrial
of newsocialconflicts.
nuclearenergyhave revealeda new kind of protest,against
decisionmakerswhohave thepowerto shape nationallifefor
a longperiodof timein a "technocratic"
way.This actiontries
But
the same time,they
at
to fostera grass-roots
democracy.
counterculare orientedby a defensiveand communitarian
tureoftenloaded withirrationalism.
This dualitycan be com-

784
SOCIAL
RESEARCH
pared with the firststages of the labor movement when anticapitalist protest was mixed with the defense of semiindependent craftsmendisplaced by industry.
The women's movement,beyond its equalitarian goals, has
destroyed traditionalimages of the "femininenature," but it
has often been linked with an ideology which was inherited
from the labor movement and which imposed upon it
categoriesof analysisand protestwhich did not correspond to
the motivationsof militantwomen.
In a more general way, from the seventiesuntil today, the
displacement of protest from the economic to the cultural
field has been linked withan opposite tendency,the privatization of social problems, an anxious search for identityand a
new interest for the body, demands which can lead to the
definitionof new social norms or, in an opposite way, to an
individualism which excludes collective action. It takes few
pages to define and defend the concept of social movement,
but it should take many years for sociologiststo disentangle
various components of complex social and cultural actions,
and to identifythe presence of social movementsin collective
behavior which has many more components.
Conclusion
The factthat many sociologistsare now interestedin "social
movements,"even if this notion is too often used in a loose
sense, reveals the end of a long period of sociological thought
during which the concept of social system played a central
role. This classical sociology is now challenged on one side by
utilitarianswho try to discover economic rationalitybehind
collective action and by analysts of strategies and "limited
rationality"who are interestedin processes of change which
respond to transformationsof the environment; and on the
otherside, not only by neocommunitariansocial thinkerswho
oppose the specificityof each civilizationto a foreign-leddevelopmentbut firstof all by sociologistswho refuse to separate

785
culturalorientations
fromsocial conflicts,
and who give,as I
do myself,a basic role to the notion of social movement,
definedas an agent of conflictfor the social controlof the
main culturalpatterns.These two divergentstreamsof cribut, withthe
tiques attacknot only optimisticfunctionalism
same strength,
structural
Marxism.Then the conpessimistic
I
social
it here, is part of the
of
as
used
movement,
cept
general debate whichopposes the main sociologicalschools
and whichcan be summedup by the schemain Figure 2.
If we acceptthateconomicrationalismand defenseof culforoppositereasons,driftout of thefieldof
turalspecificities,
sociology,whichis generallydefinedas the studyof social
- thatis, as the explanationof individualand collecrelations
tivebehaviorby the social relationsin whichthe actorsare
- the main debates in sociologycan be definedin
involved
moreconcentrated
terms.Each mainsociologicalschoolcan be
defined by its emphasison one of two main approaches:
on one side,itputstheemphasismoreon theactorsor,on the
on thesystem,
and, on theotherside,it insistsmore
contrary,
on socialintegration
These twochoices
or on social conflicts.
theircombinations
are by no meansparallel;on the contrary,
definethe main choicesfor sociologists.
A firstschoolgivesa priority
to the unityof the system;its
main conceptis socialsystem.
A second insistson the internal
conflictof a system;structural
Marxismis its mostinfluential
expressiontoday,but it can be more broadlydefinedby the
centralroleitgivesto inequality.A thirdschoolgivesa central
importanceto the managementof change. The conceptsof
Figure 2.
System
Actor
Integration
Social system
( functionalism )
Strategy
( neo-rat ionalism )
Conflict
inequality
(structuro-marxism)
Social movement
(Sociology of action)

SOCIAL RESEARCH
786
and decisionhave generallycorrespondedto this

organization
which
is best definedtodayby the centralrole it
orientation,
The lastone emphasizesat the
givesto the studyof strategies.
same timeactorsand conflicts;its viewof social lifeis orgaIt should
nized around the concept of social movement.
be added thatthesegeneralapproachescan be used directly
or at a less global level. For example, the idea of social
movement can be replaced by an analysis of political
- as it is the case in manyof Tilly'sworks
- or even
pressures
of public opinion transformations.
The factthat an author
locateshimselfat a societal,political,or organizationallevel
shouldnot be confusedwithhis generalorientation.
I have triedin this paper to make clear how a sociology
can
whichis organizedaroundtheconceptof socialmovement
both recognizethe relativeautonomyof other schools and
criticizethem.But,as a conclusion,it is moreusefulto recogof the fourmainorientations
nize the existenceand strength
of sociologyand maybeto suggestthattodaythe centraldebate opposes the conceptsof strategyand social movements
while twentyyears ago the hottestdiscussionsopposed the
of
ideas of social systemand inequality.This transformation
thedebatesshowsthatsociologyas a wholehas movedfroma
studyof social systemand its principleof integrationto an
analysisof social actionand social change.This fundamental
transformation
produces deep intellectualcrises. We are
aboutwhatis themost
probablystillin a periodof uncertainty
creative paradigm in sociologicalthought,and some are
model but
temptedto abandon not onlythe old functionalist
ideas
thewholeof sociologyitself,bycallingin nonsociological
or Volksgeist
like Homo oeconomicus
(Figure 3).
Figure 3.
Analysis of organizations,
Economic
,
^
Rationalism
."
^s*
*^
Decisions
and strategies
Study of j Defense of
systems I cultural
action I 'and
f
y^
flnational
and
' yS
social mo-lspecif ici ty
Structuro-marxism vements
Functionalist?)

787
The conceptof socialmovementis all themorenecessaryto

the extentto whichit facilitatesthe transcendenceof the
presentweaknessand confusionof sociologyby offeringa
directcritiqueof themodelof analysiswhichis in crisisand by
introducinga new generalapproach,new debates,and new
fieldsof concreteresearch.The worstpossiblemistakewould
be to considersocial movementsas the object of one more
would
chapterin bookswhosegeneraldesignand orientations
notbe changed,as if it wereusefulin certainperiodsto insist
and
on crises and conflictsand, in others,on institutions
socialization.
The maturity
of a fieldof knowledgecan be measuredbyits
to
ability organizeitsworksand discussionsabouta fewcentral
problems.Today, the central problem of sociology,in a
rapidlychangingworld,is to understandthe productionand
controlof change, and its centraldebate must oppose the
conceptsof strategyand social movements.These concepts
approaches,but it is
representto some extentcomplementary
school
to trybuildingcomfor
of
each
students
indispensable
petitivegeneraltheories.Only the debatebetweentheseconflictingimages of social life can give back to sociologythe
it seems to have lost.
vitality


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An Introduction to the Study of Social Movements

Author(s): ALAIN TOURAINE

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indispensableto compare one's own categorieswith other

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THE STUDY OF SOCIAL MOVEMENTS

to takecontrolof. Such an elementary

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defined by their positions on a hierarchical scale, and the

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THE STUDY OF SOCIAL MOVEMENTS

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(4) In the same way,as the defenseof an identityis the

of interest,the defenseof a statusor privilegesis the negative

equivalentof a politicalpressure.P. Schmitter,

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THE STUDY OF SOCIAL MOVEMENTS

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THE STUDY OF SOCIAL MOVEMENTS

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industrialization.State and nation are the only actors which

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THE STUDY OF SOCIAL MOVEMENTS

nitionof the leftistintellectual,

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To make myhypothesisquite clear,I willuse the concept

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THE STUDY OF SOCIAL MOVEMENTS

belongto the same universe;theyexpressthe centralconflict

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demands, to basic rightsof workers,or, on the other side, to

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THE STUDY OF SOCIAL MOVEMENTS

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are not just national; on the contrary,they are similarto

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THE STUDY OF SOCIAL MOVEMENTS

The main meaningof thisreconstruction

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THE STUDY OF SOCIAL MOVEMENTS

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withWesterncountrieswhichidentifiedthemselveswithrationalitywhile they were torturingin Algiersor dropping

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THE STUDY OF SOCIAL MOVEMENTS

withconceptslike decisionand strategy.It recognizesas a

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THE STUDY OF SOCIAL MOVEMENTS

Insteadof analyzinga form

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lems and historicaltransformationsinto one central category,

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THE STUDY OF SOCIAL MOVEMENTS

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THE STUDY OF SOCIAL MOVEMENTS

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idea of the septerms,it is based on the eighteenth-century

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THE STUDY OF SOCIAL MOVEMENTS