Social-movement unionism in theory and in Sweden

Many union leaders and observers of unionism in industrially advanced countries have recently argued for stronger links between unions and social movements but their arguments leave the nature of social movements underspecified. This article reviews the literature on social movements and argues in favour of a minimalist theory of the social actor rather than choose between American and European approaches to studying social movements. Both Melucci's European approach and McAdam, Tarrow, and Tilly's American approach to integrating the European and American schools of thought on social movements are inadequate to the task of specifying social-movement unionism. Hindess's minimalist theory of the social actor and articulated arenas of conflict offers a stronger approach to understanding social-movement unionism and appreciating its strategic pertinence in particular times and places. Two episodes of contention in Sweden illustrate the advantages of a minimalist theory of articulated social-movement unionism.

Social movement unionism and networked technology

From a European perspective, the wide-ranging social, economic, and political effects of networked computers have generated tensions between 'new' social movements and the 'old' labour movement. From an American perspective on social movements, there is no such tension between old and new social movements. A study of social-movement unionism in Sweden offers a interesting means of testing this emerging American perspective against the European perspective because the labour movement has long been particularly effective and networked technology has been embraced whole-heartedly throughout all aspects of the society, the economy, and the polity. The paper introduces the contrasting European and American perspectives on social movements and presents examples of the practice of social-movement unionism among Swedish social democrats, unionists, and diverse local activists. These examples support conclusions that eschew utopian theories of 'cyberunionism' in favour of developing a theory of articulated unionism in which local unions branches articulate vertically with national and global union bodies, and articulate horizontally with social movements in other arenas of conflict.

Hope of a nation - experiences of social exclusion giving rise to spaces of inclusion for people living with HIV and AIDs in South Africa : a reflection

South Africa has one of the highest rates of HIV/AIDS in the world. No one particular group is affected by the virus – rather, it is indiscriminate. Responses to HIV are diverse, and can be starkly contradictory. This author lived among the Xhosa people in rural Eastern Cape, working in community development. The program was a population-based youth empowerment program around HIV prevention. The work involved engaging youth in a range of civic participation activities, and networking with other community based groups and organisations, health and social services, and government departments. This reflection out a narrative of the lived experiences of social exclusion and social connectedness for people living with HIV/AIDS in rural Eastern Cape. It draws out the paradox of how the high prevalence of stigma and discrimination towards those with the illness, and their subsequent experience of social exclusion, actually creates opportunities for social connectedness through support group participation. This in turn is fashioning an emerging social movement breaking down barriers of stigma, and contributing to broader social change to support HIV action.

The reflection begins by outlining the current context and underlying determinants of the proliferation of HIV in the Eastern Cape, including a discussion of exclusion as a determinant. An exploration of how exclusion is also experienced as an outcome of positive HIV status follows. Finally, an explanation of how the experience of exclusion can be transformed into spaces of connectedness, and implications for health promotion practice in this context is also presented.

Reflections on being a first generation self-advocate: belonging, social connections, and doing things that matter

Background Despite good policy intentions, people with intellectual disability continue to be socially excluded. Social geographers suggest the potential of self-authored spaces as catalysts for social inclusion. One such space, self-advocacy, is commonly perceived as part of a political movement for social change rather than a vehicle for social inclusion of its members. This paper investigated what involvement in self-advocacy has meant to long-term members of a self-advocacy group in Victoria, Australia. Methods In-depth interviews were conducted with 12 self-advocates about their reflections on involvement in the group. These data together with the commentary of 5 self-advocates during interviews with 18 self-advocacy supporters about their recollections of involvement in the group were transcribed and analysed thematically. Findings Through their involvement in self-advocacy, members of the group had gained a sense of belonging, social connections, and purposeful occupation, which included paid project work, lobbying, and organisational leadership and management. Conclusions This study suggests that self-advocacy groups can be places that foster social inclusion, potentially offering “membership” of an exclusive group, a wider social movement and of mainstream society.

Sewing society? Stitch’nbitch, cyberfeminism & the new materiality (or why cybergrrrls do plain and purls)

A social movement known as Stitch’nBitch has emerged around the globe. This movement, mainly of women, is based in local, third places, such as hotels and clubs, and virtually. Using the Internet, particularly Blogs, the women meet to knit, stitch and talk. These groups use technology as an enabler and resource exchange. In this presentation, we suggest that such groups may be a response to consumerism in the Information Society, which has resulted in profound changes in the way people live, communicate and connect with one another and which has also provided a trigger for new, more community-focused activities using craft production, rather than consumption, as a vehicle. Craft production, or ‘make it yourself’ is consistent with concepts of voluntary simplicity (Etzioni, 1998) and non-materialistic satisfactions (Shaw and Newholm, 2002). We introduce five themes to assist in the development of a research agenda into this new form of material culture, discussing (1) remedial, (2) progressive, (3) resistance, (4) nostalgic, and (5) ironic possibilities.

Evidence for healthy cities : reflections on practice, method and theory

The European Healthy Cities project can be characterized as a social movement that employs an extremely wide range of political, social and behavioural interventions for the development and sustenance of urban population health. At all of these levels, the movement is inspired by ideological, theoretical and evidence-based perspectives. The result of this stance is a dynamic, complex and diverse landscape of initiatives, plans, programmes and actions. In quantitative terms (the number of WHO designated cities and associated cities and communities through national networks), ‘Healthy Cities’ can be regarded as an extraordinary accomplishment and a credit for both WHO and cities in the movement. In qualitative terms, however, critics of the movement have maintained that little evidence on its success and effectiveness has been generated. This critique finds its foundations in the mere perceptions of evidence, the politics of science and urban governance, and perspectives on the preferred or professed utilities of evidence-based health notions. The article reviews the nature of evidence and its interface with politics and governance. Applying a conceptual framework combining insights from knowledge utilization theory, theoretical perspectives on (health) policy development, theory-based evaluations and planned intervention approaches, it demonstrates that, although the evidence is overwhelming, there are barriers to the implementation of such evidence that should be further addressed by ‘Healthy Cities’.

Spirituality in the work of Theodore Roszak : implications for contemporary ecopsychology

Despite the recent flourishing of ecopsychology research, risks may be involved if ecopsychology remains a loosely defined paradigm. We suggest that drawing from some of the central themes of Theodore Roszak’s The Voice of the Earth (1992), a seminal text of ecopsychology, may help to elucidate the unique contribution of ecopsychology and its sustained relevance for environmentally focused psychologies. To provide a comprehensive review, we consider The Voice of the Earth by placing this text in the context of Roszak’s broader body of literature, discussing his earlier and more recent works. We particularly focus on the theme of spiritual experience throughout Roszak’s literature, as we believe that this is one of the more unique and important aspects of his work that has implications for the future development of ecopsychology as a paradigm and social movement. In conclusion, we suggest that Roszak’s emphasis on the value of a spiritual or animistic experience of nature, as a means of fostering empathy toward the natural world, may assist in providing meaningful focus to contemporary ecopsychology.

A critical pedagogy of embodied education : learning to become an activist

Unlike any current publication on social purpose education, this book explores the differences and similarities between two groups of activists: lifelong activists who have been engaged in campaigns and socials movements over many years and circumstantial activists, those protestors who come to activism due to a series of life circumstances. Using empirical research conducted in Australia, Tracey Ollis outlines the pedagogy of activism and the process of learning to become an activist.

Sakyadhita International: gender equity in ultramodern Buddhism

The nexus between religion and violence has been widely debated in the public sphere at the turn of the twenty-first century. Much of these discourses have centered on direct violence, and on terrorism in particular. Yet, structural violence also remains endemic within many religious traditions, including Buddhism. Buddhist women, and men, continue to challenge these gender inequalities in various ways, notably Sakyadita, the International Association of Buddhist Women founded in 1987, is committed to improving conditions for Buddhist women worldwide. This article investigates how Sakyadhita is promoting gender equity in global Buddhism. It explores Sakyadhita’s origin, and focuses on the 13th Sakyadhita Conference, to examine the role of religious social movements in advancing gender parity. It also proposes an innovative ultramodern Buddhism framework for understanding contemporary global Buddhism, building on existing Buddhist studies, critical feminist and sociological theories. While focused on a Buddhist women’s social movement, this article provides new knowledge that may assist diverse religious communities in addressing gender disparities both locally and internationally.

Adult education and radical habitus in an environmental campaign: learning in the coal seam gas protests in Australia

Summary: This paper examines the adult learning dimensions of protestors as they participate in a campaign to stop coal seam gas exploration in Gippsland in Central Victoria, Australia. On a global level, the imposition of coal seam gas exploration by governments and mining companies has been the trigger for movements of resistance from environmental groups. They are concerned about the impact of mining on their land, food and water supplies. In central Gippsland a group of ‘circumstantial activists’ comprised of farmers, tree changers and other local residents are campaigning against coal seam gas exploration. This unlikely coalition of environmental action groups has made effective use of a variety of community education strategies. This paper commences by outlining some of the key literature on learning and activism drawing on the education tradition of adult learning. We then draw on key concepts from Bourdieu’s writing on ‘habitus’ and ‘field’ to analyse the data from this research. We outline some of the learning practices of activists; through their involvement in this campaign, and the knowledge and skills they gain as they develop a feel for the game of protest. We argue circumstantial activists learn both formally and informally in the social environment of campaigning. Of particular interest is the role of more experienced activists from Friends of the Earth (FOE), a non-government organisation (NGO), as they pass on knowledge, experience, tactics and strategies to the novice and less experienced activists in this community campaign. We explore some of the contradictions of the protestors’ identification as activists using Bourdieu’s concepts of ‘doxa’ and ‘Ilusio’. The paper concludes by arguing learning in activism is a rich tradition of adult education and practice. However, Bourdieu’s writing on field and habitus makes an added contribution to interpreting the learning that occurs in the social space of a campaign or social movement.

Neojihadist visual politics: comparing YouTube videos of North Caucasus and Uyghur militants

YouTube videos offer a rare opportunity to gain an insight into the sequestered world of neojihadism. This study examines and compares the lines of the visual narrative associated with two Asian insurgencies that help to form the global Islamic social movement: the insurgency in Chechnya (North Caucasus) and that in Xinjiang (China). The purpose of the article is to describe the narratives used by the Islamic militants addressing the conflict and to identify similarities and differences in the use of visual rhetorical techniques by neojihadist groups to propagate their worldview. The study of the visual narratives promoted in the videos will help to provide a better understanding of the impact of the neojihadist narratives on the creation of collective identities. Our findings suggest that these narratives have similar features, which can be identified in a set of sub-narratives. Within the common pattern, however, significant differences can be found, especially in the interpretation of the videos by the audiences.

Rethinking grassroots campaigners in the digital media: The ‘grassroots orchestra’ in Italy

The diffusion of digital media allows the emergence of new types of relations between grassroots campaigners and organisers. This article presents the results of a comparative qualitative study of two Italian cases of grassroots online participation: a local electoral campaign and a single-issue social movement. The first case is ‘Tell your Milano’, a project that took place during the electoral campaign for Mayor of Milan in the spring of 2011. The second case is the ‘Purple People’ (Popolo Viola), an Italian social movement started in 2009 to demand the resignation of the Prime Minister, Silvio Berlusconi. The article introduces the concept of a ‘grassroots orchestra’: a grassroots campaign aimed at a short-term objective, coordinated by a non-grassroots political actor and performed by a community sharing a uniform and coherent context.

Gender and the Cybersangha: Buddhist women's online activism and practice

The experiences of Buddhist women across the world today are widely diverse, reflecting their geographical and social location, the type of Buddhism practiced, whether they are lay or ordained, as well as their individual personalities. However, the perception that there is also a shared experience for women who practice Buddhism that is partly defined by a sense of "unequal opportunity" has given rise to a number of organizations and networks particularly since the late 1980s that aim to link this eclectic group of female Buddhist practitioners and activists. Buddhist scholars, nuns and practitioners have been at the forefront of global Buddhist organizations, challenging gender disparities and striving for equality for women in all Buddhist traditions. In recent years, more of this Buddhist women's social movement activity has been conducted digitally through websites, Facebook pages and Twitter accounts. Some organizations, such as Sakyadhita ("Daughters of the Buddha"), which was founded in 1987 before the Internet explosion, have an online presence to complement their offline activities. Others, such as the Alliance for Bhikkhunis and the Yogini Project, have been formed more recently and their web presence is fundamental, with core activities that are web-reliant, including online fundraising and the sharing of digital material. In addition to organizations that are specifically orientated towards women, Buddhist women globally make use of a wider range of web-based opportunities to network with other Buddhists as well as to learn about Buddhist traditions and practices.