Sociology of the Anarchists - Gozips.uakron.edu - The University of ...

The increased focus upon anarchism may be attributed to, in part, the recent boom,
especially in the West, to punk music subculture 5 and the proliferation of the Internet.
Politically, recent anarchist organizing internationally may be explained by the decline
and subsequent failure of the authoritarian socialist states of the USSR and Eastern
Europe. Since they represent a failed attempt to oppose capitalism, anarchism has once
again risen to fill the void on the radical, anti-capitalist Left.
Although frequently overlooked in the academy, anarchism has been of sharp focus by the
western media for a number of years now (again). Since the late 1990s, and especially
after the anti-WTO meetings in Seattle, anarchists have been a fashionable target for
media speculation and exaggeration. Reporters and popular writers have mused about
anarchism, usually looking for a sensationalist hook for a story. The New York Times
referred to anarchism—perhaps with dismay—as “the creed that won't stay dead” (Kahn
2000). Newsweek showed its surprise: “Anarchists... where did they come from?”
(12/13/99, p. 4) Of course, most of this news coverage treats anarchism as merely another
spectacle in our crazy society, and usually divorces anarchists from their politics. Also
curious is the frequent usage of the phrase “self-styled” to describe anarchists, as if socalled
anarchists are just “pretending” to be anarchists—sort of how maybe Democrats
pretend to be Democrats or how baseball players are just pretending to be baseball
players. Funny how we never hear of “self-styled Democrats” or “self-styled baseball
players”!! [Do a Lexis-Nexis search on this phrase to show if it is being used more
often now.] This is apparently another attempt to convince the public that anarchists are
merely confused and ill-informed trouble-makers.
Anarchism fits into sociological theory in the following two ways: 1) it offers a critique
of the problems in contemporary society and 2) it offers a vision of a better society and
ideas on how to move towards it. Thus, anarchism is neither only an “anti” movement
against society, nor is it an arrogantly Utopian fantasy disconnected from reality. Rather,
it offers both critique and proposal on society and its issues. Sociology (particularly an
activist sociology) would benefit, I think, from considering these two perspectives.
Anarchist scholarship in the social sciences is typically conducted in non-sociology fields,
such as History or Political Science. In these disciplines, the emphasis is on the past
movements and figures of anarchism or the actions of non-state political actors (or worse,
the process of political chaos). 6 It also has relevancy within economics as a nonmarket/capitalist
version of goods/exchange. Anthropologically, it is akin to sociobiology
and the development of human societies in a pre-state period.
After a strenuous overview of the various traditions within sociology, one is almost
drawn to a post-modernist analysis of the inter-plays with anarchism. All four of the
traditions studied below (conflict, utilitarian, functionalism, and symbolic interaction)
5 For an article critical of the union between anarchism and punk, see Nomous (2001?); and a view that
praises the connection (O'Hara 1999). Anarcho-punk bands include: Against Me!, Aus-Rotten,
Chumbawumba, Citizen Fish, Conflict, Crass, The Ex, Nausea, No Use for a Name, Oi Polloi, Poison
Girls, Propagandhi, Reagan Youth, The Refused, The Subhumans, etc. (Source:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anarcho-punk )
6 Please see the chapter Academia's Anarchistic “Wannabes” for more about how Political Science
[predictably] gets it wrong 99 percent of the time.
[ Williams 11 ] [ this is a draft. do not cite. ]