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

SOCIAL MOVEMENTS
When spiders unite,
they can tie down a lion.
- African proverb
A core component of sociology is how and why people work together in groups and
organizations, specifically within social movements. If collective behavior is viewed as
the random and unintentional result of people interacting together, social movements are
the result of deliberate and intentional interactions. Even though anarchism has long been
identified as a movement (although to some a dead one), it is rarely written about as such.
Jeff Shantz (2003) writes:
Conventional analyses of social movements continue to
overlook the emergence of unconventional manifestations
of resistance... Analyses have been constrained by a rather
myopic preoccupation either with organizational structures
and resources which allow for access to the state or with
civil actions (including civil disobedience) by which
activists might register dissent or popularize claims... Left
out of conventional theorizing are movements which want
no part of world order, new or otherwise, which they view
as authoritarian, hierarchical, and inevitably genocidal (or
“eco-cidal”). (p. 90)
Anarchism has been given a decent treatment in the field of history. But, to leave
anarchism within the academy's History Departments misleads one to think that
anarchism is merely a historical relic. In doing so, the vast leaps in theory and practice
that have been made by successive waves of the anarchist movement are overlooked.
I think the most appropriate and useful (although perhaps not as entertaining) way in
which to study anarchism is via sociology's sub-discipline of “social movement” theory.
Some of the more well-known texts on social movements have commented on anarchism.
Critiques of Social Movement Theorists
[List texts here. Then respond to their handling of anarchism.]
“Frontiers in Social Movement Theory”, ed. By Aldon D. Morris & Carol McClurg
Mueller. No index mention.
“Power in Movement: Social Movements and Contentious Politics”, Sidney Tarrow. Five
total pages of reference in index. Tarrow closes one small section “The Anarchist
[ Williams 41 ] [ this is a draft. do not cite. ]