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

them, apply to anarchism in the Social Movements section. Read, also, a good
primer on main social movements and SMO concepts. Is there a good intro text on
these? Does UA offer a class on this, ever? How about KSU?]
● resource mobilization
● collective action
● frames
● collective identity
● collective action frames
● communities of challengers
● conflict movements
● cycles of protest
● malintegration theory
● master frames
● mobilization
● mobilizing technologies
● social movement organizations
● connective structures
● contention
● networks
● opportunities
● organization
● association
From “Methods of Social Movement Research”: “Original chapters cover the range of
techniques: surveys, formal models, discourse analysis, in-depth interviews, participant
observation, case studies, network analysis, historical methods, protest event analysis,
macro-organizational analysis, and comparative politics. Each chapter includes a
methodological discussion, examples of studies employing the method, an examination of
its strengths and weaknesses, and practical guidelines for its application.”
Can the “anarchist movement” be considered a movement as such? According to the
prevailing definitions of social movement theory, do anarchist qualify?
[List various prominent definitions of “movements”]
Outside of the “anarchist movement”, there are many anarchists who are not active in an
explicitly anarchist activities. This, of course, illustrates the fact that there can be two
kinds of organizations that anarchists participate in: explicitly anarchist organizations and
non-anarchist organizations. The question may be asked: Are anarchists not involved in
explicitly anarchist organizations part of an anarchist movement?
I would assert “yes”, and for the following reason. (Forgive me as I take a moment to
build my argument.) Since anarchism is perhaps one of the most flexible terms existing in
political discourse—including its usage by anarchists themselves—an amorphous
movement is formed that seems to violate conventional definitions of movements. As
[ Williams 44 ] [ this is a draft. do not cite. ]