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

Chomsky quotes Octave Mirbeau: “anarchism has a broad back, like paper it endures
anything” (Chomsky, date, p). This flexibility, bleeds into action. Thus, active anarchists
can be a part of an anarchist “movement” without actual participation in anarchist
organizations. By applying their anarchist convictions, they are essentially being active
participants in a movement that seeks the dispersion of liberation and freedom. This is
especially true when viewing anarchism from the “yardstick model” (see Appendix). The
yardstick model frames anarchism as a reference point to be applied to all situations and
conditions, not as a pre-determined holy writ.
Inside anarchist circles, however, there is disagreement amongst themselves whether or
not they are a “movement”. [List examples and references] Thus, most contention
around the “movement” issue revolves around the raw number of anarchists, the idea of
“critical mass”, and the effectiveness of anarchist tactics and campaigns. The reader is left
to make up their own mind on these questions.
Reflect on Vasi, et al. (2003) re: the “mobilizer's dilemma”
Present academics—particularly historians—will occasionally study anarchists, yet the
vast majority are long dead and gone. They study Peter Kropotkin not Noam Chomsky 36 ,
Emma Goldman not Starhawk, Joseph Labadie not Murray Bookchin, or Alexander
Berkman not Jaggi Singh. Anarchists scholars primarily outside of the academy are the
only ones who make a studious effort to better understand the roots of what historian
Howard Zinn (1997) calls “surely one of the most important political philosophies of
modern times” (p. 644). George Woodcock was one of these scholars. Since Woodcock's
death in 1995, the academic mantle of Anglo-anarchist historical studies has been handed
off to Paul Avrich. But what of the non-historical realm of anarchist study?
What follows is an attempt to integrate North American anarchism as a social movement
into the existing framework of sociology research and theory. The North American strain
differs from others around the world. Still, there are many incredible examples of non-
North American/Western European anarchism, including Fernandez (2001), Mbah and
Igariwey (1997), and Adams (year?). Klein (2000a) observes that the majority of young
Czech and Eastern European activists battling global capitalism, are disgusted with both
state “socialism” and Western capitalism, thus compelling them to identify as anarchists.
Even though deceased anarchists and past anarchist organizations will be used as
examples, primary focus will rest upon the present-day anarchist movement essentially
invisible to contemporary sociologists.
Using David Aberle's 1966 pivotal classification of social movements, anarchism falls
clearly in the “transformative movement” category. The other three categories social
movements according to Aberle are reformative, redemptive, and alternative. Aberle
1966. (or “resistance/regressive movements”? -- in Kendall 1999) Tilly describes
36 Noam Chomsky refers to Peter Kropotkin as the (unrecognized) founder of “sociobiology”. Chomsky,
himself probably the most influential living anarchist, has heralded Kropotkin's notion of “mutual aid”.
[ Williams 45 ] [ this is a draft. do not cite. ]