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

More documents

Recommendations

Info

5. Leadership/regular communication. Of course, the issue of “leadership” is very dicey for anarchists, which perhaps might indicate why the anarchist movement itself is rather dicey. All anarchists clearly reject anyone “being in-charge”, but are less confident in understanding leadership. Crass (2001), for instance, asserts that leadership itself is not a problem to anarchist organizing, but instilling power within leaders. Rather, he sees everyone becoming leaders in the movement, being able to each articulate a vision and strategy for moving forward. Some anarchists, however, do not envision organizations, let alone leaders, and feel that people will somehow sort through their needs and desires – a rather individualistic approach. There is a wide, vast swath of those who fall between these two viewpoints. “Regular communication”, however, is far different a notion—the anarchist press is very diverse and encourages great dissension (some might even say too much) amongst various journals and zines, and in its letters sections. Websites, especially the Infoshop.org Newswire and the Indymedia network act as a conduit for information exchange and debate, as well as announcements. (See the section “Indymedia” for more on this subject.) Owens and Palmer (2003) refer to Infoshop.org as a “gateway” website: “the Infoshop is not an isolated site. It also acts as a gateway into the larger anarchist community online, sending a high number of links back to other anarchist sites.” (p. 354) 6. Operation of social control. Actually not a component of a movement itself, the operation of social control is how the existing power structure responds to movement. In the case of non-threatening movements, social control is barely non-existent—it is easy to ignore. Once becoming contentious, however, power will assert itself. It does so, according to an anarchist understand, by way of marginalization, increased surveillance, repression, accommodation and co-optation. Depending on how elites respond, many anarchists believe that fissures should be provoked within elite circles. The potential of a movement is thus dependent upon the response of those in power. 4. Fields of action Alan Touraine's analysis of social movements included four main ideas, the final one being fields of actions. But, the first part was historicity, or the reason why there are so many movements in the modern era. Anarchists might suggest that the interconnectedness of the world and the exchanged knowledge amongst people has increased the longing for greater freedom (Touraine says that individuals and groups know that activism can be used to achieve goals and reshape society in modern times). Secondly, movements have rational objectives and are not mere irrational reactions to social division. Anarchists would generally agree with this, but clarify that rebellion frequently occurs without methodical vision or objective, but that the insurrection can be turned to a strategic revolutionary movement. For the anarchist movement in particular, there is a lot of objective and strategy thinking going on. Third, the process of interaction shapes social movements, by defining what it is for and what it is against. Anarchists have often been accused of merely being against things (or “everything”), and not actually for anything. As absurd as this is (anarchists have a very clear vision of things they are for) it is a real mis-perception and something anarchists need to work to overcome. Anarchists are torn over which (positive or negative) views to emphasis in their political work – many stick predominantly to oppositional activities and [ Williams 50 ] [ this is a draft. do not cite. ]
actions (opposing police brutality, war, corporate globalization), while others work almost exclusively on positive, community-building projects, such as free food distribution, squatting, community gardens, and free schools. Lastly, Touraine saw “fields of actions” as the connections between a social movement and the forces aligned against it. The anarchist movement's field of action has barely changed since its origins: its relationship with authority figures and authoritarian institutions has always been one of mutual hostility. Certain “compromises” (if they can be called that) have been conceded at various points: “reforms” that do not truly relinquish freedom from constraints of authoritarian power, but small victories all the same. A classic example of this is the struggle for the eight hour day. In recent years it can be seen as the constraints placed upon nuclear power and weapon production in the US (short-lived as it may be). Accordingly, Touraine says that where there continue to be sources of conflict, social movements tend to reemerge – nothing could be truer in the reemergence of anarchism and deeper-rooted social movements in North America in recent years. Theory Table 1. Social Movement Theories Resource Mobilization Theorists Tilly, McCarthy, Zald Political Opportunities Tilly, McAdam, Tarrow New Social Movements Touraine Snow Focus of study Left-wing movements 46 since the 1960s Relevance to anarchism @ is somewhat a NSM Framing Processes Two of the most visible anti-war groups since the declaration of Bush Jr.'s “War of Terrorism” have been Act Now to Stop War and End Racism (ANSWER) and Not In Our Name (NION). Both groups are derived from the arcane left—ANSWER from the World Workers Party and NION from the Revolutionary Communist Party. The non-sectarian left—by far the largest portion of activists—has struggled to ignite similar enthusiasm, and as a result, many have flocked to ANSWER and NION for political action. ANSWER organizes large anti-war demonstrations, usually in DC and San Francisco. NION organizes other more local actions, and has been very busy in Cleveland. 46 Pichardo (1997) is critical of NSM for only considering the left, and not including right-wing movements. [ Williams 51 ] [ this is a draft. do not cite. ]
Page 1 and 2: Sociology of the Anarchists Analysi
Page 3 and 4: Index of Tables Table 1. Social Mov
Page 5 and 6: A NOTE ON SCHOLARSHIP Revolutions a
Page 7 and 8: INTRODUCTION We make the world sign
Page 9 and 10: RESEARCH ISSUES The power to think
Page 11 and 12: The increased focus upon anarchism
Page 13 and 14: camps of both the conflict and orde
Page 15 and 16: See the Models appendix for more on
Page 17 and 18: type of authority (particularly whe
Page 19 and 20: with much of this thinking, particu
Page 21 and 22: International Monetary Fund (IMF).
Page 23 and 24: a non-coercive consensus can actual
Page 25 and 26: develop more empathy for them (and
Page 27 and 28: they could get it for free? Of cour
Page 29 and 30: CrimethInc 29 , and interacted more
Page 31 and 32: domestic workers. Of course, anarch
Page 33 and 34: of the song, however. It is a sort
Page 35 and 36: VALUES Which side are you on? - Ata
Page 37 and 38: members are rotated overtime to dis
Page 39 and 40: ACADEMIA'S ANARCHISTIC “WANNABES
Page 41 and 42: SOCIAL MOVEMENTS When spiders unite
Page 43 and 44: Missing, again, is any discussion o
Page 45 and 46: Chomsky quotes Octave Mirbeau: “a
Page 47 and 48: information exchange. The Independe
Page 49: components of social movements incl
Page 53 and 54: Individual anarchists also have qui
Page 55 and 56: meetings and congregate, as well as
Page 57 and 58: Labor Movement and New Social Movem
Page 59 and 60: anarchism”. Western US anarchists
Page 61 and 62: ● Map successive additions of IMC
Page 63 and 64: A 2002 user survey of the popular w
Page 65 and 66: organizations. This differs from re
Page 67 and 68: auspice of the United States govern
Page 69 and 70: and hierarchical authority structur
Page 71 and 72: hierarchy of positions.” 6. Incen
Page 73 and 74: Anarchist Black Cross Earth First!
Page 75 and 76: Started Minneapolis, MN 1987 Slogan
Page 77 and 78: Critical Mass's only real credo is
Page 79 and 80: actions, cut up thousands of potato
Page 81 and 82: Michigan for example) might skew th
Page 83 and 84: Since many anarchists were engaged
Page 85 and 86: commitment does not conflict with f
Page 87 and 88: each IMCs webpage to “about” pa
Page 89 and 90: A look at the December 1999 archive
Page 91 and 92: Further, the focus upon anarchists
Page 93 and 94: Section Chief of the FBI stated tha
Page 95 and 96: TEACHING Everywhere not only educat
Page 97 and 98: my own attitudes that we should not
Page 99 and 100: The methods elaborated by McKeachie
Page 101 and 102:
I'd be happy to do the same for oth
Page 103 and 104:
The main points I would like the st
Page 105 and 106:
Amster 2002 Carswell 2001 - clamor
Page 107 and 108:
* Atkinson, Ian. 2001. “May Day 2
Page 109 and 110:
* Boyle, Michael P., Michael R. McC
Page 111 and 112:
* Corbridge, Stuart. 2003. “Count
Page 113 and 114:
Ehrlich, Howard. 2002. “On the Wa
Page 115 and 116:
* Gordon, Linda. 2002. “Social Mo
Page 117 and 118:
* Johnson, Ana Gutierrez and Willia
Page 119 and 120:
Social Movements, Conflicts and Cha
Page 121 and 122:
Quarterly, 83 (3), September: 726-7
Page 123 and 124:
* Przeworski, Adam. 2003. “Freedo
Page 125 and 126:
* Shantz, Jeffrey. 2002. “Judi Ba
Page 127 and 128:
* Thies, Clifford F. 2000. “The S
Page 129 and 130:
Wood, Lesley J. 2004. “Bridging t
Page 131 and 132:
APPENDIX: GLOSSARY What does anarch
Page 133 and 134:
Sexuality: thought, identity, and a
Page 135 and 136:
Compatibility model: anarchism inte
Page 137 and 138:
Socialist model: anarchism has trad
Page 139:
Index will be too huge and unwieldy
show all

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

Create successful ePaper yourself

Delete template?

Save as template?