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An Introduction to the Study of Social Movements Author(S): ALAIN TOURAINE Source: Social Research, Vol An Introduction to the Study of Social Movements Author(s): ALAIN TOURAINE Source: Social Research, Vol. 52, No. 4, Social Movements (WINTER 1985), pp. 749-787 Published by: New School Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/40970397 Accessed: 23-02-2016 20:49 UTC Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at http://www.jstor.org/page/ info/about/policies/terms.jsp JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected]. New School is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to Social Research. http://www.jstor.org This content downloaded from 132.248.240.180 on Tue, 23 Feb 2016 20:49:26 UTC All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions An Introductionto the Study of Social / Movements / byALAIN TOURAINE A he notion of social movement,like most notionsin the social sciences,does not describepart of "reality"but is an elementof a specificmode of constructingsocial reality.Too manystudies of socialmovements are dangerouslynaive. Too often,authors, while they think they are describingcollective actionsor historicalevents, express verycrudely their own opinionsor ideologies.The limitedvalue of moststudies of socialmovements becomes even moreconspicuous if we com- pare differentperiods of intellectualand socialhistory. Social movementsin the postwarperiod were mainlyconsidered as disruptiveforces; even "liberals"like L. Coser1were readyat bestto grantthat conflicts can be functionalfor social integra- tion.After the sixties, social movements, on thecontrary, were identifiedwith the counterculture, the searchfor "alternative" formsof social and culturallife. In the early eighties,the subjectmatter loses ground. How is it possibleto overcomethe obviousprejudices which so oftenmake discussionsabout so- cial movementsuseless because theyinform us mainlyabout social opinionsof some limitedsectors of academia? To overcomethis naive and illusorypositivism, each social scientistmust make clear the meaningof the wordshe or she uses, situatingthem in a more general intellectualframe of reference.But to explain "whatI think"is not enough: it is 1 L. Coser, The Functionsof Social Conflict(Glencoe, 111.:Free Press, 1956). SOCIAL RESEARCH, Vol. 52, No. 4 (Winter 1985) This content downloaded from 132.248.240.180 on Tue, 23 Feb 2016 20:49:26 UTC All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions 750 SOCIAL RESEARCH indispensableto compare one's own categorieswith other typesof constructionof social reality.The aim here is not to separate and define various Weltanschauungenbut, on the contrary,to integratevarious approaches into a generalrepre- sentationof sociallife which gives some amountof autonomy to each approach.It is truethat such an integratedand diver- sifiedview is itselfrelated to specific"theories" and is not entirelyobjective. The problem,however, is not to pursue an abstractpure objectivitybut to push backthe limits of ideology and to make discussionsamong social scientistsmore mean- ingful.If we eschewthis critical self-appraisal of our ideas and results,we fallinto pretentious and uselessexpressions of our personalor nationalpreferences and representations. Many staysin differentparts of the worldhave convinced me of the necessityto build an internationallytransferable knowledgewhich cannot be identifiedwith categories used by the actorsthemselves in any part of the world.The timehas gone when ideas correspondingto importantsectors of "ad- vanced"countries were able to spread all over the worldand to be transmittedby dependentor imitativesocial scientists. For thesereasons, and to help eliminatesuperficial critiques and artificialdiscussions, I willtry to identifywhat I mean by "'social movement"and to relate it to a broader frame of referencewhich should at the same time providespace for othernotions and otherapproaches. Typesof Social Conflicts There is an almostgeneral agreement that social movements should be conceivedas a special typeof socialconflict. Many typesof collectivebehavior are not social conflicts:panics, crazes,fashions, currents of opinion,cultural innovations are not conflicts,even if theydefine in a preciseway whatthey react to. A conflictpresupposes a clear definitionof oppo- nentsor competitingactors and of theresources they are fight- This content downloaded from 132.248.240.180 on Tue, 23 Feb 2016 20:49:26 UTC All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions THE STUDY OF SOCIAL MOVEMENTS 751 ing foror negotiatingto take controlof. Such an elementary definitionleaves the wayopen to manydifferent approaches, but it alreadydraws two limits which should not be trespassed. A socialconflict cannot be analyzedentirely as a featureof a socialsystem. If a "society"feels threatened or even no longer wantsto survive- some exampleshave been describedin Af- rica in particular- the manifestationof thissocietal crisis can- notbe analyzedas a socialconflict. The agentsof thisconflict mustbe identifiedas specificsocial categories.On the other side, if a collectiveactor cannot define its goals in social terms- if for example a group wants its specificityto be recognized- its strugglefor freedomor identitycannot by itselfcreate a socialconflict. Even whenthe conflict is veryfar frombeing a zero-sumgame, it mustbe definedby a "field," thatis, by "stakes"which are valued and desired by two or more opponents.So all kindsof social conflictshave in com- mon a referenceto "real"- thatis, organized- actorsand to ends which are valued by all competitorsor adversaries. Withinthis broad definition,it is necessaryto separatevarious kindsof social conflicts. (1) A firstand easilyperceived category of socialconflict is the competitivepursuit of collective interests. In its mostextreme form,it opposes individualsor groupswho wantto maximize theiradvantages on a market.In a more classicalsociological tradition,it is defined as the expressionof a relationship betweenactors' inputs and outputsin an organization,or of theirrelative deprivation. If employeesof a companybring high or low inputs(measured by skill,for example) and re- ceive highor low rewards(in termsof incomein particular), the hypothesishas been elaboratedthat four main typesof behaviorwill appear. The highestprobability of conflictexists when low rewardscorrespond to high inputs. When both inputand outputare high,competition will replace grievance. On the contrary,a low input associatedwith low rewardis likelyto producewithdrawal, and a low inputwhich receives highrewards leads to passiveconformity. The actorshere are This content downloaded from 132.248.240.180 on Tue, 23 Feb 2016 20:49:26 UTC All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions 752 SOCIAL RESEARCH defined by their positions on a hierarchical scale, and the "stakes" of the conflictsare organizational rewards. This "ra- tionalist"view of collective behavior has been well presented by A. Obserschall.2 (2) Both similar and opposed to the firsttype is the recon- structionof a social, cultural,or politicalidentity. Here the oppo- nent is defined more as a foreigner or invader than as an upper class, a power elite, or management. The actor defines himselfas a communitywhose values are threatened by inva- sion or destruction.Messianic movementsin Brazil at the time of abolition of slavery,for example, expressed firstof all the defense of rural communitiesagainst the domination of trade and urban interests.C. Tilly, analyzing the Vendean counter- revolutionarymovement in France, instead of interpretingit as an aristocraticreaction, sees in it the communitarian de- fense of a rural societywhich is threatened by a rising urban bourgeoisie.3 During recent years, many strikes have expressed, in de- clining industries, or in sectors which are upset by new technologies,the resistance of occupational groups. This sec- ond type of conflictcan be called defensive, while the first one- the pursuit of collectiveinterests - is offensive.Smelser's idea that collective behavior corresponds to the crisis of an element of the social systemand effortsto reconstructit fits with the definitionof the second type of social conflict.4The Chicago school has analyzed gangs and ghettos as forms of defense of dominated social and ethnic groups. These two typesof conflictbehavior are located at the same level: they "respond" to an organizationalstatus and to organi- zational change. Their analysis is generally made in terms of "system"more than in terms of actors. But they are opposed in most ways to each other. The firstone can be called instru- mental,the second expressive. Both can easily driftout of the 2 A. Oberschall, Social Conflictand Social Movements(Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice-Hall, 1973). 3 C. Tilly, La Vendée:Révolution et contre-révolution(Paris: Fayard, 1970). 4 N. Smelser, Theoryof CollectiveBehavior (New York: Macmillan, 1963). This content downloaded from 132.248.240.180 on Tue, 23 Feb 2016 20:49:26 UTC All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions THE STUDY OF SOCIAL MOVEMENTS 753 limitsof definitionof socialconflict. If thefirst one is reduced to rationalbehavior, it stopsreferring itself to a socialconflict because the environmentis describedin nonrelational,purely competitiveterms, and actorsin competitionhave no common cultural or social orientationexcept their own interests.
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