George Laws
May 30, 2003
Challenging the boundaries of institutional politics:
Social movements since the 1960s
by Claus Offe
I-
Introduction:
1) - Global sociopolitical arrangements are undergoing a process of
fusion through the participation of ordinary citizens as
elementary political actors. Evidence:
1-Rise of participatory moods and ideologies exercise
democratic rights in a variety of ways (unconventional)
2-The increased use of noninstituional or nonconventional
forms of political participation protests, demonstrations,
unofficial strikes
3-Political demands on issues that used to be considered
moral or economicabortion, humanization of work
2) - Institutional channels of communication between the citizens
and the state being used more often and for a greater range of
issues Adequacy of official framework for political
communication is being challenged.
3) - Public policies exert more direct visible impact on citizens
Citizens gain more control over elites by means seen as
incompatible with institutional order of polity.
4) – Neoconservative Project A restrictive redefinition of what
can and should be considered political.
5) -This approach increasingly relies on infringing the autonomy
and authority of nonpolitical institutional spheresIncreasing
dependence on political support and regulation.
6) – Neoconservatives want a restoration of uncontestable
economic, moral, and cognitive standards Contradictions of
modern industrial society can no longer be meaningfully
resolved through etatism, political regulation, and more agenda
of bureaucratic authorities.
7) - New Politics: Movements that seek to politicize civil society in
ways that are not considered by representative bureaucratic
political institutionsIn this way reconstitute a civil society
independent from increasing control and intervention.
II-
Political Paradigms Old and New
A-Old Paradigm
1) -Old paradigm: A formal concept used to define legitimate
political realm Territorial sovereignty, collective regulation,
coercive or authoritative allocation of values
2) – Hegemonic configuration of issues determines what’s inside
and outside of “politics” Emphasis on economic growth,
distribution, and security.
3) –Constitutional assumptions of welfare state: 1) codetermination
and nationalization, otherwise market self regulation; 2)
capitalism as a machine for economic growth, wealth distribution
and social security; 3) Political democracy through competitive
party system.
4) – Security as a central concept: 1) Welfare state; 2) Defense and
diplomacy; 3) Social control of deviant behavior.
5) – Dominant actors Specialized, comprehensive and
institutionalized interest organizations and political parties.
6) – Civic culture Emphasizes: social mobility, private life,
consumption, instrumental rationality, authority and order;
Deemphasizes: political participation, civic engagement, co
operational conflict resolution.
B-New Paradigm
1) The politicization of themes that cannot be easily classified in the
binary code of social action that underlies liberal political theory
Issues are neither private (no legitimate concern of others) nor public
(officially recognized by political institutions and actors).
2) These issues consist of collectively relevant results and side effects of
actions by private or institutional political actors The actors cannot
be held responsible or made to respond by available legal or
institutional means  Creating noninstitutional politics
3) Forms of noninstitutional action are determined by Means (legitimate
and illegitimate) and Ends (binding for society and nonbinding)
Legitimate means are employed by: sociopolitical movements for
socially binding ends, and by sociocultural movements for nonbinding
ends Illegitimate means are employed by: terrorists for socially
binding ends, and by private criminals for nonbinding ends.
4) Common values: Autonomy; Identity; and Opposition to:
manipulation, control, dependence, beaurocratization, regulation, etc.
5) Social Movements: Internal mode of action (process in which many
individuals become collective actors is informal, ad hoc,
discontinuous, context sensitive, and egalitarian); External modes of
action (consist of: participants, campaigns, spokespersons, networks,
voluntary help and donations)
6) Strong reliance on synthesis: fusion of public and private roles,
instrumental and expressive behavior, and community organization.
7) Problems with new social movements: nonnegotiability of concerns,
lack of ability to make internally binding representative decisions, lack
coherent set of ideological principles from which to derive image of
desired society and steps to achieving it.
8) Universe of political conflict in categories taken from their issues:
gender, age, locality, or humanity.
9) New Paradigm and new social movements claim new terrain to
challenge private and institutional practices Political action within
civil society.
III-New Paradigm: Political Results and Sociostructural Potential
A- Structural Characteristics
1) New social movements rooted in major segments of new middle
class These segments are “class aware” but not “class conscious”
Demands are often either universalistic or highly concentrated.
2) New Middle Class: 1)High education, 2)Economic security, 3)
Personal service employment, 4) Decomodified or peripheral groups
(existing outside of labor market) .
3) Class structure: 1) Transclass social alliance, 2) Not an economic
movement over control of means of production, 3) Demands are
universalistic not class specific
4) New social movements composed of forces likely to survive (and grow
during) the impact of economic and cultural modernization.
B- Causes for mobilization
1) Loss of: economic status, access to political power, integration into
intermediary forms of social organization and recognition of
traditional cultural values inflicted by modernization.
2) They support plans and ideas that would promote modern values
(individual freedom, humanistic and universalistic principles) in
better ways than through centralized, beaurocratized, and technology
intensive organization.
3) Support for decentralization  Understanding of destructive side of
centralization, and new options created by information and
communication technologies.
C- Social Issues
1) Structural argument Emphasize new movement potential for
structural change; Deemphasize new movement political deviance and
potential for disturbing institutional processes.
2) Three interrelated aspects of postindustrial societies: 1) Established
modes of economic and political rationality have negative side effects
that are no longer class specific but felt by all society; 2) Qualitative
change in methods of domination, disrupting spheres of life outside
realm of rational and explicit social control; 3) Political and Social
institutions have lost any self corrective or limiting capacity, negative
cycle that can only be broken from outside official political
institutions.
3) Mechanisms of accumulation controlled by: manipulation of complex
organizational systems, control over information, control over
processes and institutions of symbol formation, and intervention in
interpersonal relations.
4) Large scale social and technological systems become more vulnerable
and intolerant of: unpredictable, irregular or “deviant” modes of
behavior among their component actors.
5) Institutions are all powerful in controlling, exploiting and dominating
their social and physical environment They are also incapable of
addressing the self paralyzing consequences of their use of such
power.
6) Protest is therefore directed not against the failure of the state and
society to provide for economic growth and material prosperity, but
against the price of their success.
D- Survival and Success
1) Survival of new political movements is far from certain if judged on
formalized and explicit organizational or ideological mechanisms.
2) However new social movements have been very successful in utilizing
institutionalized public spaces and modes of communication outside of
core political institutions Public spheres being used or created:
organized religion, art, science and sports.
3) Minimal formalization and the fusion of social movements with cultural
institutions and the connection of social bases of different issue
movements mitigate countermeasures ranging from selective concessions
to repression.
4) Three types of success: 1) Substantive success, where positive or negative
decisions made by economic or political elites that conforms to social
movement demands; 2) Procedural success, where changes in the modes
of decision making creating more representation, participation and
consultation; 3) Political success, where recognition and support are
granted by institutional actors like media, political parties and
associations.