Teaching and Learning Guide for: Political Elites and the Culture of Social Movements
Authors: Irons Jenny 
Published: October 2009

Author’s introduction

While sociologists have paid a great deal of attention to how political elites matter for the emergence and development of social movements, they have focused less explicitly on how political elites matter for the culture of social movements. Considering the amount of attention paid to culture in the field of social movements, this issue is an important one to address. This essay reviews work that directly and indirectly addresses this relationship, showing how political elites matter for various aspects of movement culture, like collective identity and framing. It also reviews literature that suggests how movement culture comes to impact political elites. The essay concludes by drawing from very recent scholarship to argue that to best understand political elites and the culture of social movements, we need to think about culture and structure as intertwined and to understand how relations matters in the construction of meaning.

Author recommends

Armstrong, Elizabeth, and Mary Bernstein 2008. ‘Culture, Power and Institutions: A Multi‐Institutional Politics Approach to Social Movements.’Sociological Theory 26(1): 74–99.

This is a very recently published article that advances a fairly complex understanding of the relationship between culture, power, and institutions. The authors conceptualize social movements as phenomena that emerge in a society where power is distributed, enacted, and challenged across multiple institutional contexts. While they review a range of empirical cases to illustrate their concerns about the power of the political process model, they largely focus on gay and lesbian activism to illustrate the application of their ‘multi‐institutional politics approach’.

Davenport, Christian 2005. ‘Understanding Covert Repressive Action: The Case of the U.S. Government against the Republic of New Africa.’Journal of Conflict Resolution. 49(1):120–40.

Davenport’s article is a good place to think about how cultural aspects of social movements impact repression. He examines how covert intelligence‐gathering activities were directed against the Republic of New Africa, a Black Nationalist organization, in Detroit, Michigan and finds that the racial identity of the challengers was a significant factor in determining who was targeted. Importantly, he shows how the identity of groups, along with their strategy and goals, affect the way they are perceived and treated by political elites.

Johnston, Hank and Bert Klandermans 1995. Social Movements and Culture. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press.

This volume remains one of the best edited collections of readings on the relationship of social movements and culture. Top scholars in the field of social movements review the conceptualization of culture in movement studies, cultural processes in movements, and methods for studying culture and collective action.

Laraňa Enrique, Hank Johnston, and Joseph R. Gusfield, eds. 1994. New Social Movements: From Ideology to Identity. Philadelphia, PA: Temple University Press.

This is an important edited volume in which leading scholars in the field present both case study of movements (for example, of the women’s movement and student movements) and theoretical and conceptual assessments of the role of culture and identity in movements.

McCammon Holly J., Karen E. Campbell, Ellen M. Granberg, and Christine Mowery. 2007. ‘Movement Framing and Discursive Opportunity Structures: The Political Successes of the U.S. Women’s Jury Movements.’American Sociological Review 72: 725–49.

McCammon and her co‐authors examine factors that explain activists’ state‐level success in winning women the legal right to serve on juries. One of their key findings is that activists’ use of particular frames was more successful when those frames resonated with the current state of legal discourse. In other words, to win, activists must advance claims that resonate with discourse established by political elites.

Meyer David S., Nancy Whittier, and Belinda Robnett, eds. 2002. Social Movements: Identity, Culture and the State. New York: Oxford University Press.

This is another excellent edited volume that offers essays by leading scholars on the relationship between identity, culture, and the state. Meyer’s introduction is particularly useful for the topic at hand, as he points out the ways that state action and polities often create the basis for a challenging group’s collective identity.

Polletta, Francesca. 1998. ‘Legacies and Liabilities of an Insurgent Past.’Social Science History 22(4): 479–512.

In this article, Polletta examines the different ways in which members of the United States Congress commemorate Martin Luther King, Jr., and finds that they most often emphasize King’s legacy of community service and institutional politics over disruptive insurgency. For black legislators, however, the story is more complicated, as they must also carefully caution that King’s legacy has not been fully realized. Polletta shows that how the culture of movements gets integrated into the discourse of elites is shaped by how elites are situated in a network of relationships—with other elites, with their own social groups, and with challengers.

Online materials

Social Movements
and Culture

http://www.wsu.edu/~amerstu/smc/smcframe.html

Sponsored by the American Studies program at Washington State University, this site provides great links to bibliographies, movement websites, and other resources.

Speech Prepared for March on Washington, 1963

http://www.crmvet.org/info/mowjl.htm

Read the text of Congressman John Lewis’ speech at the March on Washington, referred to at the beginning of the article.

Sociology Eye

http://sociologycompass.wordpress.com/

This website, associated with Sociology Compass, is a great site for thinking about how a range of contemporary issues are sociologically important. Check it out to look for posts related to social movements, culture, and political elites. Though a post may not directly seem to address the issue, oftentimes you can think about the ways in which a discussed subject implicitly tells you something about how the three things relate.

Sample syllabus

Below I provide suggestions for topics and readings that might be assigned in a range of courses, including: a general social movements course, a course focused on social movement culture, or a sociology of culture course with a unit on social movements.

Topic: Culture and Social Movements

McAdam, Doug 1994. ‘Culture and Social Movements.’ Pp. 36–57 in New Social Movements: From Ideology to Identity, edited by Enrique Laraňa, Hank Johnston, and Joseph R. Gusfield. Philadelphia, PA: Temple University Press.

Swidler, Ann. 1995. ‘Cultural Power and Social Movements.’ Pp. 25–40 in Social Movements and Culture, edited by Hank Johnston and Bert Klandermans. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press.

Snow, David A., E. Burke Rochford, Jr., Steven K. Worden, and Robert D. Benford 1986. ‘Frame Alignment Processes, Micromobilization, and Movement Participation.’American Sociological Review 51: 464–81.

Williams, Rhys H. 2004. ‘The Cultural Contexts of Collective Action: Constraints, Opportunities, and the Symbolic Life of Social Movements.’ Pp. 91–115 in The Blackwell Companion to Social Movements, edited by David A. Snow, Sarah A. Soule, and Hanspeter Kriesi. Malden, MA: Blackwell Publishing.

Topic: Political Elites and Social Movements

Gamson, William 1988. ‘Political Discourse and Collective Action.’ Pp. 219–144 in International Social Movement Research, vol. 1, edited by Bert Klandermans, Hanspeter Kreisi, and Sidney Tarrow. Greenwich, CT: JAI.

Kriesi, Hanspeter 2004. ‘Political Context and Opportunity.’ Pp. 67–90 in The Blackwell Companion to Social Movements, edited by David A. Snow, Sarah A. Soule, and Hanspeter Kriesi. Malden, MA: Blackwell Publishing.

McCarthy, John D. and Mayer N. Zald 1977. ‘Resource Mobilization and Social Movements: A Partial Theory.’American Journal of Sociology 82:1212–1241.

Meyer, David S. 2002. ‘Opportunities and Identities: Bridge‐Building in the Study of Social Movements.’ Pp. 3–21 in Social Movements: Identity, Culture and the State, edited by David S. Meyer, Nancy Whittier, and Belinda Robnett. New York: Oxford University Press.

Rucht, Dieter 2005. ‘Movement Allies, Adversaries, and Third Parties.’ Pp. 197–261 in The Blackwell Companion to Social Movements, edited by David A. Snow, Sarah A. Soule, and Hanspeter Kriesi. Malden, MA: Blackwell Publishing.

Topic: Political Elites and the Culture of Social Movements

Armstrong, Elizabeth, and Mary Bernstein 2008. ‘Culture, Power and Institutions: A Multi‐Institutional Politics Approach to Social Movements.’Sociological Theory 26(1): 74–99.

Fantasia, Rick and Eric L. Hirsch 1995. ‘Culture in Rebellion: The Appropriation and Transformation of the Veil in the Algerian Revolution.’ Pp. 144‐ 159 in Social Movements and Culture, edited by Hank Johnston and Bert Klandermans. Minneapolis, MN: University of Minnesota Press.

Irons, Jenny 2009. ‘Political Elites and the Culture of Social Movements.’Sociology Compass 3/3: 459–74.

McCammon, Holly J., Karen E. Campbell, Ellen M. Granberg, and Christine Mowery 2007. ‘Movement Framing and Discursive Opportunity Structures: The Political Successes of the U.S. Women’s Jury Movements.’American Sociological Review 72: 725–49.

Polletta, Francesca 1998. ‘Legacies and Liabilities of an Insurgent Past.’Social Science History 22(4): 479–512.

Skrentny, John 2006. ‘Policy‐Elite Perceptions and Social Movement Success: Understanding Variations in Group Inclusion in Affirmative Action.’American Journal of Sociology 111(6):1762–1815.

Topic: Movement Culture, Political Elites, and Repression

Boudreau, Vincent 2002. ‘State Repression and Democracy Protest in Three Southeast Asian Countries.’ Pp. 28–46 in Social Movements: Identity, Culture and the State, edited by David S. Meyer, Nancy Whittier, and Belinda Robnett. New York: Oxford University Press.

Cunningham, David 2004. There’s Something Happening Here: The New Left, The Klan, and FBI Counterintelligence. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press.

Cunningham, David and Barb Browing 2004. ‘The Emergence of Worthy Targets: Official Frames and Deviance Narratives Within the FBI.’Sociological Forum 19(3):347–369.

Davenport, Christian 2005. ‘Understanding Covert Repressive Action: The Case of the U.S. Government against the Republic of New Africa.’Journal of Conflict Resolution 49 (1):120–140.

Noonan, Rita K. 1995. ‘Women Against the State: Political Opportunities and Collective Action Frames in Chile’s Transition to Democracy.’Sociological Forum 10: 81–111.

Focus questions

In what ways do political elites matter for the development of a social movement’s culture—in terms of the development of movement frames, discourse, and collective identity? (You might focus on a particular movement to address this question)

How do those same aspects of a movement’s culture impact political elites? Can you think of examples in which we can see elites reflecting meaning produced by social movements?

What do you think are the most effective ways that social movements can impact political elites on a cultural level?

What factors shape the relationship between movement cultures and political elites?

What do you think are the best ways to conceptualize “political elites” and “social movement culture”?