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2 Collective action and the nexus of political and cultural systems Much of the extant research on older people’s interest organisations remains uninformed by the available body of political science and sociological literature. As a result it does not provide an adequate conceptual basis for understanding the complexity of older people’s interest organisations. It fails to offer an in-depth exploration of the contextual factors which impact upon the development, growth and survival of these groups or the discourses informing the topic of collective action of
This book is dedicated to Susan Reynolds and celebrates the work of a scholar whose views have been central to reappraisals of the position of the laity in the Middle Ages. The themes and concerns include a medieval world in which the activity and attitudes of the laity are not obscured by ideas expressed more systematically in theoretical treatises by ecclesiastics; a world in which lay collective action and thought take centre stage. Reynolds has written her own Middle Ages, especially in her innovative book Kingdoms and Communities whose influence can be seen in so many of the essays. Collectivities, solidarities and collective action are everywhere in these essays, as Reynolds has shown us to expect them to be. Collective action was carried out often in pursuit of social peace, but it existed precisely because there was discord. Of the narratives and interpretative frameworks with which Reynolds's work has been concerned, the book has least to say directly on the debate over feudalism. The book engages many of the themes of Reynolds's work and pursues some of the issues which are prominent in re-examinations of the medieval world and in studies of the medieval laity. It discusses secular aristocratic attitudes towards judicial combat within the broader setting of fictional 'treason trials' of the later twelfth century. Although kinship did not start out as an explicit and overt theme of the book, it emerges as a leitmotiv, perhaps in part because when feudalism is removed, kinship is thrown into sharper relief.
The Peterloo Massacre was more than just a Manchester event. The attendees, on whom Manchester industry depended, came from a large spread of the wider textile regions. The large demonstrations that followed in the autumn of 1819, protesting against the actions of the authorities, were pan-regional and national. The reaction to Peterloo established the massacre as firmly part of the radical canon of martyrdom in the story of popular protest for democracy. This article argues for the significance of Peterloo in fostering a sense of regional and northern identities in England. Demonstrators expressed an alternative patriotism to the anti-radical loyalism as defined by the authorities and other opponents of mass collective action.
In recent years, exhumation campaigns of mass graves resulting from the armed conflict (1980–2000) between the Maoist guerrillas of PCP-Shining Path (Sendero Luminoso) and the States armed forces have increased in Peru. People in rural Andes, the most marginalised sectors of national society, which were also particularly affected by the war, are the main group concerned with exhumations. This article examines the handling, flow and re-appropriation of exhumed human remains in public space to inform sociopolitical issues underlying the reparation policies implemented by the State, sometimes with the support of human rights NGOs. How do the families of victims become involved in this unusual return of their dead? Have the exhumations become a new repertoire of collective action for Andean people seeking to access their fundamental rights and for recognition of their status as citizens? Finally, what do these devices that dignify the dead reveal about the internal workings of Peruvian society – its structural inequities and racism – which permeate the social fabric?
still understood as humanitarian, relationships are contingent on the social situation from which they emerge. There is no limit to the type of relationships that may arise or already exist between the giver and the receiver. Here, we consider two different, but not mutually exclusive, forms of such practices: first, ‘civic humanitarianism’ – formal and informal community service, collective action and political involvement often operating alongside the humanitarian system
grantee partners of FRIDA, the Young Feminist Fund ( FRIDA, n.d. ), as well as members of groups such as the Shifting the Power Coalition ( StPC, 2020 ) and the Feminist Humanitarian Network ( FHN, 2019 ), who have been fighting the power inequalities within the sector and strengthening women’s voices and leadership as humanitarian actors. Initiatives like FRIDA, StPC and FHN support local feminists through funding, collective action and advocacy, and testify to a shift in the
has several times found a third party – for example, a hostage’s family – to pay. Determining when to bend, or even break, organisationally prescribed ‘red lines’ can lead to vexing internal deliberations. In the words of one interviewee, ‘The most difficult part of negotiating humanitarian access is not the players on the ground, it’s [negotiating with] the people you work for’. Inter-organisational dynamics can further fuel these difficulties. There is indeed a collective action problem that humanitarian organisations face. Joining together on collective ‘red
This book provides a critical investigation of what has been termed the ‘global justice movement’. Through a detailed study of a grassroots peasants' network in Asia (People's Global Action); an international trade union network (the International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mining and General Workers); and the Social Forum process, it analyses some of the global justice movement's component parts, operational networks and their respective dynamics, strategies and practices. The authors argue that the emergence of new globally connected forms of collective action against neoliberal globalisation are indicative of a range of variously place-specific forms of political agency that coalesce across geographic space at particular times, in specific places and in a variety of ways. They also argue that, rather than being indicative of a coherent ‘movement’, such forms of political agency contain many political and geographical fissures and fault-lines, and are best conceived of as ‘global justice networks’: overlapping, interacting, competing and differentially placed and resourced networks that articulate demands for social, economic and environmental justice. Such networks, and the social movements that comprise them, characterise emergent forms of trans-national political agency. The authors argue that the role of key geographical concepts of space, place and scale are crucial to an understanding of the operational dynamics of such networks. Such an analysis challenges key current assumptions in the literature about the emergence of a global civil society.
social explanation A fundamental cause of the sterility of the classical community power debates was ignorance of the problems of collective action.1 This can be illustrated in three areas. Decisional studies Decisional studies were flawed because most pluralist writers did not understand that studying human action without independently verifying actors’ beliefs or desires prevents the analyst understanding their interests. Consider the behaviour of a group of actors choosing a course of action D, causing social outcome P. If each had followed course of action C
actions of the unemployed in the response to the means test differed considerably. While the unemployed in south Wales were mobilised throughout the period in dramatic displays of collective action, street protests were far less common in the north-east, and written resolutions of opposition formed a much more central role in the protest that occurred. The image of the working class 11_Ward_Conclusion.indd 244 7/11/2013 12:56:31 PM CONCLUSION 245 in south Wales as militant and the working class in the north-east of England as acquiescent are well