| Kommentar |
Understanding Social Movements: North and South
This seminar provides an introduction to the study of social movements. It probes the heuristic merits of different theoretical perspectives and concepts and explores the conditions under which social movements emerge, express grievances and articulate demands. It will be discussed that social movement theory is mainly based on experiences of Northern social movements despite the fact that Southern social movements have played an important role in shaping world history and politics. Although the paradigms and theories which were developed by social movement theory are partially applicable in the global South, these societies have mostly functioned as laboratories for testing the theories which were developed in the North. Therefore, social movement theory by and large fails to provide a thorough analysis of Southern movements because they are not situated in the context of their own historical backgrounds, culture and socio-economic and political structures. The purpose of this seminar is to address shortcomings of Northern social movement theory and discuss the emerging paradigms from the global South. |
