Gemma Edwards

Habermas and social movements: what's ‘new’?

In this chapter I consider the contemporary relevance of Habermas’ ‘New Social Movement’ theory (Habermas, 1981, 1987). This is an important point of contemplation when thinking about the ‘public sphere’ and the movements that may generate it in the present context. For Habermas, it is the ‘new’ movements of the post-1960s era (such as the Women’s, Youth, Alternative and Ecology Movements) that form the raw materials of the public sphere. In their struggles over lifestyle and identity, new social movements respond to questions about the legitimacy and accountability of governments, and in-turn, raise them. What is ‘new’ about these movements, Habermas argues, is the conflict around which they organize. The central conflicts of advanced capitalist societies have shifted away from the ‘capital-labour’ struggles of the Labour Movement (now seen as ‘old’ politics), and towards grievances surrounding the ‘colonization of the lifeworld’. In rejecting ‘colonization’ the new social movements reassert communicatively rational action against the imposing agendas of the state and economy. They contain, therefore, the ideal possibility of constructing a relatively autonomous space for public debate. The shift from ‘old’ to ‘new’ politics therefore compounds the potential in new social movements for generating a genuine public sphere. This argument suggests two things. Firstly, conflicts located at the ‘seam between the system and lifeworld’ (Habermas, 1981: 36), provoke public-sphere generating social movements. Secondly, that these conflicts are divorced from capital-labour conflicts and can be considered as something ‘new’. I question here whether these assumptions remain valid in the present context of struggle. The chapter is comprised of three sections. In section one, after a brief exposition of Habermas’ general argument, I refer to recent work on the AntiCorporate Movement, which suggests that in part they do (Crossley, 2003). Anti-corporatism generates public debate through a struggle against the ‘colonization of the lifeworld’ by an expanding global economic system. On the other hand, the ‘old’ politics of labour are still very much a part of anti-corporate activity, begging the question of what exactly is ‘new’ for Habermas? This question is tackled in section two by reconsidering Habermas’ general theory. Avoiding the debate over the relative mix of old, new (and even newer?)

Measures and Meanings: Exploring the Ego-Net of Helen Kirkpatrick Watts, Militant Suffragette

In this paper we discuss the personal network or ‘ego-net’ of Helen Kirkpatrick Watts, a militant suffragette and one of the founder members of the Nottingham Womens Social and Political Union (WSPU). Our aims are fourfold. Firstly, we want to make a contribution to the growing literature, briefly reviewed, on the significance of social networks in relation to social movements. Secondly, we want to make a contribution to the academic literature on the suffragettes. Thirdly, at a methodological level, we want to contribute to ongoing efforts, briefly reviewed, to bring qualitative concerns and issues back into social network analysis, generating a dialogue between quantitative and qualitative approaches. Finally, we conceive of this paper as a pilot for a much larger study of suffragette networks. Specifically, it allows us to experiment with ways of drawing network data from an archive and, relating to our third aim, to dry run an approach to network analysis which integrates quantitative and qualitative approaches.

Covert social movement networks and the secrecy-efficiency trade off: The case of the UK suffragettes (1906–1914)

Abstract This paper formulates and empirically tests a number of hypotheses regarding the impact of covertness upon network structure. Specifically, hypotheses are deduced from theoretical arguments regarding a ‘secrecy-efficiency trade off’ which is said to shape covert networks. The paper draws upon data concerning the UK suffragettes. It is taken from a publicly archived UK Home Office document listing 1992 court appearances (for suffrage related activities), involving 1214 individuals and 394 court sessions, between 1906 and 1914. Network structure at earlier phases of suffragette activism, when the movement was less covert, is compared with that during the final phase, when it was more covert and meets the definitional criteria of what we call a ‘covert social movement network’ (CSMN). Support for the various hypotheses tested is variable but the key claims derived from the idea of the secrecy-efficiency trade off are supported. Specifically, the suffragettes’ network becomes less dense and less degree centralised as it becomes more covert.

Infectious Innovations? The Diffusion of Tactical Innovation in Social Movement Networks, the Case of Suffragette Militancy

This paper explores the diffusion of a tactical innovation – militancy – within the British Suffrage Movement, 1905–1914. It concentrates upon the influences that arise from personal social networks and which affect egos decision about whether to adopt the new tactic. UCINET is used to map and visualise the activist networks of two suffragettes who made different adoption decisions. This reveals that ‘weak ties’ to ‘innovation champions’ (i.e. suffragette ‘travelling organisers’) connected both women to opportunities to learn about, observe and adopt militancy. In order to explain why one suffragette adopted the tactic and the other did not, however, there is a need to link structural and cultural analyses of social networks together. Here, I do this by following up empirically what Fuhse [Fuhse, J. (2009). The meaning structure of social networks. Sociological Theory, 27, 51–73] has called the ‘meaning structure of the network’ consisting of interpersonal expectations and network culture. I propose that the ‘meaning structure’ of the network is linked to the structural patterning of social ties – and the subjective meanings of ego – through the communicative interaction in which they both are rooted [Mische, A. (2003). Cross-talk in movements: Rethinking the culture-network link. In M. Diani & D. McAdam (Eds.), Social movements and networks: Relational approaches to collective action (pp. 258–280). Oxford/New York: Oxford University Press]. Focusing on communicative interaction and intersubjective meanings indicates that there is value in approaching personal networks as socio-cultural ‘lifeworlds’ [Habermas, J. (1987). The theory of communicative action, volume 2: System and lifeworld. Boston, MA: Beacon Press; Passy, F., & Giugni, M. (2000). Life-spheres, networks, and sustained participation in social movements: A phenomenological approach to political commitment. Sociological Forum, 15, 117–144.). This approach is particularly valuable in highlighting the construction of a ‘moral point of view’ within networks, which fundamentally shapes the symbolic legitimacy of culturally controversial tactics.

Cases, mechanisms and the real: The theory and methodology of mixed-method social network analysis

In this paper we make a methodological case for mixed method social network analysis (MMSNA). We begin by both challenging the idea, prevalent in some quarters, that mixing methods means combining incompatible epistemological or theoretical assumptions and by positing an ontological argument in favour of mixed methods. We then suggest a methodological framework for MMSNA and argue for the importance of ‘mechanisms’ in relational-sociological research. Finally, we discuss two examples of MMSNA from our own research, using them to illustrate arguments from the paper.

Public sector trade unionism in the UK: Strategic challenges in the face of colonization

This article explores the potential contribution of Habermas’s social theory to debates on union decline and renewal in the UK public sector. It employs data relating to 2004—5 research on the National Union of Teachers (NUT) to suggest that two of Habermas’s concepts are particularly valuable when considering strategies to increase membership activity. The concept of ‘communicative action’ is useful for highlighting the importance of spaces for collective discussion among members, while the concept of ‘colonization’ allows an appreciation of the ways in which these ‘communicative spaces’ are being increasingly eroded in the course of public sector restructuring. In this context, NUT strategies for renewing membership activity involve opening up alternative communicative spaces for members in schools, the union, and online.

Habermas, Activism, and Acquiescence: Reactions to 'Colonization' in UK Trade Unions

Habermass idea of a conflict shift from ‘old’ to ‘new’ social movements has been a point of ongoing contention in the field of sociology. The criticisms aimed at his idea of ‘newness’ are numerous and persuasive. Rather than reiterating these debates, this paper argues that the next logical step is to apply Habermas to an analysis of the contemporary labour movement. In order to do this, I develop the notion of the ‘colonization of the lifeworld at work’, and explore the relationship between colonization and union activism in two cases drawn from the current UK context: the Fire Brigades Union (FBU) and the National Union of Teachers (NUT). In exploring colonization empirically, I suggest that it is met by a range of responses, from activism to acquiescence.