Action Collective et Mouvements Sociaux

Action Collective

• Action collective is a concerted action by a group of actors motivated by a claim, defending a material interest, or a cause.
• It differentiates itself from interest groups and trade unions by its more fluid structure and tendency to use the public/political sphere as a main interlocutor.
• The goal is to make the claim heard.
• It's similar to social movements which aim to transform social conditions, challenge hierarchies and relations, and develop collective identities and belonging.

Erik Neveu's View

• Neveu views social movements as non-conventional interventions to mobilize explicit actions by participants to collectively claim.
• Action is organized around a claim
• It is marked by the defense of material interests.

Four Characteristics of Action

• The action is organized, not isolated.
• It is propelled by a material interest, which is the justification.
• It addresses an adversary, most commonly the political power.
• It is directly related to political action, which is less institutionalized.

Why do people get involved?

• The study of political action and social movements is a subfield of social science.
• Theories developed in recent decades highlight the evolution of knowledge about collective action.
• Initially, psychological perspectives dominated with authors like Gustave Le Bon focusing on crowd psychology.
• Le Bon posited a collapse of reason in crowds, highlighting irrationality.

Gabriel Tarde's Approach

• Gabriel Tarde, contemporary to Le Bon, proposed an alternative perspective where social movements spread through contagion.
• He observed copying behavior as a transmission mechanism of mobilization

Alexis de Tocqueville's and Ted Robert Gurr's Theories

• Tocqueville explores revolutionary moments in relation to the increased demands generated by democratic institutions (the quest for equality).
• Gurr and Tocqueville both address the tension between perceived social conditions and desired outcomes.

Mancur Olson's Theory

• Mancur Olson viewed collective action as having economic rationalities.
• He focused on individuals' interests and the costs involved in collective action (the free-rider problem), where free-riding makes collective efforts harder.

Other Approaches

• Anthony Oberschall focused on collective action as a long-term process where mobilized actors pool resources to pursue group goals and to understand the conditions of emergence and persistence of collective action.

Political Opportunities and Frame Analysis

• Sidney Tarrow introduced the concept of "political opportunities" to describe the context crucial for the emergence of social movements and the actions of individuals—opportunities for them to act and influence.
• Frame analysis, also suggested by Tarrow, underlines how collective action frames their goals to give their actions meaning and to attract participants.
• The capacity of actors to use frames and to propose an organization for their mobilization is important.

The Role of Resources

• Authors like Tilly and Oberschall emphasized the importance of resources for social movements to mobilize and persist—accessing resources like money, communication tools, or time.
• Networks are extremely important in mobilization

Contemporary Collective Action

• This highlights the role of identity and the meaning of action in driving mobilization.
• Actors engage or not with a cause by means of identifying with a group.
• Collective action has been transformed by various factors such as globalization, technology, and the rise of different actors.

Social Movements and Identity

• Authors like Doug Macadam focused on the role of identity in social movements by studying movements in the United States in the 1960s.
• He examined how identity-based mobilization impacted the course of collective actions.
• This approach highlighted the capacity of actors to recruit participants by means of common cultural identities and beliefs.

The Importance of Repertoires

• Charles Tilly proposed the concept of "repertoires of contention" which encompasses the diverse range of actions that individuals and groups employ to bring about contestation.
• The repertoire of collective action used to advocate for a cause varies as social structures and contexts change.

Parties and Politics

• Parties are crucial in the development of modern democracies.
• Parties became more important as a way for people to participate on the political life directly, especially with universal suffrage.
• Forms of competition and organization and ways to mobilize voters evolved through historical periods.
• Parties need to create a public image and rally voters.

Social Movement and Organization

• Parties developed mechanisms to promote their existence.
• Parties developed ways to organize through local units and structures.

Contemporary Repertoires and Action

• Repertoires are important and constantly changing.
• Individuals need to be educated in a way that they can know the best kind of action for the situation that they are in.