The New Social Movement Approach

In contrast to other approaches, the new social movement (NSM) approach stands out, with its complicated language and yet less structured analytical categories. Because it is the first approach to pay extensive attention to the cultural dimension of contentious politics, it is an important theoretical tradition to consider in relation to political citizenship and social movements. It eschews the assumption that social movements are to be directed merely at (national) governments and institutional reform (even political revolution), by explicitly attempting directly to influence society and culture. First, this chapter presents the main arguments made by various contributors to the NSM approach. Second, I summarize the main critiques and debates it has unleashed. Third, I examine recent developments of this approach, specifically in the context of globalization. Fourth, this chapter identifies a number of challenges posed by these developments and makes suggestions for future research. Now, let me historically contextualize the emergence of the NSM approach.