2 Coacciones de Élite. 1854-1870
2.3 El baile: sensibilidades de clase a partir de 1850
Marginalised individuals and groups have, in many cases, attempted to overcome their lack of individual political voice by engaging in collective action. Collective action means individuals contributing, in different ways, to a collective endeavour (Medina, 2007; Rodriguez, 2013). Collective action, in this sense, has been defined as:
“a set of actions decided and played out by individuals forming part of more or less organized groups, [it] can be thought of as systems of action. They include the individuals exhibiting similar behavior in specific events, as well as the purposive orientations built on social relations within a field of opportunity and constraint”
(Rodriguez, 2013, p.1055).
Collective action, for the marginalised, has often meant joining or starting grassroots movements. Grassroots movements offer a legitimate source of power for the marginalised to speak out (Mitlin and Bebbington, 2006).
Definitions of grassroots movements often overlap with definitions of social
movements. Social movements, as well as grassroots movements, can emerge out of informal networks, or popular mobilisation, where individuals or groups share similar concerns and identities, and are collectively engaged towards a common goal
(Cornwall, 2002b; Diani, 2003; Shaw, 1994). Historically, social movements have provided an important vehicle for the mobilization of citizens into political participation. According to Schlozman et al.:
“For groups whose social and economic disempowerment tends to restrict their conventional political access, then, a social movement can serve as an alternative means for gaining and expressing political voice, thereby potentially mitigating the impact of inequality upon democratic participation.”(Schlozman et al., 2005, p.61)
A number of social movements, around the globe are attempting to foster bottom-‐up initiatives by including or channelling the voice of the marginalised (Mitlin and
Bebbington, 2006; Phillips, 1995; Ruland, 1984). However, including and channelling the voice of the marginalised, does not mean that social movements are necessarily composed of marginalised members. Although the term grassroots can be a
changeable term (Batliwala, 2002), it is used in this dissertation to refer to movements of, for, and by marginalised members. However, much of the literature on social movements can be applied to grassroots movements, and its practices have meaningful value for this analysis (as it will be reviewed throughout this Chapter).
Communication is central to relationships both within and across social movements (Mische, 2003). Social ties between participants of social movements are important for collective processes (Castells, 1997; Diani, 2003; Mische, 2003). Communication is critical for organisation and mobilisation activities (Haug, 2013).
Communication is also important for the creation and expansion of social capital.
Communicating the hardship helps to elicit support and can bring the resources needed to support the activities and goals of the social movement – in this way communication can build interpersonal social relations. Resources include the skills and knowledge gained through interpersonal social relations, as well a physical capital (e.g. funds, transportation, equipment) (Warschauer, 2003b). However, the literature also emphasises that there are costs for organisations associated with a growing social capital. These costs include power struggles and gatekeeping by individuals who are in influential positions (Willem and Scarbrough, 2006).14
Moreover there is limited data on the social relationships or communication process involved in the mobilization and organisation of social movements activities (Oliver and Myers, 2003). While traditional channels and methods such as meetings and coalition building are still used (Polletta, 2002), there is an increased “coordination of action by organisations and individuals using digital media to create networks,
14 See further discussion in this Chapter, on section 2.5.3.
structure activities, and communicate their views directly to the world” (Bennett and Segerberg, 2012, p.749).
This means that, collective action within social movements is being shaped by the degree of technology-‐enabled networking (Livingston and Asmolov, 2010), which can be individually centred (Bennett and Segerberg, 2012) instead of a collective
undertaking.
Literature on communication processes has focused on mediated communication (such as ICTs based, see section 2.4, below), leaving face-‐to-‐face communication processes (e.g. meeting, assemblies) frequently understudied (Haug, 2013).
Face-‐to-‐face communication provides a basis for the development of trust, social bonds and identity among participants of social movements (Diani, 2000; Milan, 2013;
Summers-‐Effler, 2002). Kavada, for instance, explains that:
“face-‐to-‐face meetings and street demonstrations can counterbalance [dispersion of activists in the online realm] by bringing activists together in the same physical space at the same time. This strengthens feelings of belonging as it makes the collective a tangible reality, something that’s more difficult to achieve online”
(2010, p.115).
A number of studies have described that access to, and use of, technology often reflects and reinforces patterns of existing political behaviour (Brodock, 2010; Mercea, 2012; Schlozman et al., 2012).15 Consequently, studies on mediated communication16 within social movements, which ignore face-‐to-‐face communication, will provide a blinkered analysis of the process of developing a political voice.
Although mediated communication does not replace face-‐to-‐face communication (Mudhai, 2004), technologies such as ICTs may improve the effectiveness of
communication among social movements members and external supporters (Diani,
15 See section 2.3.1.
16 In this particular case, literature mainly refers to as ICTs mediated communication.
2000; Loudon, 2010). ICTs are “changing the ways in which activists communicate, collaborate and demonstrate” (Garrett, 2006, p.202), while contributing to the creation of new kinds of social movements and activism17 (Joyce, 2010; Langman, 2005; Sassen, 2012; Zuckerman, 2010). ICTs decrease the costs of participation and increase opportunities of social movements expressing political voice (Bartlett, 2007;
Hale et al., 1999; Hara and Estrada, 2005; Sassen, 2012; Wasserman, 2005).
Communication within and by social movements, including face-‐to-‐face and ICT-‐
mediated, as well as internal and external, forms an important aspect of this research.
Communication activities are therefore integrated in the analytical framework
proposed in section 2.5 of this Chapter. Before that, I provide a review of relevant ICT literature in the context of the marginalised.
Further literature on the collective processes and the motivations behind engaging with social movements are reviewed in this Chapter, with regard to the analytical framework designed for this dissertation.