Social Movements and Democracy in the 21st Century

293 Pages·2017·4.14 MB·English

by  Dylan Taylor (auth.)

Social Movements
and Democracy
in the 21st Century
Dylan Taylor
Social Movements and Democracy
in the 21st Century
Dylan Taylor
Social Movements
and Democracy in
the 21st Century
Dylan Taylor
Victoria University of Wellington
Wellington, New Zealand
ISBN 978-3-319-39683-5 ISBN 978-3-319-39684-2 (eBook)
DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-39684-2
Library of Congress Control Number: 2016959631
© The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s) 2017
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For Anna Taylor
Acknowledgments
I am immensely grateful to Colin Cremin. Never overbearing, always
critically engaged and pushing me when I needed to be pushed. The
work undertaken in these pages was possible because of his support and
supervision. This book also benefitted greatly from the input of Steve
Matthewman. His generosity of spirit, attention to detail and critical
verve were invaluable throughout.
I am deeply indebted to Chamsy el-Ojeili for his advice, insights and
ongoing intellectual support and friendship.
I am thankful to Erin Taylor and Mark Derby for proofreading and
editing earlier drafts of this project (and for being such fine communards),
and to Benjamin H. Snyder and Greta Snyder for their critical engage-
ment with sections of this work. I benefitted greatly from Brett Nicholls
and Patricia Nickel’s feedback on an earlier version of this work. The input
from the anonymous reviewers for Palgrave Macmillan further helped this
project along. I am very grateful to the help offered by Sharla Plant and
Amelia Derkatsch from Palgrave Macmillan as I worked on this book.
I have greatly appreciated the Department of Sociology at University
of Auckland, and the School of Social and Cultural Studies at Victoria
University of Wellington, for having provided stimulating intellectual
environments throughout. The editorial board of Counterfutures: Left
Thought and Practice Aotearoa—Sue Bradford, Tim Corballis, Chamsy
vii
viii Acknowledgments
el-Ojeili, Sean Phelan and Warwick Tie—have contributed to an intel-
lectual and political environment from which I have benefitted greatly.
I am grateful to my mother and father, Christine and Adrian Taylor,
for providing a writing retreat in Kaikoura and for having always been
supportive parents.
If I were to thank all the other friends and family members, colleagues
and students who have supported and inspired me over the years I worked
on this project, I would seriously jeopardise (an already stretched) word
limit. I hope you all know who you are.
I can never be thankful enough to my partner, Anna Taylor, for her
love and support, and to whom this book is dedicated.
Contents
1 Introduction: Confronting the Crisis of Democracy 1
Part I Situating Contestation 13
2 The Arc of Contention 15
3 Rethinking Social Movements 51
4 The Dynamics of Capital 71
5 Reconceptualising Political Strategy 99
Part II Contesting the Twenty-First Century:
An Analysis of Occupy 127
6 Occupy, Democracy, and Enduring Change 129
ix
x Contents
7 The Subject of Change 163
8 Locating Effective Resistance 193
Part III Claiming the Twenty-First Century 221
9 Reconceptualising Effective Action 223
10 Conclusion: Overcoming the Crisis of Democracy 253
Bibliography 261
Index 287
List of Tables
Table 6.1 Occupy’s targets and areas of concern 133
Table 6.2 Occupy’s economic targets 134
Table 7.1 Claims made on behalf of specific groups 180
Table 8.1 Occupy’s actions 206
xi