Social movement theory

Other work views the importance of movements in the sciences and professions more metaphorically. Scholars writing in the sociology of ideas tradition use the language of intellectual movements and countermovements as heuristic devices to characterize moments of growing coordination and/or fragmentation within knowledge communities with respect to a particular set of research practices, claims, and identities (e.g., Camic 1983 Collins 1998). Rarely do these studies employ theoretical concepts from social movement theory to analyze these phenomena, however. Citing Nicholas Mullins s (1973)... 

Morris, Aldon D., and Carol McClurg Mueller, eds. 1992. Frontiers in Social Movement Theory. New Haven, Conn. Yale University Press. 

Melucci (1996) describes collective identity in terms of a process. In that collective identity is not a static given, but is rather produced, Melucci s notion of collective action, collective identity with action and field (the how and where of social movements), works well with the elements of Foucauldian theory that I have outlined. Collective action is inseparable from the production of the meaning of collective identity there is a relational reciprocity between actor and system. Action, constructed by social relationships within a system of constraints and opportunities, works on and through ends, means and fields. Melucci s field represents the environment or terrain and this resonates with Foucault s notion of discursive field. Movements delineate themselves from their opponents We are for You, the You that You are for Us (Melucci, 1996 48). 

To answer this need to understand social systems, from Critical Theory a new body of social theory has emerged such as that of the late Alberto Melucci who in his work on social movements sought to explore how individuals create meaning for their lives in a planetary society . Melucci combined poststructuralism with systems thinking. In this sense, systems are contextual, they are nested within other systems that interconnect to form networks but how the... 

Capeheart, L., MUovanovic, D. (2007). Social justice Theories, issues, and movements. New Brunswick Rutgers University Press. 

What we have witnessed over the last decade and a half is a powerful movement to promote the idea of the chemical imbalance led by the pharmaceutical industry, but with the psychiatric profession in tow. Previously, biological theories were only generally applied to severe psychiatric disorders and had little relevance to the general population. However social scientist Nicholas Rose has written of how these ideas... 

Alternative assessment theories challenge us to consider assessment within a complicated rhetorical context. As a whole, the alternative assessment movement seeks to move beyond scientistic notions of reliability and validity to promote rhetorical assessment. In seeking approaches to valid assessment that align validity with ethical and social concerns as well as with statistical concerns, alternative assessments seek to create new understandings of writing. 

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