Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in
Book cover

Everyday Resistance pp 263–280Cite as

Palgrave Macmillan

Is the “New Activism” Really New?

  • Chapter
  • First Online:

Abstract

Many French journalists and sociologists claim that for several years now activism has been experiencing major transformations. This chapter confronts this theory of activism’s mutation with data collected during three investigations into movements portrayed as iconic mutants: the mobilisations of precarious workers, the struggle led by artists with intermittent jobs (intermittents du spectacle) and the Réseau éducation sans frontières (“Education without borders network”), which supports undocumented migrant pupils. Four aspects of activist renewal are considered: repertoires of collective action, organisational devices, activist practices and the issues at stake in the mobilisations, especially in relation to politics. Though the theory of activism’s mutation is not confirmed by the data collected, the chapter stresses that this theory might nonetheless have the effect of a self-fulfilling prophecy thanks to the movements’ recruitment of highly educated young people.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution.

Chapter
USD   29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD   89.00
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD   119.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book
USD   119.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Learn about institutional subscriptions

Notes

  1. 1.

    Several disadvantaged groups who have been the object of activist mobilisations are designated by their lack of papers authorising their stay in France, of housing or of work. Since they frequently overlap and present many common demands, their protests have been brought together under the heading “mouvement des sans” (literally “movement of the lacking”).

  2. 2.

    Also see Havard-Duclos, Nicourd (2005), Nicourd (2009); and, for the case of ecology , Ollitrault (2008).

  3. 3.

    The French “Supermarché de la Culture” is used to refer to very large retail outlets selling books, CDs, DVDs and so on.

  4. 4.

    The first two movements were studied during research for DARES conducted with Annie Collovald (Collovald and Mathieu 2008) and the third during ANR “Frontières” research (Mathieu 2010) .

  5. 5.

    “Such happenings shake up the classic game of protests” (Prolongeau 2009).

  6. 6.

    The Césars are the prizes awarded each year to professionals in the film industry. The ceremony is broadcast live on television.

  7. 7.

    Which, we may note in passing, runs counter to the denunciations of social movements’ unilateral subservience to the demands of the media : their relations are more of the order of transactions, the activists agreeing to provide the journalists with what they expect (“nice images”, soundbites, etc.) in exchange for an account of their action, and neither of the parties is fooled by the demands and constraints of the other.

  8. 8.

    Salariés Précaires des Supermarchés de la Culture (Precarious Employees of the Culture Supermarkets), Intermittents du Spectacle (Temporary Entertainment-Industry Workers) and Défenseurs des Sans-Papiers (Defenders of the Sans-Papiers) all exhibit a high level of cultural capital , though this assumes contrasting forms (in the case of the former, e.g., this is not always objectified in a diploma).

  9. 9.

    The New Employment Contract was a government measure intended to promote the employment of young workers through a contract that their employer could terminate quickly and without justification . It was denounced for making young employees’ working lives more precarious and was withdrawn by the government in 2006 following a substantial mobilisation .

  10. 10.

    Also see Pleyers (2009).

  11. 11.

    Solidaires is a trade union that brings together several recently-formed unions, often founded by former activists from older unions (in particular CFDT), which intends to develop a less bureaucratic and more interprofessional approach to union activity.

  12. 12.

    Thus, the accent is placed on individual autonomy when it is proposed that “horizontal, flexible, RESF is every one [of us]”. This situation is favoured by the fact that the network supposedly has “neither a leader nor a spokesperson” (Merckx 2010, p. 16) .

  13. 13.

    It is easy to see that “total” activism, thus conceived, is akin to the idea of “totalitarianism” and that its privileged incarnation is the Communist Party. Thus, this type of analysis revives analyses of the Communist Party as a “total institution” in the Goffmanian sense (Verdès-Leroux 1981).

  14. 14.

    As for this director and singer: “I involved myself full-time in this struggle so, from May 2003 to May 2004, I didn’t get any money at all because I refused to ask for the RMI, so I sold my record collection, I sold my apartment, I bought my struggle, in some sense”.

  15. 15.

    Also see Barthélémy (2000), and Muxel (2010).

  16. 16.

    The same diagnosis of a “refusal to enter into classical political organisation” can be found in the work of Florence Aubenas and Miguel Benasayag : “No formation as a party. Rejection of leaders. No ideology is held up as a standard, no text serves as a bible, no regime is described as the promised paradise” (2002, pp. 11–12).

  17. 17.

    This law requires political parties to put forward a gender-balanced list of candidates at all elections.

References

  • Abdelnour, S., Collovald, A., Mathieu, L., Péroumal, F., & Perrin, E. (2009). Précarité et luttes collectives: renouvellement, refus de la délégation ou décalages d’expériences militantes ? Sociétés contemporaines, 74, 49–71.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Achin, C., et al. (2007). Sexe, genre et politique. Paris: Economica.

    Google Scholar 

  • Aubenas, F., & Benasayag, M. (2002). Résister, c’est créer. Paris: La Découverte.

    Google Scholar 

  • Barthélémy, M. (2000). Associations: un nouvel âge de la participation? Paris: Presses de Sciences Po.

    Google Scholar 

  • Boltanski, L. (2012). Love and Justice as Competences. Cambridge: Polity Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Boltanski, L., & Chiapello, E. (2006). The New Spirit of Capitalism. London: Verso.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bourdieu, P. (2010). Distinction. London: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Brodiez, A. (2006). Le Secours populaire français (1945–2000). Paris: Presses de Sciences-po.

    Google Scholar 

  • Champagne, P. (1984). La manifestation. La production de l’événement politique. Actes de la recherche en sciences sociales, 52–53, 18–41.

    Google Scholar 

  • Collovald, A. (2002). Pour une sociologie des carrières morales des dévouements militants. In A. Collovald (Ed.), L’humanitaire ou le management des dévouements (pp. 177–229). Rennes: PUR.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Collovald, A., & Mathieu, L. (2008). Les retournements de l’improbable. Les conditions de la mobilisation collective des intermittents du spectacle et des salariés de grandes librairies et de centres d’appel, document d’étude, DARES.

    Google Scholar 

  • Corcuff, P., & Mathieu, L. (2009). Partis et mouvements sociaux: des illusions de l’‘actualité’ à une mise en perspective sociologique. Actuel Marx, 46, 67–80.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cottin-Marx, S. (2009). Les conséquences d’un engagement intense sur la carrière biographique. Les militants du collectif Génération précaire. mémoire de M2 en science politique, Université Paris 1.

    Google Scholar 

  • Fillieule, O., & Mayer, N. (Eds.). (2001). Devenirs militants. Revue française de science politique, 51(1–2), 199–215.

    Google Scholar 

  • Freeman, J. (1972–1973). The Tyranny of Structurelessness. Berkeley Journal of Sociology, XVII, 151–165.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gaxie, D. (1977). Économie des partis et rétributions du militantisme. Revue française de science politique, 27(1), 123–154.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Havard-Duclos, B., & Nicourd, S. (2005). Pourquoi s’engager ? Bénévoles et militants dans les associations de solidarité. Paris: Payot.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ion, J. (1997). La fin des militants? Paris: L’Atelier.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Ion, J., Franguiadakis, S., & Viot, P. (2005). Militer aujourd’hui. Paris: Autrement.

    Google Scholar 

  • Jeanneau, L., & Lernould, S. (2008). Les nouveaux militants. Paris: Les Petits matins.

    Google Scholar 

  • Leschi, D. (1996). Les coordinations, filles des années 68. Clio. Histoire, femmes et sociétés, 3. http://clio.revues.org/index467.html

  • Mathieu, L. (2010). Soutenir les familles sans-papiers. L’engagement dans le Réseau éducation sans frontières. In D. Fassin (Ed.), Les nouvelles frontières de la société française (pp. 317–338). Paris: La Découverte.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mathieu, L. (2012). L’Espace des mouvements sociaux. Bellecombe-en-Bauges: Le Croquant.

    Google Scholar 

  • Merckx, I. (2010, Mars 4). Dossier RESF. Portrait d’un contre-pouvoir. Politis.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mouchard, D. (2002). Les mobilisations des “sans” dans la France contemporaine l’émergence d’un “radicalisme autolimité”. Revue française de science politique, 52(4), 425–447.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Muxel, A. (2010). Avoir 20 ans en politique. Paris: Seuil.

    Google Scholar 

  • Nicourd, S. (Ed.). (2009). Le travail militant. Rennes: PUR.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ollitrault, S. (2008). Militer pour la planète. Sociologie des écologistes. Rennes: PUR.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Passeron, J.-C. (2013). Sociological Reasoning. A Non-Popperian Space of Argumentation. Oxford: Bardwell.

    Google Scholar 

  • Perrin, E. (2004). Chômeurs et précaires au cœur de la question sociale. Paris: La Dispute.

    Google Scholar 

  • Perrineau, P. (Ed.). (1994). L’engagement, déclin ou mutation? Paris: Presses de Sciences Po.

    Google Scholar 

  • Pleyers, G. (2009). Horizontalité et efficacité dans les réseaux altermondialistes. Sociologie et sociétés, XLI(2), 89–110.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Prolongeau, H. (2009, Septembre 11). Les partisans du rire militant. Le Monde 2.

    Google Scholar 

  • Séry, M. (2009, Septembre 24). Le militantisme s’arme d’humour et de non-violence. Le Monde.

    Google Scholar 

  • Tilly, C. (2004). Social Movements 1768–2004. Boulder: Paradigm.

    Google Scholar 

  • Verdès-Leroux, J. (1981). Le Parti communiste français, une institution totale auto-perpétuée. Actes de la recherche en sciences sociales, 36, 33–63.

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Ecole Normale Supérieure de Lyon, Lyon, France

    Lilian Mathieu

Authors
  1. Lilian Mathieu
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Lilian Mathieu .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. FNRS, Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Liège, Liège, Belgium

    Bruno Frère

  2. Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Liège, Liège, Belgium

    Marc Jacquemain

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2020 The Author(s)

About this chapter

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this chapter

Mathieu, L. (2020). Is the “New Activism” Really New?. In: Frère, B., Jacquemain, M. (eds) Everyday Resistance. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-18987-7_11

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-18987-7_11

  • Published:

  • Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-030-18986-0

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-030-18987-7

  • eBook Packages: Social SciencesSocial Sciences (R0)

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation