Dr Joseph Ibrahim

The chapter discusses the main actions, alliances, political formations and ideological compositions of the twenty-first-century British anti-capitalist movement. The anarchist and anarchical mobilizations emerged in the 1990s and carried on well into 2005; the new socialist and socialism-influenced political mobilizations emerged in 2001 and were galvanized primarily by the wars on Afghanistan and Iraq. Although anti-capitalism has existed as long as capitalism, as an oppositional phenomenon, social movements come in waves or cycles of contention, dependent on grievances, resources, political opportunities and the emergence and spread of political cultures, identity and ideas. The particular wave discussed charts the main groups from the 1990s through to 2005. The broadly speaking socialist anti-capitalist contingent, which included the SWP, GR, StWC and the various groups that were part of the mobilization in Gleneagles, the G8 Alternatives, filled a political gap in British left politics. It included those who were anti-war, pro-trade union, anti-New Labour and pro-environment.

Within many societies across the world, new social and political movements have sprung up that either challengeformal parliamentary structures of democracy and participation, or work within them and, in the process, fundamentally alter the ideological content of democratic potentials. At the same time, some parliamentary political parties have attracted a new type of ‘populist’ political rhetoric and support base. This collection, along with its accompanying volume 2, examines the emergence of, and the connections between, these new types of left-wing democracy and participation. Through an array of examples from different countries, it explains why left-wing activism arises in new and innovative spaces in society and how this joins up with conventional left-wing politics, including parliamentary politics. It demonstrates how these new forms of politics can resonate with the real life experiences of ordinary people and thereby win support for left-wing agendas.

This paper offers a theoretical critique of the Occupy movement by drawing on V.I. Lenin’s work, Left-wing Communism: an Infantile Disorder (LWC). This work emphasizes the importance of recognizing political power within institutionalized political systems, for example, trade unions and parliamentary democracy. We bring the ideas contained in this work to bear on the Occupy movement by drawing on 20 activist accounts from two UK Occupy camps to argue that the Occupy movement was an earlier phase of a developing political challenge to neoliberalism. In this respect, Occupy was an immature politics unlikely to lead to social change. However, recent research suggests that the creation of a new wave of ‘movement parties’ (della Porta et al., 2017) are a more organized and politically mature response to neoliberal austerity, which to some extent grew out of the mass movement assemblies like the Occupy movement. By applying Lenin’s ideas to analyse the main political practices of Occupy, this paper argues that a Leninist viewpoint could offer some practical improvements towards the political strategy of new movements by being part of a coalition of activists and trade unionists, with the ultimate aim of working within parliamentary democracy.

Abstract

Resistance to neo‐liberalism had been gathering pace for sometime before it crystallised into the alternative globalisation movement (AGM) in 1999 at the Third Ministerial meeting of the World Trade Organisation in Seattle, WA, USA. Since then, many more protests have ensued in cities around the globe against the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank, and the G8. The emergence of this phenomenon has precipitated new research and debates for social movement studies and social sciences generally. This paper critically reviews some of the new academic perspectives on the AGM including, post‐structuralist anarchist, autonomist, complexity theorisations, as well as new applications of older social movement theories such as the political process approach and new social movement theory. The paper explains the emergence and establishment of the World Social Forum (WSF) and the theoretical and practical difficulties of a charter which suggests such an inclusive an open ended rubric. Finally, the paper concludes by arguing that further research on the tensions within the WSF and the AGM is required if an answer is to be provided to the question: Is another World Possible?

In this book, Ibrahim employs Bourdieu's key concepts in order to explain the complex dynamics of social movements by detailing the key stages of development of, and ideological conflict between, 21st century British anti-capitalist organizations, and their interactions with wider social and political forces.

This article provides a study of ideological conflict and competition between anarchist and socialists in the British anti-capitalist movement between 2001 and 2005. Using an ethnographic study, including 30 semi-structured interviews, observations of major mobilisations and documentary analysis, I argue that a symbolic struggle for ideological dominance over the anti-capitalist movement took place. To understand and explain the dynamics of this movement struggle I conceptualise the anti-capitalist movement as a field in the Bourdieusian sense of the term. Anarchist networks were the dominant players within this field for over a decade; however, the emergence and actions of newly formed socialist organisations challenged their dominance. Both sides attempted to accrue different forms of capital to further their ideological agenda which brought them into conflict with each other. This conceptualisation offers a new direction for understanding conflict, not just for anti-capitalist activists, but also for the study of social movements generally. © 2013 Copyright Taylor and Francis Group, LLC.

This profile gives an overview of the student protests and university occupations of the winter of 2010–2011 against the Conservative–Liberal Democrat coalition government's higher education bill. In particular, the lifting of the cap on annual higher education tuition fees to £9000 pa was widely perceived by students (and lecturers) as unjust, unfair and a very real barrier to higher education. In order to understand the political dynamics of these student mobilisations, I argue both that we need to consider the network structure that exists on university campuses and how it facilitates political mobilisations, and to see the protests as a moral economy directed against a new toll on higher education.

This article explores the role of ‘critical mass’ and social networks in the generation of collective action. Drawing on qualitative and quantitative (social network) data, the article argues that both are pivotal in the process whereby collective action takes shape. The empirical focus of the article is student politics but it is argued that the mechanisms and dynamics identified have a much wider domain of application.

The winter of 2010 through to the spring of 2011 saw a number of high profile, nationally and locally organised student protests and occupations of university campuses all around the UK. These were a direct response to the UK government policy to lift the cap on higher education (HE) tuition fees and the reduction in government funding for HE institutions in England. To explain this revolt, I draw on the work of Thompson [1971. The moral economy of the English crowd in the 18th century. Past & Present, 50, 76-136; 1993. Customs in common: Studies in traditional popular culture. New York, NY: New Press] to argue that they were a 'moral economy' of protests. This paper draws on a two-and-a-half-year ethnographic study of the student political community. I argue that the student community have mobilised in defence of an embedded tradition - affordable HE - and that they are politically motivated by what they consider to be an entitlement violation. © 2013 Academy of Social Sciences.

This study focuses on the political attitudes of UK citizens in the aftermath of the ‘Brexit’ vote. It has been argued that differences within electorates across Europe are found in disputes over taxes, redistribution of wealth and social welfare, as much as in divergent ideas on how to deal with globalisation, migration, and climate change. This article uses the 2016–2017 round of the European Social Survey (N = 1959) to shed light on two important issues in regard to the relationship between ‘old’ and ‘new’ politics. By using multiple correspondence analysis, we first consider the structure, or dimensionality, of the space of political attitudes in contemporary UK society. Contrary to a prevailing discourse that forwards the argument that postmaterial values constitute an altogether separate political dimension in late modernity, we observe that such values collapse into traditional left/right standpoints. Second, we discuss the connection between class (economic capital, cultural capital, and occupational class) and position-takings in the space of political attitudes. We show that class retains a limited effect on political position-takings, where educational capital plays the most important role. The divisions between the politically interested–uninterested, old–young, men–women, and rural–urban are more clearly demarcated than differences between people of different social class positions. Furthermore, polarisation is most prevalent between a highly opinionated, relatively resourceful, small minority of the population.

Abstract

This article reviews the literature on student protest movements, during and after the mass mobilisations of the 1960s. It considers the usefulness of the major social movement frameworks that have been applied to student protest movements. The first part of the article explains how the new social movement paradigm developed from the wave of 1960s protests in the United States and Europe. This was because of a rare conjunction of social and political structural societal changes and dynamics within the student population. The second part considers student protest movements in authoritarian regimes. In particular, how the political process approach allows for an analysis of student protests after the 1960s within and outside of the occident. The third considers the relatively recent application of social network analysis to student protests and the politicising effect of the university campus. Finally, the article concludes by arguing that student protest movements are not a homogenous phenomenon. Their dynamics and the political structures they challenge vary between countries. Furthermore, although the conditions of student life and the rapid turnover of generations suggest sustained long‐term political activity is not possible, recent research drawing upon social network analysis suggests political activity across student generations may be maintained.

This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book considers a range of international protests and cycles of contention that emerged after the financial crash of 2007/2008. It focuses on the impact of digital media on the left-wing movement RevSoc in Egypt and draws on the famous Gezi Park rebellion in 2013, located next to Taksim Square, Istanbul, Turkey. The book also focuses on urban activism and its relationship with the touristification in European cities. It discusses the evolution, situation and prospects of left-wing parties and groups in Chile, with a special focus from the student protests of 2011 up to the present time.The book demonstrates flaws in the particular school of thought around hegemony and argues that left-wing movements needto bring K. Marx’s critique of political economy back into their practical analysis of contemporary capitalism.

Open Marxists argue that capitalist society is mediated through forms of alienated and dispossessed labour from the means of production. For Open Marxists, then, labour is fluid in its constitution because it is constantly struggling to various degrees in and against its alienated and dispossessed capitalist form. Static sociological concepts of social class therefore cannot fully grasp this fluid and antagonistic relationship between labour and capital. In this paper, we agree that the starting point for an analysis of class under capitalism is the dispossession of labour from its means of production. But we further argue that even at this relatively high level of theoretical analysis, it is still possible to isolate a more complex account of social class than many Open Marxists would accept. We then employ this alternative class perspective to highlight some weaknesses in respective Open Marxist accounts of class and social and political movements. Following these critical observations, and with the theoretical assistance of Gramscian analysis, we demonstrate how Open Marxism can develop a more robust account of the class nature of contemporary social and political movements.

This book will be very useful for any social scientist wanting to know why capitalism as an economic system periodically crashes and how we can make the transition to postcapitalism.

This article argues that Bourdieu’s theory of practice provides a useful and dynamic framework which may be used to examine the reproduction of political practice. I use the Bourdieusian theoretical model to analyse and interpret data collected from 30 semi-structured interviews with British anti-capitalist activists from a range of anarchist and socialist political organizations and networks. The interviews reveal a clear case of political distinction between anarchists and socialists. The political history, political methods, and ideology of the activists become embodied and routinized over time. This explains why and how there is a durable ideological division which is consistently reproduced over and over again within sections of the British anti-capitalist movement.

Abstract This article reviews the literature on student protest movements, during and after the mass mobilisations of the 1960s. It considers the usefulness of the major social movement frameworks that have been applied to student protest movements. The first part of the article explains how the new social movement paradigm developed from the wave of 1960s protests in the United States and Europe. This was because of a rare conjunction of social and political structural societal changes and dynamics within the student population. The second part considers student protest movements in authoritarian regimes. In particular, how the political process approach allows for an analysis of student protests after the 1960s within and outside of the occident. The third considers the relatively recent application of social network analysis to student protests and the politicising effect of the university campus. Finally, the article concludes by arguing that student protest movements are not a homogenous phenomenon. Their dynamics and the political structures they challenge vary between countries. Furthermore, although the conditions of student life and the rapid turnover of generations suggest sustained long‐term political activity is not possible, recent research drawing upon social network analysis suggests political activity across student generations may be maintained.

Goth emerged from post-punk, and by the 1980s became an identifiable feature of the popular music scene and wider popular culture. Fuelled by the success of bands such as the Sisters of Mercy, goth music and culture spread around the world, interacting with wider alternative, gothic fashions. At the end of the 1980s, goth reached a peak of interest followed by retrenchment into the alternative, subcultural spaces from which it had emerged. Nonetheless, it survives. In this article, we interview goths who became active in the 1980s and who remain engaged in order to understand how they became goths and what goth meant to them then. Using memory work, we are interested in how these goths construct their own histories and mythologies, and what this might tell us about the political and sociological importance of goth as a counter-hegemonic space at a time of globalization, consumption and commodification. We explore how they remember goth emerging from the post-punk scene with its radical politics and alternative, anti-mainstream culture. We examine the way these individuals remember becoming goth and their awareness of being in a goth scene. We then show how they remember and construct stories of when goth retrenched in an alternative underground that reconstructed the counter-hegemonic politics of punk and post-punk. Finally, we show what happened in the late 1980s and early 1990s and argue that the scene, or that part of the scene represented by our goths, is following a dialectical path carved out of the neo-Gramscian concept of negotiation when faced with the culturally and aesthetically hegemonic effect of a dominant culture.

This article applies Zygmunt Bauman’s notion of liquid modernity to understand the dynamics of temporary communities through the branded strength and conditioning programme of CrossFit (CF). By drawing on 18 semi-structured interviews across 4 different UK CF gyms, we argue that to some participants CF offers a temporary return to a modified version of the strong social bonds associated with older forms of community (described by Ferdinand Tönnies as Gemeinschaft). These close communities, however, are modified by their intermingling with contemporary capitalist relations and their service to the development of individual identity and body projects consistent with recent re-conceptualizations. These new forms retain some Gemeinschaft characteristics, such as a space for friendship and camaraderie, while also providing opportunities to work on individual life and body projects. Ultimately, due to their temporary character and focus on self-development, we argue they are best categorized as what Zygmunt Bauman refers to as ‘peg communities’.

This paper provides a novel application of Bourdieu’s theory to the implementation of public policy in the mental health field, by deploying two of his lesser-used concepts (doxa and illusio). Framing a local case study as a Bourdieusian game, we demonstrate how these concepts have explanatory power within the field and how national policy discourses at once influenced and constrained by neoliberalism have real and long-lasting effects when it comes to the implementation of public policy. We found three key themes in the case study: doxa as a narrative device (‘mental health is everybody’s business’); the linking of this doxa with the game’s illusio in a shared view that the policy should address the problem of a high rate of ‘inappropriate referrals’ into specialist services; and the consequences of the dynamic between the game’s doxa and illusio for the organisational hierarchy in the mental health services field. We do not evaluate the success of the policy, but instead apply and explore the potential of Bourdieu’s concepts to provide explanatory power to the processes and interactions evident in the implementation programme. This paper highlights the potential of such a theoretically based analytical approach, which could be applied in other contexts and to other health fields and policy domains.