Social Movements and the Creation of New Power

• In Event: Democracy and Unequal Power: Causes, Consequences, and Solutions

Abstract

Deva Woodly takes a page from Michel Foucalt and contends that we should not think of power as a finite resource to be properly distributed. Instead, she takes up Iris Young's critique of "the distributive paradigm" and argues that the critical questions regarding how power should be wielded are questions of justice that cannot be answered solely through distributive remedies but must first be addressed at the level of power relations. Young’s critique of the distributive paradigm is manifold. First, she points out that it is inaccurate. It asks us to treat as distributable, things that cannot be distributed – non-material things like rights, power, opportunities, and respect. This first order inaccuracy causes a fundamental misunderstanding of the world – where we are related and separated by relations and the processes they give rise to, in addition to brute facts and material goods. Indeed, since relations and processes almost always determine the ways that material goods are distributed, to speak of whether one has one’s “just” portion, is to beg the question. I argue that organized groups like social movements can change social relations in ways that create new power relations, both within existing institutions and outside them which can lead to lasting social and political change. Social movements are able to effect these changes not only by organizing people but also, crucially, by (re) organizing ideas, changing public meanings and political possibilities as they seek the social and institutional arrangements that animate their causes.

Author

• Deva Woodly, New School for Social Research