Resisting Power: A Typology of Contemporary Social Movements Addressing Issues of Race and Ethnicity

• In Event: 474 - Section on Collective Behavior and Social Movements Refereed Roundtable Session and Business Meeting
  In Refereed Roundtable 60min: Table 09. Intersectionality and Social Movements

Abstract

Power implies resistance to larger social structures, but what does this power really entail? What is the target to which this resistance can be applied? Using Steven Lukes’ conception of three fundamental dimensions of power, I suggest that a typology based on the form of power to be resisted might provide a useful basis for comparison. Many contemporary activists have not sought the ability change larger structures of society so much as they have strived to its culture, embedded within individual values. More broadly, I also consider how social scientists should conceptualize contemporary identity-based social movements.

Author

• Craig Upright, Winona State University