3171 - Non-State Opposition to and Suppression of Social Movements

Session Submission Type: Paper Session 100min

Description

Conflict between opposing movements seems to be on the rise, exemplified most dramatically by clashes between alt-right and antifa demonstrators. This is a reminder that it is not always the state, but sometimes another movement, that is the most formidable foe of a social movement. The literature on movements and countermovements has framed itself in terms of opposition rather than repression or suppression. The literature on social movement repression remains focused on the state as the principle, if not only, actor engaged in repression of movements. This has left the phenomenon of non-state suppression of movements woefully undertheorized. In this session, we work to move beyond state-centric understandings of opposition to and suppression of social movements by more critically examining the dynamics of counterprotest and other ways that non-state actors work to oppose, stop, or silence their opponents. One goal of the session is to prompt a consideration of the similarities and differences between opposition to a counter-movement and attempts to suppress a counter-movement. Submissions of papers exploring topics such as the following are invited: the causes and consequences of counterprotest; the ways that counterprotest is similar (in it causes, dynamics, or its effects) or different from state repression of movements; and the relationship between counterprotest and state repression, including how the presence of counterprotesters shapes state response and how this state response then shapes these opposing movements. Other papers focusing on this central issue from another vantage point are also welcome.

Sub Unit

• Section on Collective Behavior and Social Movements / Non-State Opposition to and Suppression of Social Movements

Session Organizer

• Heidi Reynolds-Stenson, University of Arizona

Presider

• Lesley J. Wood, York University

Individual Presentations

• Brethren No More: How Churches Shaped Conflict between Abolitionists and the Proslavery Countermovement - Kristin George, University of California-Berkeley

• Everyday Repression: Para-Police, Thugs, and Routine Coercion in China - Lynette H. Ong, University of Toronto

• The Commercilization of Dissent Management: The Industry of Internet-opinon Management in China - Rui Hou, Queen's University

Discussant

• Heidi Reynolds-Stenson, University of Arizona