For a global sociology of social movements. Beyond methodological globalism and extractivism

ABSTRACT

The rising influence of actors and worldviews from the Global South in contemporary movements calls for renewed approach, method and epistemology in social movement studies. It raises practical, theoretical, methodological and epistemological challenges. How to study global movements without ceding to the pitfalls of methodological globalism and epistemic extractivism? How to conciliate the diversity of struggles with the global dimensions of a movement? This reflexive paper draws on the author’s previous research on global movements since 1999 to discuss these challenges and propose an approach built on four pillars: multi-site research, transnational analytical tools, dialogues with local actors and researchers, and an ethic oriented towards intercultural dialogues. Under these premises, global sociology becomes a collective project that combines researchers’ and actors’ reflexivities in a common quest for a better understanding of our world and the actors who seek to transform it.

KEYWORDS:

• Global sociology
• global movements
• social movements
• qualitative methodology
• intercultural dialogue
• multi-sited fieldwork

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Correction Statement

This article has been corrected with minor changes. These changes do not impact the academic content of the article.

Notes

1 The author would like to thank Laurence Cox for his support and insightful comments.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Geoffrey Pleyers

Geoffrey Pleyers is an FNRS researcher and professor of sociology at the Catholic University of Louvain (UCLouvain, Belgium). He is the current Vice-President for Research of the International Sociological Association and the past president of ISA Research Committee on Social Movements. He holds a PhD in sociology from the Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales, Paris (2006). His main books are ‘Alter-Globalization. Becoming Actors in the Global Age’ (Polity Press, 2011) and ‘Movimientos sociales en el siglo XXI’ (CLACSO, 2018).