Temporality in social movement theory: vectors and events in the neoliberal timescape

Figures & data

Table 1. Three movements-as-waves, overview.

	Alter-Globalization	Anti-War	Occupy/15-M
Peak Years	1999–2001 ^a	2002–3	2011–12
Primary Repertoire	Confrontational demonstrations	Orderly marches	Occupation
Targets	International institutions	National governments	Political and economic elites
Precursors	Wave of ‘IMF riots’ in less economically developed countries (1980s); Zapatista uprising (1994); campaign against Multi-lateral Agreement on Investments (late 1990s).	Organizing against the military response to 9/11 started in 2001; drew on networks from Alter-Globalization movement and long-term peace organizations.	Icelandic ‘pots and pans revolution’ (from 2008–9); Arab Spring (from late 2010); tax transparency movements (from 2010); longer history in Alter-Globalization networks.
Successors	World Social Forum and regional and local equivalents (from 2001); continuing demonstrations at IFI meetings.	Some continuing organizational presence focusing on a variety of foreign policy issues.	Range of local and community-centered initiatives; very geographically variable.

^aThe fuzziness of the spatio-temporal boundaries of movements indicated above is especially true for the Alter-Globalization movement; here I indicate the height of the ‘summit hopping’ phase of the movement. For a longer and more global view, see, e.g. Pleyers (2011), Cox and Nilsen (2014).

Table 2. Countervailing vectors of political economy.

	In elite organisations	In movement groups
Ideational Core	Economic growth as purpose of political economy; fairness as ‘free market’ competition at collective and individual levels, even where that must be created and maintained by states.	Pursuit of social justice and ecological sustainability via democratic control at local, national and international levels; seen as necessitating conflict with powerful actors.
Action-oriented Core	Characteristic policies pursued via international financial institutions and nation-states; empowerment of private corporations.	‘Diversity of tactics’ enables both moral claims-making alongside militant attempts to directly disrupt workings of targeted actors.
Basis for Reproduction	Strongly embedded in international financial institutions and professional economics, hence power to construct economic ‘common sense’.	Centrality of sharing knowledge in events and via citizen media initiatives; activist literature and longer-term groups provide practical activist training.
Post-9/11 Modifications	Rise of neoconservativism and doctrine of liberal interventionism; exists in tension with continuing neoliberal policy processes.	Shifting focus from economy to international relations; more emphasis on national power alongside corporate ambitions; moral appeals to UN and democratic states more visible than continuing direct action.
Post-Crisis Modifications	Enhanced role for some nation states in maintaining markets, especially through ‘quantitative easing’; increased activity of IMF as lender within Europe.	Greater focus on interpersonal inequality and role of wealthy elites from both political and economic institutions; rejection of legitimacy of key national democratic institutions.

Table 3. Complementary vectors of networked organisation.

	In elite organisations	In movement groups
Ideational Core	Flatter, horizontal networks within and beyond firms seen as providing flexibility to respond to rapidly changing markets; enables greater use of worker knowledge more worker control (e.g. ‘Toyotism’)	Networks as fluid, nimble and better able to cope with repression; avoidance of ‘vertical’ dominating power relationships; makes best use of grounded experience, knowledge and skills of individuals.
Action-oriented Core	Outsourcing; multi-firm networks; removal of some middle-management layers; multi-role workers; networking as inherently valuable activity.	Sharing experiences, knowledge and skills through a variety of forums; ‘hubs and spokes’ model for organising actions; facilitation and role rotation in meetings; networking as mobilization.
Basis for Reproduction	Present in management literature and training; encouraged by trade liberalisation, banking deregulation and affordances of ICTs.	Present in core movement documents that have shaped practice^a and standard meeting rules; further encouraged by use of ICTs in mobilization.

^aExamples include the People’s Global Action Hallmarks, which in turn inspired the Indymedia Organising Principles and the World Social Forum Charter of Principles (Gillan, 2006, ch. 8).

Table 4. Complementary vectors of autonomous subjectivities.

	In elite organisations	In movement groups
Ideational Core	Autonomy as solution to critiques of alienating nature of Fordist workplace; gives workers freedom to pursue individualised career trajectories; autonomy as choice in consumption.	Autonomy a prerequisite for meaningful democratic deliberation and avoidance of discrimination.
Action-oriented Core	Flexible specialization affects both production and consumption; increasing use of flexible contract types; increasing provision of choice in both consumer markets and public service provision. ^a	Freedom to enter and exit movement spaces regardless of categorical memberships; practices that emphasise respect for individual knowledge and positionality.
Basis for Reproduction	Management literature; market successes; use of branding to generate impression of (and desire for) choice between functionally similar products.	Oft-repeated meeting rules, reproduced in many different groups; facilitation training; further encouraged by coherence with network organisation.

^aThere is seemingly a stark contradiction between the positive evaluation of autonomy here and the related process of flexibilization. For those familiar with the critique (or experience) of precarious working conditions generated by the demand for a flexible labour market, it would seem to produce quite the opposite of autonomy for most workers. The purported connection between flexibility and autonomy is most likely to exist among the management cadres considered by Boltanski and Chiapello (2007). Nevertheless, the discursive connection here has undoubtedly been influential on policies intended to enhance flexible working (e.g. the 1997 EU Part-time Working Directive) as well as the more recent claims for the ‘sharing economy’ (Sundararajan, 2017).

Pleyers, G. (2011). Alter-globalization: Becoming actors in the global age. Cambridge: Polity Press.

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Cox, L., & Nilsen, A. G. (2014). We make our own history: marxism and social movements in the twilight of neoliberalism. London: Pluto Press.

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Gillan, K. (2006). Meaning in Movement. An Ideational Analysis of Sheffield-Based Protest Networks Contesting Globalisation and War ( PhD Thesis). University of Sheffield. Retrieved from http://kevingillan.info/tag/thesis

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Boltanski, L., & Chiapello, E. (2007). The new spirit of capitalism. G. Elliott, Trans.. London: Verso.

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Sundararajan, A. (2017). The sharing economy (MIT Press): The end of employment and the rise of crowd-based capitalism. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.

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