Complexity and social movements: multitudes at the edge of chaos

Chesters, Graeme and Welsh, Ian 2006. Complexity and social movements: multitudes at the edge of chaos. International Library of Sociology, London: Routledge.

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Abstract

Fusing two key concerns of contemporary sociology: globalization and its discontents, and the 'complexity turn' in social theory, authors Chesters and Welsh utilize complexity theory to analyze the shifting constellation of social movement networks that constitute opposition to neo-liberal globalization. They explore how seemingly chaotic and highly differentiated social actors interacting globally through computer mediated communications, face-to-face gatherings and protests constitute a 'multitude' not easily grasped through established models of social and political change. Drawing upon extensive empirical research and utilizing concepts drawn from the natural and social sciences this book suggests a framework for understanding mobilization, identity formation and information flows in global social movements operating within complex societies. It suggests that this 'movement of movements' exhibits an emergent order on the edge of chaos, a turbulence that is recasting political agency in the twenty-first century.

Item Type:	Book
Book Type:	Authored Book
Date Type:	Publication
Status:	Published
Schools:	Social Sciences (Includes Criminology and Education)
Subjects:	H Social Sciences > HM Sociology
Publisher:	Routledge
ISBN:	9780415344142
Related URLs:	Publisher
Last Modified:	23 Jul 2020 01:52
URI:	https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/3118

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