Page 122 - Contemporary Political Sociology Globalization Politics and Power

108 Social Movements

themselves as actors must be taken seriously if social action is to be prop-
erly understood (Touraine 1981 : 57 – 9).
Nevertheless, despite Touraine ’ s opposition to Marxism, much of his

sociology of action has clearly been influenced by the central idea of
Marxist theory that all history is the history of class struggle. According
to Touraine, every society is formed by two opposing social movements,
which he goes so far as to call class movements. He does not see these
classes, however, as struggling over ownership and control of the means
of production of a society, as Marxists do, but rather over the control of
what he calls “ historicity. ” By “ historicity, ” Touraine means the processes
by which society is produced as a result of conscious refl ection on social
action and its conditions.
In every society, according to Touraine, there is one key confl ict between

opposed social movements: the conflict between the dominant class which
has appropriated historicity, changing it into order through organization,
and the dominated who attempt to re - appropriate it, to break down the

status quo , reveal the conflict it conceals, and introduce innovatory ways
of thinking, working, and living. Touraine agrees with Marxists that in
industrial society the key conflict was between capitalists and proletariat,

though he thinks it is a mistake to think of it solely in economic terms
since, although it was a struggle over the distribution and control of mate-
rial resources, this was as a means to the control of historicity rather than
as an end in itself. However, he argues that we are now living through
the transition to a “ post - industrial ” or “ programmed ” society: there has
been a shift from manufacturing toward knowledge - based industries in
which education, training, information, design, and so on are central to
production. In such a society, control over information and knowledge
are the immediate stakes of social conflict, and technocrats are the domi-

nant class to the extent that the interests of the society as a whole are
identified with the technological development and management of orga-

nizations they achieve. For Touraine, this leads to new forms of confl ict
which are more cultural than economic. The opposing class is not made
up solely of workers, but of all those subject to technocratic control; for
example, consumers or simply “ the general public. ” According to
Touraine, class struggle in post - industrial society is no longer in the name
of political or workers ’ rights; it is not related to economic class struggle,
but for people ’ s right to choose and control their own lives.
In Touraine ’ s view, since social movements now struggle directly over
the social conditions of self - determination, contemporary society works
on itself directly through culture to a greater extent than ever before.
His definition of social action makes clear his view of the importance of