Page 130 - Contemporary Political Sociology Globalization Politics and Power

116 Social Movements

their sexual customs, affective relationships, dress, eating habits, and so

on – constitute collective action that modifies the social order. Moreover,
insofar as individual identity requires recognition by others, it is in itself
intrinsically social; by its very nature, identity cannot be constructed
outside relationships that give it meaning (Melucci, 1996 : 29).
For Melucci, as for Touraine, social movements have a tangential rela-
tionship to established institutional politics; they cannot be assimilated to
the political process because the confl icts they engender break the bounds
of the current system (Melucci, 1989 : 29). Melucci uses the term “ poli-

tics ” in a narrow sense, defining a political relationship as “ one which
permits the reduction of uncertainty and the mediation of opposing inter-
ests by means of decisions ” and arguing that it takes place wherever
interests are represented and decisions taken: in national political systems,
but also in educational, administrative, and regional institutions (Melucci,
1989 : 165). Social movements are principally concerned with solidarity
and confl ict in the cultural realm for Melucci, and their most important
political function is as signs, or messages, which highlight hidden confl icts
and problems and make visible the power used to resolve them in appar-
ently rational, technical, decision - making procedures. As he points out,
some of the dilemmas of contemporary society cannot be defi nitively
resolved; for example, neither the elimination, nor the free use of nuclear
energy is possible. Social movements publicize these “ meta - political ”
dilemmas and Melucci argues that, as a result, they are necessarily ill
suited for, and highly suspicious of, the conventional political process.
Those, like Resource Mobilization theorists, who look only at the effects
they have on politics, in this sense will, therefore, gain a wholly distorted
view of their importance in contemporary societies.
In Melucci ’ s view, social movements point the way beyond the limits
of the present system, toward a new form of democratization appropriate
to complex societies. They embody the need for new public spaces between
civil society and the state in which movements can articulate and publicize
themes and dilemmas to the rest of society and to the political actors who

make the final decisions about how they will be dealt with. Such public
spaces already exist to some extent, as Melucci sees it, in knowledge -
producing institutions such as universities and cultural foundations, but
they should be strengthened in the fi eld of collective consumption – in
relation to housing, transport, health, and so on – and also in relation to
communications and the media in order to allow public confrontation
and negotiation between the various actors involved (Melucci, 1989 ).
Melucci ’ s work draws our attention to the new forms of cultural poli-
tics in contemporary society in which social movements are engaged, even