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118 Social Movements

toward politics at the level of the state, has encouraged the development
of his theory in these respects. However, there is an element of dogmatism
in Melucci ’ s refusal to consider how “ new ” social movements as well as
“ old ” have been concerned with politics at the level of the nation - state.
As we have seen, his theory illuminates the activities of social movements
in civil society in ways which are completely neglected by RMT, focusing
as it does on formal political activities. In this respect, it has been deserv-

edly influential. However, social movements have always also engaged
with the state to a greater or lesser extent. In particular, emerging in the
context of an interventionist welfare state in Western liberal - democracies,
“ new ” social movements have generally been involved in demanding the
extension of citizenship rights in various ways. (We will look at this in
detail in chapter 4 .) This aspect of social movement activity is ignored by
Melucci, doubtless because of his utopian view of social movements as
“ breaking the limits ” of existing society.
However, it is not clear that Melucci ’ s theory of cultural politics need
commit him to ignoring the activities of social movements in this respect.
On the contrary, given his emphasis on the internal plurality of social
movements and the way in which they work at different levels, his theory
would seem to be well designed to encompass the range of political activi-
ties in which they engage. It should be possible, as Melucci himself argues,
to see social movements working between civil society and the state , as
engaged in the democratization of everyday life and also in extending
citizenship rights. In the next section, we will look at a synthesis of RMT
and NSMT to see whether, given the prejudices of each tradition and the
way in which they have developed, such a balanced perspective on social
movements is now possible.

3.3 Toward a Synthesis: The Defi nition of
“ Social Movement ”

In discussing the two main traditions of the study of social movements,
we have seen that there has been a convergence between them in terms
of the importance they give to culture in shaping participants ’ perceptions
of aims and strategies. In fact, despite the very different premises of each
tradition, those currently studying social movements are more likely to
try to draw on both rather than to see them as incompatible (Klandermans
et al., 1988 ; Johnston and Klandermans, 1995 ). One of the most thorough
attempts to combine them is that of Mario Diani, who argues that the
two traditions are now so close that it is possible to begin to synthesize