21st-century collective movements

This paper aims to contribute to theoretical debates on XXI century collective movements, such as the so-called Arab Spring, the Occupy Wall Street movement and Indignados initiatives. It will focus on the meanings associated with causes of insurgence, an individual’s sense of subjective implication, and the construction of an arena of conflicts underscoring these collective initiatives. The paper will also analyze the importance of ICT use, notably the internet, in the construction of these initiatives. We will investigate the intersection of cultural, economic, social and political stakes buttressed against the construction and reaffirmation of individual and social life at local, national, regional, global and cyberspatial levels. The first part of this paper is on the one hand, dedicated to the analytical definition of these movements. On the other hand, it suggests a theoretical perspective to distinguish these movements from protests related to interest groups, riots and the neo-populist mobilizations. The second part of the paper is focused on: a) the causality of this insurgence; b) the sense of individual involvement in its construction; and c) the modalities of these initiatives. The third section of this paper analyzes the construction of arenas of conflict, and the meanings produced by these movements as they intervene in the construction of social life as it is articulated at local, national, regional, global and cyberspatial levels.