5th ISA Forum of Sociology (6-11 July 2025)

In making sense of collective action and change, strategy is supposed to explain the outcomes of struggle. ‘Strategy’ is also used in discussions of tradition, innovation and diffusion of tactics and ‘strategic’ action contrasted with forms of expression, identity or prefigurative politics. The recent turn to concepts such as fields and arenas to locate political actors describes all interaction as strategic.

‘Strategy’ also plays a pivotal role in social movement debates and discussions. Ganz (2000: 1010) reflects popular understanding of strategy as: ‘how we turn what we have into what we need.’ Plans, imagination, leadership and decision-making are within collective actors’ control; a ‘strategic’ approach to such activity is understood to maximise collective actors’ capacity to bring about transformation, addressing the perennial question of ‘what is to be done?’.

Yet, the nature and content of collective action strategies remains elusive for academics and activists alike with little direct theoretical exposition or dedicated empirical investigations of strategies themselves. Strategy is often treated as a self-evident trait of an actor or action, yet the word smuggles in preferences regarding rationality, agency, efficacy, organisation, and much else.

We invite papers that take collective action strategies seriously with a focus on:

• Processes by which strategies are adopted/adapted
• Comparisons of strategic action by different kinds of collective actor (movements, unions, parties, etc.)
• Empirical examinations of the contents of strategies (e.g. claims concerning efficacy, future orientations, relationship to tactics)
• Relationships between strategies, interactions and outcomes
• Comparisons of strategies across different geographical, temporal or political contexts