Sociology

This book strives for a unity of theory and practice – that is, a praxis-oriented examination of social movements – of value to activists whose interventions can be sharpened through theoretical reflection, and to students/scholars who may find in these chapters pathways into the world of activism. Our contributors draw upon yet reach beyond extant conceptual frameworks, to situate movements in an era of crisis and change – in Canada and the world.  A defining feature of this book is its emphasis on the ways in which contemporary movements contest dominant political-economic and cultural-psychological formations, as agencies of counter-hegemony. We read movements as agents of history-in-the-making that face ongoing challenges from hegemonic institutions — capital, state, media etc. —and from the increasing resort to the repression of dissent. As collective responses to a deepening economic, ecological and indeed civilizational crisis, in which liberal-democratic values and institutions seem increasingly hollow, movements are potential agencies of deep democratization. They contest the sedimented practices of that sustain injustice, and they sometimes prefigure alternative futures. 
Throughout, we strive to make good on Marx’s suggestion that the point in socio-political analysis is not simply to comprehend the world but to participate in its transformation.  A World to Win offers a wide-ranging collection of reflections and resources for engaged students and scholars who seek not only to interpret the world, but to change it. As Kurt Lewin, a founder of action research, claimed, there is nothing so practical as a good theory (Greenwald, 2012:99). Theory is what enables us to move beyond the concrete particulars of one specific situation, to see things in a wider context, to “connect the dots” between events in a meaningful way, opening the prospect for effective practice. To keep things centred upon the issue of praxis, my presentation below of contemporary perspectives in social movement studies is selective and attuned to their main implications for political practice. In this, I follow Saul Alinsky (1971), whose Rules for Radicals attempted to distil practical lessons for those coming of age in the 1960s wave of activism. But unlike Alinski, I use social science as a critical cognitive resource.  Our praxis-oriented approach asks how theoretical insights can inform strategies for resisting hegemony and building counter-hegemony.