Author: Perdana Roswaldy

Riccioni, I. and Halley, J.A., 2021. Performance as Social Resistance: Pussy Riot as a Feminist Avant-garde. Theory, Culture & Society, DOI: 10.1177/02632764211032726

Brumberg-Chaumont, J. and Rosental, C. eds., 2021. Logical Skills: Social-Historical Perspectives. Springer Nature.

This contributed volume explores the ways logical skills have been perceived over the course of history. The authors approach the topic from the lenses of philosophy, anthropology, sociology, and history to examine two opposing perceptions of logic: the first as an innate human ability and the second as a skill that can be learned and mastered. Chapters focus on the social and political dynamics of the use of logic throughout history, utilizing case studies and critical analyses.
Specific topics covered include:

• the rise of logical skills
• problems concerning medieval notions of idiocy and rationality
• decolonizing natural logic
• natural logic and the course of time

Logical Skills: Social-Historical Perspectives will appeal to undergraduate and graduate students, as well as researchers in the fields of history, sociology, philosophy, and logic. Psychology and colonial studies scholars will also find this volume to be of particular interest.

Rosenthal, Claude. (2021) The Demonstration Society. Translated by Catherine Porter. MIT Press

Today, as in the past, public demonstrations are not only tools to prove, persuade, and promote, but also fundamental forms of social interaction and exchange.

YouTube demos of makeup products by famous influencers, demonstrations of strength during street protests, demonstrations of military might in North Korea: public demonstrations are omnipresent in social life. Yet they are often perceived as isolated events, unworthy of systematic examination. In The Demonstration Society, Claude Rosental explores the underlying dynamics of what he calls a “demonstration society.” He shows how, both in today’s world and historically, public demonstrations constitute not only tools to prove, persuade, and promote, but fundamental forms of interaction and exchange, and, in some cases, attempts to lead the world.

Rosental compares demos with other forms of public demonstrations, drawing out both their peculiarities and common features. He analyzes the processes through which demonstrations are conceived and carried out, as well as the skills of their producers. He also compares contemporary demos with historical demonstrations including theaters of machines in the Renaissance, public demonstrations of natural philosophy in the seventeenth century, and demonstrations of the magic lantern in the nineteenth century. Above and beyond the entertainment they sometimes provide, demonstrations are experienced as intense moments that broadly involve alliances, material and symbolic goods, and, more generally, the future of individuals and collectives. Rosental elucidates the many ways in which we live today, as in the past, in a society of demonstration.

The Arab Spring revolutions of 2011 sent shockwaves across the globe, mobilizing diaspora communities to organize forcefully against authoritarian regimes. Despite the important role that diasporas can play in influencing affairs in their countries of origin, little is known about when diaspora actors mobilize, how they intervene, or what makes them effective. This book addresses these questions, drawing on over 230 original interviews, fieldwork, and comparative analysis. Examining Libyan, Syrian, and Yemeni mobilization from the US and Great Britain before and during the revolutions, Dana M. Moss presents a new framework for understanding the transnational dynamics of contention and the social forces that either enable or suppress transnational activism. This book:

• Advances new theory by demonstrating how four social forces-conflict transmission, transnational repression, resource conversion and geopolitical support-help or hinder diaspora activism
• Compares social movement groups from communities that have previously received little attention in the sociology of migration, transnationalism, and ethnic and racial minorities
• Integrates insights from sociology, political science, and area studies

Cambridge is offering a discount code of 20% the hardback price; enter MOSS2021 at checkout when purchasing.

Recent writings by our members Didem Türkoğlu and Jason C. Mueller:

Türkoğlu D. (2021) Ever Failed? Fail Again, Fail Better: Tuition Protests in Germany, Turkey, and the United States. In: Cini L., della Porta D., Guzmán-Concha C. (eds) Student Movements in Late Neoliberalism. Social Movements and Transformation. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-75754-0_11

Mueller, J. C. and McCollum, J. (2021) ‘A Sociological Analysis of “OK Boomer”’, Critical Sociology. doi: 10.1177/08969205211025724.

Mueller, Jason C. 2021. “Neoliberal Order Breakdown and the US Withdrawal from Afghanistan.” CounterPunch.Org. September 13, 2021. https://www.counterpunch.org/2021/09/13/neoliberal-order-breakdown-and-the-us-withdrawal-from-afghanistan/.

Mueller, Jason C. 2021. “Outcomes of the US ‘War on Terror’: The Afghanistan-Somalia Comparison.” Section on Marxist Sociology. September 1, 2021. https://marxistsociology.org/2021/09/outcomes-of-the-us-war-on-terror-the-afghanistan-somalia-comparison/.

Tarrow, S., 2021. Movements and Parties: Critical Connections in American Political Development. Cambridge University Press.

How do social movements intersect with the agendas of mainstream political parties? When they are integrated with parties, are they coopted? Or are they more radically transformative? Examining major episodes of contention in American politics – from the Civil War era to the women’s rights and civil rights movements to the Tea Party and Trumpism today – Sidney Tarrow tackles these questions and provides a new account of how the interactions between movements and parties have been transformed over the course of American history. He shows that the relationships between movements and parties have been central to American democratization – at times expanding it and at times threatening its future. Today, movement politics have become more widespread as the parties have become weaker. The future of American democracy hangs in the balance. This book:

• Offers a new account of how the interactions between social movements and parties have been transformed over the course of American history
• Examines how these interactions have affected the character and resilience of American democracy
• Sheds new light on critical episodes in American politics from the Civil War era to the present day
• Tracks historical changes in the relative strength of movements and parties and shows that movement politics have become more widespread as the parties have become weaker

Almeida, Paul. Social Movements: The Structure of Collective Mobilization. Univ of California Press, 2019.

Social Movements cleverly translates the art of collective action and mobilization by excluded groups to facilitate understanding social change from below. Students learn the core components of social movements, the theory and methods used to study them, and the conditions under which they can lead to political and social transformation.

This fully class-tested book is the first to be organized along the lines of the major subfields of social movement scholarship—framing, movement emergence, recruitment, and outcomes—to provide comprehensive coverage in a single core text.

Features include:

• use of real data collected in the U.S. and around the world
• the emphasis on student learning outcomes
• case studies that bring social movements to life
• examples of cultural repertoires used by movements (flyers, pamphlets, event data on activist websites, illustrations by activist musicians) to mobilize a group
• topics such as immigrant rights, transnational movement for climate justice, Women’s Marches, Fight for $15, Occupy Wall Street, Gun Violence, Black Lives Matter, and the mobilization of popular movements in the global South on issues of authoritarian rule and neoliberalism

With this book, students deepen their understanding of movement dynamics, methods of investigation, and dominant theoretical perspectives, all while being challenged to consider their own place in relation to social movements.

Vaughan, D., 2021. Dead Reckoning: Air Traffic Control, System Effects, and Risk. University of Chicago Press.

Vaughan unveils the complicated and high-pressure world of air traffic controllers as they navigate technology and political and public climates, and shows how they keep the skies so safe.

When two airplanes were flown into the World Trade Center towers on September 11, 2001, Americans watched in uncomprehending shock as first responders struggled to react to the situation on the ground. Congruently, another remarkable and heroic feat was taking place in the air: more than six hundred and fifty air traffic control facilities across the country coordinated their efforts to ground four thousand flights in just two hours—an achievement all the more impressive considering the unprecedented nature of the task.

In Dead Reckoning, Diane Vaughan explores the complex work of air traffic controllers, work that is built upon a close relationship between human organizational systems and technology and is remarkably safe given the high level of risk. Vaughan observed the distinct skill sets of air traffic controllers and the ways their workplaces changed to adapt to technological developments and public and political pressures. She chronicles the ways these forces affected their jobs, from their relationships with one another and the layouts of their workspace to their understandings of their job and its place in society. The result is a nuanced and engaging look at an essential role that demands great coordination, collaboration, and focus—a role that technology will likely never be able to replace. Even as the book conveys warnings about complex systems and the liabilities of technological and organizational innovation, it shows the kinds of problem-solving solutions that evolved over time and the importance of people.

Poulson, S.C., 2021. Racism on Campus: A Visual History of Prominent Virginia Colleges and Howard University. Routledge.

Drawing on content from yearbooks published by prominent colleges in Virginia, this book explores changes in race relations that have occurred at universities in the United States since the late 19th century. It juxtaposes the content published in predominantly White university yearbooks to that published by Howard University, a historically Black college. The study is a work of visual sociology, with photographs, line drawings and historical prints that provide a visual account of the institutional racism that existed at these colleges over time. It employs Bonilla-Silva’s concept of structural racism to shed light on how race ordered all aspects of social life on campuses from the period of post-Civil War Reconstruction to the present. It examines the lives of the Black men and women who worked at these schools and the racial attitudes of the White men and women who attended them. As such, Racism on Campus will appeal to scholars of sociology, history and anthropology with interests in race, racism and visual methods.

You may apply the discount code (SMA08) on the publisher’s website when purchasing!

Mangla, A., 2021. Social conflict on the front lines of reform: Institutional activism and girls’ education in rural India. Public Administration and Development. https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/pad.1959  

Rasit, H., 2021. Competing revolutionaries: Legitimacy and leadership in revolutionary situations. The British Journal of Sociology. https://doi.org/10.1111/1468-4446.12875.