Discourse Interaction and Power: The Political Implications of Non-Political Movements (A Case Study of the 1960s).

Social movement theorists belonging to both the resource mobilization school and the framings school tend to define social movements as phenomenon that actively pursue political goals, despite disagreements over whether cognitive conceptions or resources are more important in the successful attainment of these goals. The following paper seeks to enter into a dialogue with these two traditions by examining the possibility that social movements may contain features that are not overtly political, or themselves be entirely unconcerned with political goals, and yet still produce politically relevant consequences. Borrowing loosely from mechanisms for the generation of discourse developed by Foucault, the paper conceptualizes social movements as unique loci of discourse interaction, which both generate and are sustained by an incipient new discourse. The discourse created therein, furthermore, is important due to its cognitive aspect, which constrains the thinking of individuals within the movement, and due to its communicative aspect, which allows it to be spread outside of the movement through the simple act of communication (thus breaking free of the initial locus). This new discourse is further relevant, because it effects which aspects of reality are communicated in inter-personal interaction, thus severely constraining which action oriented frames can be constructed. The paper concludes with a discussion of the possibility of a division of labor within social movements, in which discourse is generated via discursive interaction in several loci, and subsequently woven together in other movements before becoming framed in a politically relevant manner. The paper ends with several implications of the importance of discourse in formulating a more complete understanding of social movements, as it relates to generating more nuanced theories of power. The case study of the 1960s in the United States is employed to highlight these phenomena. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]