Social movement learning about violence

Abstract

The article analyses learning related to experiencing violence in social actions and social movements. Activists may experience physical abuse from individuals and from organised entities such as the police, both accidentally and as a form of intentional repression. Applying the social movement learning approach to the analysis of individual experience, collective responses to violence, and preparations for the eventuality of its occurrence allowed us to identify the functionalities of protest culture towards de-escalation of violence. The article offers a review of literature as well as an analysis of empirical data from our previous research projects. The result of the analysis is a model of social movements learning about violence, linking individual suffering with the potential of social change.