Uretfærdighedssymboler og sociale bevægelser

Abstract

Formalet med artiklen er at tilbyde en teoretisk og konceptuel ramme for forskning i uretfaerdighedssymboler og sociale bevaegelser. Uretfaerdighedssymboler forstas som symboler, der for et kollektiv kondenserer og udstiller en generel uretfaerdig tilstand i samfundet/verden. Studiet af uretfaerdighedssymboler fremstar underbelyst i den politiske sociologi. Artiklen arbejder i to spor. Pa den ene side argumenteres det, at den nuvaerende samfundstype med globale kommunikationsstromme og nye medieteknologier promoverer betydningen af uretfaerdighedssymboler i de sociale bevaegelsers aktiviteter. Pa den anden side pointeres det, at relationen mellem symboler og sociale bevaegelser pa ingen made er historisk ny. Tvaertimod er grundpastanden, ikke mindst inspireret af den sene Durkheim, at symboler er et grundlaeggende element i reproduktionen af menneskelige samfund. En udforskning af dynamikken mellem uretfaerdighedssymboler og sociale bevaegelser er sociologisk interessant af to grunde. For det forste er uretfaerdighedssymboler resultatet af politiske menings- og vaerdiprocesser, hvor kollektive aktorer tillaegger begivenheder, personer og andre objekter en universaliserende betydning. For det andet indgar uretfaerdighedssymboler som en del af vores kollektive erindring og optraeder derfor som idemaessige ressourcer, der kan mobiliseres uden for deres rumlige og tidslige forankring. Sociale bevaegelser har med andre ord en social og politisk dobbeltrolle, hvor de bade er skabere og ”forbrugere” af symboler. ENGELSK ABSTRACT: Thomas Olesen: Injustice Symbols and Social Movements The purpose of the article is to offer a theoretical and conceptual framework for research on injustice symbols and social movements. Injustice symbols are understood as symbols that condense and expose an overall unjust situation in society/the world. The study of these symbols appears somewhat neglected in political sociology. The article pursues two tracks. On the one hand, it argues that the present type of society with global currents of communication and new media technologies is promoting the significance of injustice symbols in the activities of social movements. On the other hand, it stresses that the relation between these symbols and social movements is by no means historically new. On the contrary, not least inspired by Durkheim, the basic argument is that symbols constitute a fundamental element in the reproduction of human societies. An investigation into the dynamics between injustice symbols and social movements is interesting from a sociological point of view for two reasons. First, injustice symbols are the result of political opinion- and value processes whereby collective actors ascribe a universalizing meaning to events, individuals and other objects. Second, these symbols form part of our collective memory. Consequently, they act as ideational resources that can be mobilized outside their spatial and time-related framework. In sum, social movements have a social and political double role where they are both creators and users of symbols. Keywords: social movements, symbols, new media ecology, Durkheim, injustice.