Can Frances Fox Piven’s Theory of Disruptive Power Create the Next Occupy?

[marmar]

By Mark Engler and Paul Engler - May 14, 2014

Cross-posted from Waging Nonviolence.

Social movements can be fast, and they can be slow.

Mostly, the work of social change is a slow process. It involves patiently building movement institutions, cultivating leadership, organizing campaigns, and leveraging power to secure small gains. If you want to see your efforts produce results, it helps to have a long-term commitment.

And yet sometimes things move more quickly. Every once in a while we see outbreaks of mass protest, periods of peak activity when the accepted rules of political affairs seem to be suspended. As one sociologist writes, these are extraordinary moments when ordinary people “rise up in anger and hope, defy the rules that ordinarily govern their lives, and, by doing so, disrupt the workings of the institutions in which they are enmeshed.” The impact of these uprisings can be profound. “The drama of such events, combined with the disorder that results, propels new issues to the center of political debate” and drives forward reforms as panicked “political leaders try to restore order.”

These are the words of Frances Fox Piven, the eighty-one-year-old Distinguished Professor of Political Science and Sociology at the CUNY Graduate Center. As co-author, with Richard Cloward, of the classic 1977 treatise Poor People’s Movements, Piven has made landmark contributions to the study of how people who lack both financial resources and influence in conventional politics can nevertheless create momentous revolts. Few scholars have done as much to describe how widespread disruptive action can change history, and few have offered more provocative suggestions about the times when movements—instead of crawling forward with incremental demands—can break into full sprint. ..................(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.dissentmagazine.org/blog/can-frances-fox-pivens-theory-of-disruptive-power-create-the-next-occupy

[winter is coming]

1. The most important news story this year? Quite possibly the fast food workers' strikes.

The real danger behind talk about Warren's candidacy? Not that she might run, but that her message will spread and people will expect--and demand--more of their elected officials.

[scarletwoman]

3. Good point! (nt)

[RainDog]

2. k&r n/t