Dieter Rucht

In Social Movements: A Theoretical Approach, Dieter Rucht offers a theoretically and historically informed approach to social movements as a phenomenon of modern societies. He links the analysis of social movements to general theories of society and processes of social change, and combines three basic perspectives: interactionist, constructivist, and process-oriented (ICP-approach). Drawing mainly on ideas from Jürgen Habermas, Pierre Bourdieu, and Anthony Giddens, Rucht recommends several revisions and highlights the important role of the public sphere as the central stage for social movements. He argues that it is a realm in its own right and the major domain in which social movements make themselves seen and heard, garner support, and possibly succeed in changing basic societal structures. This comprehensive treatise analyzes the external and internal activities of social movements, the role of different kinds of opportunities and restrictions, collective identities and framing, organizing, networking, and strategizing. It lucidly examines the complexity of social movements that have a status as both actors and systems, and whose logic cannot be reduced to either strategic or communicative action.

Das Internet, so der empirische Befund anhand der öffentlichen deutschsprachigen Debatte zu Genfood, unterscheidet sich seiner diskursiven Qualität kaum von Tageszeitungen, sofern vom durchschnittlichen Nutzerverhalten ausgegangen wird. Die mit dem Internet verknüpften Hoffungen auf eine Demokratisierung und Rationalisierung politischer Streitfragen werden sich kaum erfüllen.

This book compares the political process and role of the media using controversy over abortion.

Using controversy over abortion as a lens through which to compare the political process and role of the media in these two very different democracies, this book examines the contest over meaning that is being waged by social movements, political parties, churches and other social actors. Abortion is a critical battleground for debates over social values in both countries, but the constitutional premises on which arguments rest differ, as do the strategies that movements and parties adopt and the opportunities for influence that are open to them. By examining how these debates are conducted and by whom in light of the normative claims made by democratic theorists, the book also offers a means of judging how well either country lives up to the ideals of democratic debate in practice.

Although living conditions have improved throughout history, protest, at least in the last few decades, seems to have increased to the point of becoming a normal phenomenon in modern societies. Contributors to this volume examine how and why this is the case and argue that although problems such as poverty, hunger, and violations of democratic rights may have been reduced in advanced Western societies, a variety of other problems and opportunities have emerged and multiplied the reasons and possibilities for protest. Acts of Dissent: New Developments in the Study of Protest examines some of those problems, progressing from methodological issues, to discussions of the part that the mass media plays in protest, finally to several case studies of protests in different contexts.

The growing interdependence on a global scale which characterizes the human condition at the turn of the century constitutes a challenge for both the mobilization of social movements and social movement theory. The present volume makes an attempt to adjust the perspective of the political process approach to a world in which political opportunities, mobilizing structures, framing processes and collective action of social movements are no longer confined to national political contexts.

The growing interdependence on a global scale which characterizes the human condition at the turn of the century constitutes a challenge for both the mobilization of social movements and social movement theory. The present volume makes an attempt to adjust the perspective of the political process approach to a world in which political opportunities, mobilizing structures, framing processes and collective action of social movements are no longer confined to national political contexts.

Liberale und deliberative Modelle politischer Öffentlichkeit formulieren unterschiedliche Gütekriterien im Hinblick auf die Zwecke und die Bedingungen öffentlicher Kommunikation. Auf der Basis einer systematischen Inhaltsanalyse von zwei Tageszeitungen und einer Befragung von kollektiven Akteuren prüfen die Autoren am Beispiel der Abtreibungsdebatte und in welchem Maße die Öffentlichkeit der Bundesrepublik den Normvorstellungen liberaler oder deliberativer Modelle nahekommt. Darüber hinaus formulieren und prüfen sie Erklärungen für ihre deskriptiven Befunde: Aufgrund welcher Bedingungen werden Erwartungen an Öffentlichkeit und öffentliche Meinungsbildung tatsächlich erfüllt oder nicht erfüllt? Welche Besonderheiten öffentlicher Kommunikation bestimmen die Auswahl der Akteure, die zu Wort kommen, das Diskursniveau ihrer Argumente und die Qualitäten dessen, was "öffentliche Meinung" darstellt?