International Seminar on New Social Movements in the Era of Globalization
- University of Allahabad -
- Date :: February 22 - 23, 2013 -

International Seminar
on
New Social Movements in the Era of Globalization
Rajiv Gandhi Chair in Contemporary Studies
University of Allahabad
February 22 - 23, 2013

Dear Sir/Madam,

We feel pleasure to inform you that the Rajiv Gandhi Chair in Contemporary Studies, University of Allahabad is organizing an International Seminar on the above-mentioned theme during February 22-23, 2013.

We extend our cordial invitation to you to participate in the Seminar and present a paper on any one of the subthemes such as:
o A Theoretical Analysis of New Social Movements
o Issues and Concerns of New Social Movements in the Era of Globalization
o Formulating Agencies or Bodies of New Social Movements
o Governmental Attitudes and Policies towards New Social Movements
o A Discussion on the Effects of New Social Movements in the Era of Globalization

We look forward to your kind consent to participate in the seminar. Kindly send your paper/ abstract of the paper latest by December 25, 2012 so that the final list of the participants may be drawn.

Needless to mention that besides hospitality, the Chair will bear your travel expenses as per university rules. Kindly acknowledge us on our e'mail: [email protected] with your positive response.

With warm personal regards,
(Prof. M P Dube)
Dean, Faculty of Arts
University of Allahabad

Concept paper
International Seminar
on
New Social Movements in the Era of Globalization
Rajiv Gandhi Chair in Contemporary Studies
University of Allahabad
February 22 - 23, 2013

Rajiv Gandhi Chair in Contemporary Studies, University of Allahabad, Allahabad, established by Ministry of Human Resource Development, Government of India, is organizing a two-day International Seminar on “New Social Movements in the Era of Globalization” during February 22 - 23, 2013. The seminar invites papers on different dimensions of New Social Movements in the Era of Globalization. The seminar will focus on the following sub-themes:

o A Theoretical Analysis of New Social Movements
o Issues and Concerns of New Social Movements in the Era of Globalization
o Formulating Agencies or Bodies of New Social Movements
o Governmental Attitudes and Policies towards New Social Movements
o A Discussion on the Effects of New Social Movements in the Era of Globalization

The Concept

Year 2011 was full of different New Social Movements in all over the world and all these movements were this much significant that the Time Magazine declared: ‘the protester is the person of the year, 2011.’ ‘Jasmine Revolution’ to Arab Spring in the Arab world, India Against Corruption Movement in India, the Occupy Movement in the developed world; these movements, and before these striking workers in Gdansk, civil rights campaigners in East Berlin, anti-globalization marchers in Seattle, antiwar protests in London, Zapatistas in Mexico, and the mothers of the disappeared in Argentina establish the political importance of New Social Movements and an urgent need to discuss its the contemporary trends & future. But what could be “contemporary” in a trend which is already “new”?

The term New Social Movements (NSMs) emerged in the 1980s in Europe to analyze new types of social movements that appeared from the 1960s onward. These movements were seen as “new” in contrast to the “old” working-class movement identified by Marxist theory as the major challenger to capitalist society. By contrast, new social movements are organized around race, ethnicity, youth, sexuality, countercultures, environmentalism, pacifism, human rights, and the like. There are two central claims of the NSM theory. First, that the rise of the post-industrial economy is responsible for a new wave of social movement and second, that those movements are significantly different from previous social movements of the industrial economy.

The primary difference is in their goals, as the new social movements focus not on issues of materialistic qualities such as economic well-being, but on issues related to human rights. For Manuel Castells (1983), it is capitalist development that has transformed urban space and provoked new urban movements demanding noncommodified forms of collective consumption, emphasizing community identity and culture, and seeking political self-management and autonomy. For Alain Touraine (1981), it is post-industrial society that has made possible the increasing self-production of society, but control of this capacity is the object of a new class struggle between state managers and technocrats on the one hand, and consumers and clients on the other.

For Jürgen Habermas (1987), it is advanced capitalism's imperatives of money, power, and instrumental rationality that threaten to colonize the everyday life world and have provoked new constituencies to mobilize and articulate a communicative rationality in defense of a beleaguered life world. According to Alberto Melucci (1996), it is postmodern forms of social control, conformity pressures, and information processing that have provoked new social movements to develop personal, spiritual, and expressive forms of protest that create new collective identities while rejecting the instrumental rationality of the dominant social order.

These examples illustrate different emphases within New Social Movements Theories while also underscoring common efforts to link changes in social formations with new social movements.

The Rajiv Gandhi Chair of the University of Allahabad, through this seminar, seeks to contour an in-depth analysis the emerging issues related to new social movements in the era of globalization. The seminar would take stock of various forms that have occasioned the articulation of ideas of new social movements in context of taking cognizance of the aforementioned issues.

We propose to invite leading academic experts, journalists, administrators and social activists working in this area for this academic deliberation. The seminar seeks to achieve the following objectives:

Objectives

o To stimulate discussion regarding the contemporary issues of new social movements in the era of globalization in India and abroad
o To assess the role of non-governmental forces in formulating new social movements in the Era of Globalization
o To discuss effects of new social movements in the era of globalization