Civil Society, Social Movement and Resistance Research: CSM-RESIST

A social movement is a form of organized collective action aiming for, or resisting, social change. Examples of social movements that have played important roles in shaping modern societies – and which are still active – are the Labor Movement, the Women’s Movement, the Environmental Movement and the Peace Movement. Since the turn of the millennium new movements have emerged, some of them with significant influence on societal developments. Examples of these are the Global Justice Movement, the Arab Spring, the Indignados Movement and Occupy. We have also seen the emergence of new nationalist and religious movements with a neo-Conservative agenda.

The Civil Society, Social Movement and Resistance Research: CSM-RESIST is based at the Department of Sociology and Work Science, with close ties to other departments and research centers at University of Gothenburg as well as a number of international research networks. The Forum organizes seminars, workshops, conferences and co-ordinates research projects.

The Resistance Studies research adopts a critical approach to the study of various aspects of ”resistance”, and to the relationship between resistance, power and social change. The group focuses on relations of power in order to understand global social change because power is usually closely related to resistance. By honing attention to resistance it is possible to explore a multitude of action forms that expresses opposition to contemporary issues of democracy, culture, security and development. This is of particular interest for studies of the global South. In this context, research into relations of power and various aspects of action, ‘governmentality’ and biopolitics, as well as ‘everyday resistance’ by local groups and individuals are highly relevant.