Challenging Codes: Collective Action in the Information Age

by Alberto Melucci

Overview

Alberto Melucci brings an original perspective to research on collective action, emphasizing the role of culture and making telling connections with the experience of the individual in postmodern society. The focus is on the role of information in a world both fragmented and globalized, and topics addressed include political conflict, feminism, ecology, identity politics, power and inequality. The book builds on the author's Nomads of the Present (1989), and is a companion volume to The Playing Self (CUP, 1996).

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780521570510
Publisher:	Cambridge University Press
Publication date:	09/12/1996
Series:	Cambridge Cultural Social Studies
Pages:	456
Product dimensions:	5.98(w) x 9.02(h) x 1.14(d)

Table of Contents

Introduction; Part I. Theory of Collective Action: 1. The construction of collective action; 2. Conflict and change; 3. Action and meaning; 4. The process of collective identity; Part II. Contemporary Collective Action: 5. conflicts of culture; 6. Invention of the present; 7. The time of difference; 8. Roots for today and for tomorrow; 9. A search for ethics; 10. Information, power, domination; Part III. The Field of Collective Action: 11. A society without a centre; 12. The political system; 13. The state and the distribution of social resources; 14. Modernization, crisis, and conflict: the case of Italy; Part IV. Acting Collectively: 15. Mobilization and political participation; 16. The organization of movements; 17. Leadership in social movements; 18. Collective action and discourse; 19. Forms of action; 20. Research on collective action.

Editorial Reviews

"In Challenging Codes Alberto Melucci provides a magisterial presentation of his distinctive approach to the study of contemporary social movements. At once appreciative and critical of prior work, Melucci argues for a hermeneutical approach to collective action that places identity and meaning at center stage. The approach is used to illuminate the contemporary heterogeneity and transformation of contemporary movements." Mayer N. Zaid

From the Publisher