Abstract
Any movement that hopes to sustain commitment over a period of time must make the construction of a collective identity one of its most central tasks. Social relationships that embody values of participation and community in their concrete practices contribute to empowering people. But such arguments need additional specification before their theoretical potential can be realized. I have taken the coincidence of this talk with the anniversary of the first teach-in against the war in Vietnam and the assassination of Archbishop Romero in El Salvador as a directive for examining these two cases—with an eye toward learning more about how identity building and social relationships in social movement practice foster long-term commitment and agency.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Berryman, Philip 1985 Inside Central America. New York: Pantheon Books.
Breines, Wini 1982 Community and Organization in the New Left. South Hadley, MA: J. F. Bergin.
Bruneau, Thomas C. 1982 The Church in Brazil. Austin: University of Texas Press
Deelen, Gottfield 1980 “The church on its way to the people.” Cross Currents 30:385–408.
Erdozain, Placido 1981 Archbishop Romero: Martyr of Salvador. Mary Knoll, NY: Orbis.
Eynon, Bret 1981 Something Exploded in My Mind: Voices of the Ann Arbor Anti-War Movement. Ann Arbor, MI: Contemporary History Project.
Ferm, Deane William, ed. 1986 Third World Liberation Theologies: A Reader. Maryknoll, NY: Orbis.
Flacks, Richard 1988 Making History. New York: Columbia University Press.
1970a Pedagogy of the Oppressed. New York: Continuum.
1970b “Cultural action for freedom.” Harvard Educational Review, Monograph Series, No. 1. Cambridge, MA: Harvard Graduate School of Education.
Gallo, Jeanne 1989 “Basic ecclesial communities: A new form of Christian organizational response to the world today.” Ph.D. dissertation, Boston University.
Gutierrez, Gustavo 1973 A Theology of Liberation. Maryknoll, NY: Orbis.
Herman, Edward S. andFrank Brodhead 1984 Demonstration Elections. Boston: South End Press.
Ilirschman, Albert O. 1970 Exit, Voice, and Loyalty. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Melucci, Alberto 1989 Nomads of the Present. Philadelphia, PA: Temple University Press.
Morris, Aldon D. 1984 Origins of the Civil Rights Movement. New York: The Free Press.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Additional information
An earlier version, titled “Democratic Participation in Social Movements,” was presented as a presidential address to the Eastern Sociological Society, March 24, 1990.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Gamson, W.A. Commitment and agency in social movements. Sociol Forum 6, 27–50 (1991). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01112726
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01112726