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POWER RELATIONS & GROUP STRUGGLES INSIDE FEMINIST MOVEMENTS

Peyghambarzadeh, Zeynabalsadat LU (2013) SIMV21 20131
Graduate School
Department of Sociology
Master of Science in Social Studies of Gender
Abstract
Power is everywhere and even egalitarian movements which are fighting against hierarchy are reproducing inequality among their members in formal or informal ways. Here, I will tell the story of the challenge of elitism in one of our recent feminist campaigns in Iran through interviews with four campaigners and through an analysis of members’ published texts and their critiques. In the One Million Signatures Campaign, which was founded in 2006, we promote gender equality in civil rights for all Iranians but there has also been an effort to extend these values to internal relations inside the campaign. Through the framework of Rothschild-Whitt, I will show that this Campaign had all the characteristics of alternative collectivist... (More)
Power is everywhere and even egalitarian movements which are fighting against hierarchy are reproducing inequality among their members in formal or informal ways. Here, I will tell the story of the challenge of elitism in one of our recent feminist campaigns in Iran through interviews with four campaigners and through an analysis of members’ published texts and their critiques. In the One Million Signatures Campaign, which was founded in 2006, we promote gender equality in civil rights for all Iranians but there has also been an effort to extend these values to internal relations inside the campaign. Through the framework of Rothschild-Whitt, I will show that this Campaign had all the characteristics of alternative collectivist organizations but that members had different interpretations of substantive values. I will describe the internal and external constraints that it faced and will also show the lack of some of the pre-conditions for direct democracy in the campaign. I show how, even in a heterogeneous movement network like this Campaign, challenging inequality is unavoidable. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
Peyghambarzadeh, Zeynabalsadat LU
supervisor
organization
alternative title
A Case Study about the One Million Signatures Campaign in Iran
course
SIMV21 20131
year
type
H2 - Master's Degree (Two Years)
subject
keywords
New Social Movements, Informal Structure, Elitism, Power, Direct Democracy
language
English
id
4016665
date added to LUP
2013-10-14 11:42:46
date last changed
2014-04-22 14:59:42
@misc{4016665,
  abstract     = {{Power is everywhere and even egalitarian movements which are fighting against hierarchy are reproducing inequality among their members in formal or informal ways. Here, I will tell the story of the challenge of elitism in one of our recent feminist campaigns in Iran through interviews with four campaigners and through an analysis of members’ published texts and their critiques. In the One Million Signatures Campaign, which was founded in 2006, we promote gender equality in civil rights for all Iranians but there has also been an effort to extend these values to internal relations inside the campaign. Through the framework of Rothschild-Whitt, I will show that this Campaign had all the characteristics of alternative collectivist organizations but that members had different interpretations of substantive values. I will describe the internal and external constraints that it faced and will also show the lack of some of the pre-conditions for direct democracy in the campaign. I show how, even in a heterogeneous movement network like this Campaign, challenging inequality is unavoidable.}},
  author       = {{Peyghambarzadeh, Zeynabalsadat}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  note         = {{Student Paper}},
  title        = {{POWER RELATIONS & GROUP STRUGGLES INSIDE FEMINIST MOVEMENTS}},
  year         = {{2013}},
}