TOWARD A CLASS-CULTURAL THEORY OF SOCIAL-MOVEMENTS - REINTERPRETING NEW SOCIAL-MOVEMENTS

This paper examines the relationship between social class and social m obilization through reviewing the case of new social movements. The mi ddle-class membership of new social movements is well documented but p oorly explained by current New Class, New Social Movement, and Cultura l Shift theories. These theories fail to recognize the interdependence between interests, values, and expressed ideas. Class culture provide s an alternative framework for interpreting the complex relationships between class interests and consciousness in these movements. Through a comparison of working-and middle-class cultures it is proposed that social class orders consciousness and shapes the interpretation of int erests. Class cultures produce distinct class forms of political and o rganizational behavior. while not defining any particular content of m ovement issues or politics. In particular; the middle-class membership of new social movements is explained by the cultural form of these mo vements which is distinctly middle class.