Becoming global (un)civil society: counter-hegemonic struggle and the Indymedia network
Sullivan, Sian and Spicer, A. and Bohm, S. (2011) Becoming global (un)civil society: counter-hegemonic struggle and the Indymedia network. Globalizations 8 (5), pp. 703-717. ISSN 1474-7731.
|
Text
Sullivan,_Spicer,_Bohm_2011_becoming_uncivil_soc.pdf - Published Version of Record Available under License Creative Commons Attribution Non-commercial. Download (147kB) | Preview |
Abstract
In this article we ask how ‘civil society’ actors and organizations can become constructed and treated as ‘uncivil society’. We contest the notion that ‘uncivil’ necessarily equates with the dark qualities of violence and organized criminality. Instead, we take a Gramscian perspective in suggesting that what becomes ‘uncivil’ is any practice and organization that substantially contests the structuring enclosures of hegemonic order, of which civil society is a necessary part. To trace this, we consider ways in which a global grass-roots media network called Indymedia has established and maintained itself as a counter-hegemonic media-producing organization. In this case, a conscious positioning and self-identification as counter-hegemonic has been accompanied by the framing and sometimes violent policing of nodes and practices of this network as ‘uncivil’ by cooperating state authorities. This is in the absence of association of this network with organized violence or crime. We intend our reflections to contribute to a deepening theorization of the terms ‘civil’ and ‘uncivil’ as they are becoming used in social movement and globalization studies.
Metadata
Item Type: | Article |
---|---|
Additional Information: | Gold OA |
Keyword(s) / Subject(s): | global (un)civil society, Gramsci, independent media (Indymedia), hegemony and counter-hegemony, counter-hegemonic struggle, neoliberalism |
School: | Birkbeck Faculties and Schools > Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences > School of Social Sciences |
Depositing User: | Dr Sian Sullivan |
Date Deposited: | 31 Jan 2013 14:49 |
Last Modified: | 02 Aug 2023 16:57 |
URI: | https://eprints.bbk.ac.uk/id/eprint/4852 |
Statistics
Additional statistics are available via IRStats2.