The „New Defi ant Ones”. The Emergence of the Workers’ Defense Committe as a Challenge to Sociological Theory Cover Image

„Nowi niepokorni”. Powstanie Komitetu Obrony Robotników jako wyzwanie dla teorii socjologicznej
The „New Defi ant Ones”. The Emergence of the Workers’ Defense Committe as a Challenge to Sociological Theory

Author(s): Hella Dietz
Subject(s): Social Sciences
Published by: Instytut Filozofii i Socjologii Polskiej Akademii Nauk
Keywords: social movements; Solidarnosc; social mobilization; collective identity; pragmatism

Summary/Abstract: The emergence of Poland’s Komitet Obrony Robotników, KOR, is a challenge for social movement research whose concepts were mainly developed studying movements in Western democratic countries. The currently dominating structuralist rationalist approach tends to reduce protests to a strategic reaction to favourable opportunity structures. Although this approach offers an adequate evolutionary explanation for KOR’s success, it does not offer a convincing causal explanation for its emergence and the mobilization of activists. This article develops an alternative explanation, using concepts from theories of collective identity, american pragmatism, Émile Durkheim, and Max Weber.

  • Issue Year: 210/2013
  • Issue No: 3
  • Page Range: 97-121
  • Page Count: 25
  • Language: Polish