Towards a redefinition of social movements: proxemic macro-actors

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to propose a conceptualization of social movements that is not limited to the set of theories developed in the academic scope of new social movements; on the contrary, a different theoretical scenery will be suggested in order to throw a new analytic gaze on the social practices reproduced by the, so called, new social movements. This gaze will be built on three distinct but interrelated premises. Firstly, it will be stressed the paradoxical dimension of identitarian practices and, consequently, the impossibility to define a social reality according to a single dimension. Secondly, paradoxical dimension will be taken to the scope of social movements in order to propose a definition of social movements that takes into account a constitutive paradox where a proxemic sociality and actor-network theory are put in relation. Lastly, the unfolding of such paradox is analyzed looking at its ironic style.