Research projects
Network Structure of Israeli Peace Camp (Yulia Zemlinskaya)
This research project examines the interorganisational ties between Israeli NGOs belonging to peace camp. The aim of the project is to identify the types of ties Israeli NGOs have with each other and to map these ties using a SNA software package. The project is based on an innovative use of network analysis which combines qualitative and quantitative methods. In June-July 2009 I conducted a fieldwork in Israel during which I interviewed leading activists from twenty five social movement organisations using semi-structured interviews and questionnaires. The project is funded by the School of Social Sciences, The University of Manchester.
Making Corporations Moral (Kevin Gillan)
This new three-year project, with funding from the ESRC, investigating a series of case studies of moral challenge to corporations. Moral challenges may come from a variety of sources including social movement campaigns, shareholders, employees, customers or mainstream media. This project examines the processes of challenge seen among both challengers and their corporate adversaries. In particular, it will investigate patterns of belief, speech and action in both domains, seeking grounds for agreement as well as points of conflict. Key questions include the extent to which challengers need to learn to speak the language of corporate managers in order to have any influence; the importance of dynamics of corporate influence related to stakeholder networks; and the extent to which business elites bring normative discourse into the board room when making decisions in ethically difficult areas. In these ways theoretical approaches and methodologies from social movement studies will be brought into articulation with work in management studies and business ethics. This project therefore builds on connections between the Social Movement Research Group and the Centre for Research on Socio-Cultural Change (CRESC).
Student Mobilizations and the Politicizing effects of the University campus (Nick Crossley and Yousaf Ibrahim)
This is a two year Leverhulme funded project that began in January 2009. The project investigates the politicizing effects of the university campus on students. The project takes a multi-method approach, drawing on semi-structured interviews, participant observation and documentary analysis. We are specifically using formal social network analysis to test a theoretical model established by Nick Crossley in Sociological Review 56:1 (2008). In January 2010 Nick Crossley and Yousaf Ibrahim will be analyzing and writing up the findings which will result in a series of international conference papers and peer reviewed publications in internationally recognized journals.
Social Networks and Militant Social Movements (Nick Crossley, Gemma Edwards, Rachel Stevenson and Ellen Harries)
This research project is running from May 2009-March 2010. We are looking at the role of social networks in militant social movements. We are researching two historical case studies: the British Suffragettes at their period of heightened militancy 1905-14; and the Provisional IRA 1969-date. We are interested in exploring a number of questions about the network structure of these movements, the role of pre-existing and ‘strong’ ties in militant activism, the nature of militant careers, and how militant movements evolve over time. We are using a range of qualitative data sources in order to generate data for Social Network Analysis, including published (auto)biographies, historical letters and diaries.
Ethnic Mobilization and Citizenship (Matthias vom Hau)
This is a new project on the dynamics and consequences of indigenous social movements in Argentina, Brazil, and Chile. I investigate variations in the form and intensity of local ethnic mobilization, and explore how and under what conditions indigenous social movements contribute to the expansion of citizenship in democratizing countries. Argentina, Brazil, and Chile also provide ideal cases to evaluate the numerous theoretical approaches for explaining ethnic mobilization in the Andean countries, Mexico, and Central America outside the contexts of their construction. The empirical research compares political claims-making of two indigenous groups, the Mbya Guaraní and the Diaguita Calchaquí, across different provincial and national settings. During the 1980s and 1990s democratization, constitutional multiculturalism, and a growing concern for human rights encouraged indigenous mobilization in the three countries. Yet, I observe major differences in the extent of local indigenous mobilizing efforts, and in local conceptions of rights and power. The project is funded by the Chronic Poverty Research Centre (CPRC).