ABSTRACT
As already stated, most social movements aim to affect transformations in politics and society. Indeed, the recent emergence globally of Occupy and of the Arab Spring across the countries of the Middle East
was heralded as a beacon of hope for radical politics and democratic change in the contemporary period. Against this, it has been observed, many commentaries tell a rather gloomy and pessimistic narrative of depoliticization, apoliticality, and social movement deradicalization (Dean 2014). In some ways, this reflects sociological accounts of declining civic engagement, part of which involves disengagement from conventional forms of politics and government (Putnam 1995). It also echoes the view that the discipline of sociology itself has been cut adrift from its radical roots, such that, where once disciplinary transformations came from social movements, now we are all too familiar with the image of ‘a conventional textbook on globalization, social change or modernity with a dramatic cover photo of protestors – and a complete absence of social movements within those same covers’ (Cox 2014: 968, original emphasis).
