ABSTRACT
“The social movement” first indicated ordinary members of “society” (outside elites) becoming active political subjects, in the many struggles of the C19th. As diverging movements created states (nationalist, democratic, post-colonial, state socialist) the term became closely associated with party formations. From the 1960s, “new social movements” meant other kinds of movements, leading to a linguistic contrast between parties, unions, churches etc. and “movements.” Self-organized education had been a central part of C19th movement struggles but largely overshadowed by welfare state provision, meaning that the struggles of 1968 took place within state-provided education, challenging its power relations, purpose and content. In neoliberalism, education systems have become particularly important for some movements, with unexpected effects on the latter. Today's challenge for radicals is then to assert movement purposes in education, rather than (institutional) educational logics in movements.
