ABSTRACT
This chapter closes the first, primarily theoretical section of the book. It develops ideas to resolve problems exposed in prior discussions. The first is that of post-hegemonic pluralism: rejecting monolithic and universalist models of change that promote a single unified ideological solution. Acknowledging the messiness of public life and action, the metaphor of bubbles is then used to emphasise the importance of ephemeral actions in changing broader social realities, just as the bubbles in a fizzy drink transform the liquid. This, in turn, enables a strengthening of recent concerns with diffuse and covert agency in activism, explored through existing studies in “lifestyle” and “quiet” activisms and as “everyday resistance”. The final part of the chapter connects these everyday survival processes with the importance of stories and histories. It, thus, acts as a prelude to the narrative approach to cycle activism taken in Section 2 of the book.
