Participatory research on social movement practice:
Approximate bibliography

The business of doing participatory research on social movement practice involves three different areas: activist methodologies of various kinds; participatory and reflexive methodology; and methodology for social movements research. I've added to this some general texts on research methods and methodology as well as some introductory texts on social movement studies.

Introductory texts on research methods and methodology

Everyday understandings of research often assume that what is special about research is the application of a particular method (a technique for collecting data or for analysing it). However, what makes a method "scientific", "sociological", "research" (etc.) - or not - is the methodology (the understanding of why we are doing what we do) which underpins it, implicitly or explicitly. Beginning researchers thus need to do two things: (a) master particular methods of research and data analysis; and (b) develop a methodological understanding which enables them to understand how and why those methods can be said to generate knowledge. Thinking seriously about (b) will in turn often lead to the need for major changes in (a).

Mostly method:

Mostly methodology:

Activist and action-oriented methodology

Activists are constantly generating knowledge, generally for practical ("action-oriented") purposes. Within sociology, what practical knowledge generation takes place most commonly does so with an (implicit or explicit) orientation to the state (and secondarily the market), whether explicitly (as funder of "applied research") or implicitly (in the shape of policy recommendations etc.) There is, however, a relatively well-developed minority tradition of cooperation between academic research and social movement activists in contexts such as community development and adult education, related to specific types of research such as participatory action research and participatory needs assessment.

The politics of research:

Specific histories and methods of activist research:

Participatory and reflexive methodology

Participatory research - carrying out research in ways which allow the research "subjects" to become participants with some control over the research process - throws up particular methodological concerns, particularly given the general assumption that scientific knowledge is supposed to be "neutral" (despite the fact that most scientists are working in and for the state or for private corporations). It also becomes "research in the first person", because the researcher's own presence in the field is a key research tool (as in participant observation generally), because they share experiences and interests with their research "subjects", and because research in contexts marked by inequalities of power and wealth and by differences in culture is rarely a comfortable activity. Sociological work in this area has been particularly driven forward by feminist researchers, who have criticised the power relations between researchers and researched as well as the pretence of researchers to social neutrality.

Participatory research strategies:

Reflexivity in research:

Methodology for social movements research

Surprisingly little has been written on the subject of methodologies for social movements research. In large part this expresses the aspiration of the "social movements subdiscipline" to gain the acceptance of dominant institutions (the Diani and Eyerman collection listed below came out of work funded by NATO) and to separate off researchers from the movements they study. Consequently, one of the key methodological sources for social movements research is the Marxist tradition, where theory has always had conscious political implications.

Mostly methods for social movements research:

Mostly methodology for social movements research:

Understanding social movements

These are some introductory points of reference for social movement studies.