Social Movements

Abstract

Abstract This chapter discusses the state of research on social movements in Switzerland. Following a common approach in the field, social movements are defined as informal networks of actors with a collective identity, mobilizing around conflicting issues through different forms of protest. The chapter first characterizes the context in which movements in Switzerland operate, describing the structure of political opportunities for the mobilization of social movements in Switzerland. It then discusses the mobilization of a number of movements and movement families, namely traditional movements, new social movements, radical-right movements, global justice movements, and anti-austerity movements. The conclusion summarizes the key aspects discussed in the chapter, also with the aim of dismantling certain stereotypes according to which the Swiss are not very inclined to take to the streets. The chapter shows that, while social movement research in Switzerland was characterized in the early 1990s as a marginal field of research in an underdeveloped social science community, this is no longer true today, as a growing body of works has focused on social movements in Switzerland during the last thirty years.