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Hope Movements: Naming Mobilization in a Post‐development World
Author(s) -
Cecilia Dinerstein Ana,
Deneulin Séverine
Publication year - 2012
Publication title -
development and change
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.267
H-Index - 93
eISSN - 1467-7660
pISSN - 0012-155X
DOI - 10.1111/j.1467-7660.2012.01765.x
Subject(s) - openness to experience , collective action , social movement , sociology , politics , consciousness , action (physics) , relevance (law) , state (computer science) , dimension (graph theory) , social mobilization , mobilization , epistemology , political economy , political science , positive economics , law , social psychology , economics , psychology , philosophy , physics , mathematics , algorithm , quantum mechanics , computer science , pure mathematics
Social mobilizations that are devoted to contesting development and creating alternative economic arrangements conducive to the pursuit of a dignified life have recently sprung up. Not only do they criticize the current state of affairs but they actively seek and experience new ways of living, inspired by what Bloch calls the anticipatory consciousness of the ‘not‐yet‐become’, that is, another reality not yet materialized but which can be already experienced. This article argues that these mobilizations are not adequately captured by the term ‘social movements’. The uniqueness of these mobilizations requires a conceptual and epistemological turn that is able to accommodate the post‐development critique of development as well as their emancipatory dimension. We propose to name them ‘hope movements’ to account for the collective action directed to anticipate, imperfectly, alternative realities that arise from the openness of the present one. We conclude by discussing the political relevance of hope movements for the pursuit of the good life as an alternative to development.