Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Introduction Sixties Radicalism: Creating Spaces and Leaving Legacies
- PART I Radical Movements Around the World
- PART II Theoretical & Cultural Significance
- PART III Social Movement Legacies
- 10 Sixties Movements, Educational Expansion and Cognitive Mobilisation: Postmaterialist Values and Unconventional Political Participation in West Germany
- 11 Carrying the Flame Forward: Activist Legacies of 1968 in Life Story Reflections
- 12 When the Personal Became Political: A Reappraisal of the Women's Liberation Movement's Radical Idea
- Conclusion
- Notes on Contributors
- Author Index
- Subject Index
11 - Carrying the Flame Forward: Activist Legacies of 1968 in Life Story Reflections
from PART III - Social Movement Legacies
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 March 2012
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Introduction Sixties Radicalism: Creating Spaces and Leaving Legacies
- PART I Radical Movements Around the World
- PART II Theoretical & Cultural Significance
- PART III Social Movement Legacies
- 10 Sixties Movements, Educational Expansion and Cognitive Mobilisation: Postmaterialist Values and Unconventional Political Participation in West Germany
- 11 Carrying the Flame Forward: Activist Legacies of 1968 in Life Story Reflections
- 12 When the Personal Became Political: A Reappraisal of the Women's Liberation Movement's Radical Idea
- Conclusion
- Notes on Contributors
- Author Index
- Subject Index
Summary
…1968, we were sort of involved in all that… it was all very silly… I'm ashamed to think of it… well not exactly ashamed, but it was sort of cringeworthy you know? … we had a sit-in outside a racist hairdresser… can you imagine… (laughs)… the classism of it! Some poor working class hairdresser that said that they couldn't cope with Afro hairstyles and we decided they were racist…
(Interview K)Introduction
Where have the revolutions gone? What happens with the passion of the day once movements are no longer publicly visible – what does it transform into? And what are the lessons learned? Our concern in this chapter is to critically examine the idealism of political movements following the moment of 1968, by listening to the voices of adults who have been engaged in a range of activist projects over their lifetime. Our discussion is founded on in-depth life story interviews with adults in the UK, however to contextualize and analyse this material we draw on theories about new social movements developed by European thinkers, as well as on feminist and post-colonialist criticism mainly from the US. We are interested to get beyond simple historical description and celebration and to trace the finer lines and subtle legacies of the spirit of '68 and its follow-on movements of the 1970s and 80s. The focus here is not on spectacular actions and major players, but rather on how adults make sense of participation in extraordinary actions and events within the context of ‘ordinary’ lives.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Sixties Radicalism and Social Movement ActivismRetreat or Resurgence?, pp. 189 - 210Publisher: Anthem PressPrint publication year: 2010