Parties and social movements : from the illusions of the "present" to a sociological perspective

Sammendrag

wo opposing stereotypes can be detected in current debates within the radical left and within social movements. The first postulates the death of political parties and prophesies the advent of a political renewal activated by social movements. The second announces the resurrection of the party-form and considers the role of social movements as residual and secondary. This article adopts a position sociologically antithetical to both stereotypes. The work begins by examining the similarities between political parties and social movements and, in a particular way, the vulnerability shared by both with respect to the tendencies generated by the professionalization and monopolization of power. Contemporary social movements are not immune to such trends, despite his allegations of commitment to horizontality. The article continues by analyzing the differentiation process that allows social movements to establish their own specific space, different from that of the political sphere. As a consequence of this process, the political and the social appear as two different universes traversed by their own specific logics, while maintaining close and fluctuating relationships at the same time.