Climate Social Movements and the Politics of Leadership
-
Lukas Slothuus
Abstract
Do climate social movements need leadership structures and if so, which ones? Tackling this question is a central problem facing such movements. How can scholars intervene with critical and normative contributions to this question in order to strengthen these movements? In this chapter, I develop a vision of different forms of leadership and the role they can play for climate social movements. I engage with historical and contemporary literature on leadership in emancipatory politics, such as spontaneism and party organisation. Specifically, I focus on vanguardism as a possible promising type of leadership yet ultimately propose that a rearguard can play a crucial role in supplementing vanguardist climate politics. A diversity of tactics and leadership structures alike can aid climate social movements. Concerted, disciplined, and resilient leadership from the front and the back is needed to strengthen the concrete material struggle over life and-now possibly only-habitable life.
Abstract
Do climate social movements need leadership structures and if so, which ones? Tackling this question is a central problem facing such movements. How can scholars intervene with critical and normative contributions to this question in order to strengthen these movements? In this chapter, I develop a vision of different forms of leadership and the role they can play for climate social movements. I engage with historical and contemporary literature on leadership in emancipatory politics, such as spontaneism and party organisation. Specifically, I focus on vanguardism as a possible promising type of leadership yet ultimately propose that a rearguard can play a crucial role in supplementing vanguardist climate politics. A diversity of tactics and leadership structures alike can aid climate social movements. Concerted, disciplined, and resilient leadership from the front and the back is needed to strengthen the concrete material struggle over life and-now possibly only-habitable life.
Chapters in this book
- Frontmatter I
- Contents V
- Introduction: From Social Movements to Philosophy (and Back Again) 1
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Section 1: At the Intersection Between Academia and Social Movements
- Critical Social Ontology and Social Movements 13
- Social Movements and Epistemic Injustice 35
- Feminist Research as a Response to Political and Epistemic Violences 45
-
Section 2: Contemporary Approaches to the Philosophy of Social Movements
-
Social Ontology and Social Movements
- Toward a Liberatory Metaphysics of Sexuality 59
- The Political Ontology of Rawls’ Model of Disobedience: Depoliticization Through Moralization 77
-
Social Movements and Epistemology
- How Social Movements Bear Collective Duties 103
- How Politics Shapes the Value of Perceptual Experience: From Epistemic to Prudential Value 121
- The Standpoint of the Oppressed Must Be Conquered by the Oppressed Class Itself: Standpoint Epistemology and Epistemic Autonomy 143
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Section 3: How Specific Social Movements Inform Philosophy
- Climate Social Movements and the Politics of Leadership 169
- Viral Social Movements, State(s) of Emergency, and the Insurgent Public Realm: A Philosophical Analysis of China’s 2020 – 2022 Social Movements 187
- Anchoring Disablement: Social Definitions and Social Ontology in Britain’s Disabled People’s Movement 207
- European Health Social Movements: An Introduction 229
- List of Contributors 251
- Index 253
Chapters in this book
- Frontmatter I
- Contents V
- Introduction: From Social Movements to Philosophy (and Back Again) 1
-
Section 1: At the Intersection Between Academia and Social Movements
- Critical Social Ontology and Social Movements 13
- Social Movements and Epistemic Injustice 35
- Feminist Research as a Response to Political and Epistemic Violences 45
-
Section 2: Contemporary Approaches to the Philosophy of Social Movements
-
Social Ontology and Social Movements
- Toward a Liberatory Metaphysics of Sexuality 59
- The Political Ontology of Rawls’ Model of Disobedience: Depoliticization Through Moralization 77
-
Social Movements and Epistemology
- How Social Movements Bear Collective Duties 103
- How Politics Shapes the Value of Perceptual Experience: From Epistemic to Prudential Value 121
- The Standpoint of the Oppressed Must Be Conquered by the Oppressed Class Itself: Standpoint Epistemology and Epistemic Autonomy 143
-
Section 3: How Specific Social Movements Inform Philosophy
- Climate Social Movements and the Politics of Leadership 169
- Viral Social Movements, State(s) of Emergency, and the Insurgent Public Realm: A Philosophical Analysis of China’s 2020 – 2022 Social Movements 187
- Anchoring Disablement: Social Definitions and Social Ontology in Britain’s Disabled People’s Movement 207
- European Health Social Movements: An Introduction 229
- List of Contributors 251
- Index 253
