Small acts, kind words and “not too much fuss”: Implicit activisms

Abstract

Small acts, kind words and 'not too much fuss' 2 Small acts, kind words and "not too much fuss": implicit activisms AbstractIn this paper, we suggest that social scientists' accounts of 'activism' have too-often tended to foreground and romanticise the grandiose, the iconic, and the unquestionably meaning-ful, to the exclusion of different kinds of 'activism'. Thus, while there is a rich social-scientific literature chronicling a social history of insurrectionary protests and key figures/thinkers, we suggest that there is more to 'activism' (and there are more kinds of 'activism') than this. In short, we argue that much can be learnt from what we term implicit activisms which -being small-scale, personal, quotidian and proceeding with little fanfare -have typically gone uncharted in social-scientific understanding of 'activism'. This paper will reflect upon one example of this kind of 'implicit' activism, by representing findings from interviews undertaken with 150 parents/carers, during an evaluation of a 'Sure Start' Centre in the East Midlands, UK. From these interviews emerged a sense of how the Centre (and the parents/carers, staff and material facilities therein) had come to matter profoundly to these parents/carers. We suggest that these interviews extend and unsettle many social-scientific accounts of 'activism' in three key senses. First: in evoking the specific kinds of everyday, personal, affective bonds which lead people to care. Second: in evoking the kinds of small acts, words and gestures which can instigate and reciprocate/reproduce such care. And third: in suggesting how such everyday, affective bonds and acts can ultimately constitute political activism and commitment, albeit of a kind which seeks to proceed with 'not too much fuss'.

Seismologies of emotion: fear and activism during domestic violence

“…Such an agent of change is normatively fixed in the formal political sphere' (Askins 2011:531; see also Horton and Kraftl 2009;Staeheli and Cope 1994).…”

“…In research on emotions and activism, in contrast, there has been much closer examination of the ways emotions work to counter oppressive practices at specific sites and times (Askins 2011;Brown and Pickerill 2009;Chatterton 2006;Routledge 2010;Wright 2008). In these literatures, emotions are predominantly considered to be a positive force that adds momentum to the push for social change (Horton and Kraftl 2009), with most attention on the collective nature of struggle: the ways in which shared feelings and affects mobilise politics in different spaces (Brown and Pickerill 2009;Lee 2012).…”

Framing, overflowing, and fuzzy logic in educational selection: Zurich as a case study

“…Hörschelmann, 2018;Horton, 2016;Kulz, 2013), it is important not only to point out that academics can put implicit activism into practice. We can actually become ourselves engaged in projects of "small acts, kind words and not too much fuss" that try to make a difference for young people of various abilities and aspirations (Horton and Kraftl, 2009). …”

Queerying activism through the lens of the sociology of everyday life

“…By contrast, everyday activism uses somewhat mild language and emotions (eg comfortable, appropriate manner), performing deeds which are implicit, they 'proceed with little fuss'; 'small acts of kindness' constitute the underlying emotional energy (Horton and Kraftl, 2009;14). In the extract above, Noel talks about his willingness to challenge discrimination (I could raise to it) and explicitly recognises that being out becomes a possibility, not only for himself, but for others too.…”

“…Thirty years after the implementation of the 1988 Act, LGB people enjoy equality before the law, but social rights and cultural norms such as access to education, health and other public services may require different tactics and approaches to embed and sustain change in social institutions (Bernstein, 2003). While there is an emerging body of work that considers the everyday in relation to feminist, environmental and anti-poverty campaigning (Martin et al 2007; Pink, 2012; Chatterton, 2006, Horton andKraftl, 2009), there is little which explores how the sociology of the everyday life can be used to interrogate quotidian activism in the lives of LGB people. …”