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Making Sense of the Social Forum

On the Local Framing of a Fashionable Global Symbol

Linköping University, Sweden, henrik.nordvall{at}liu.se

The worldwide emergence of Social Forums (SF), originating from Porto Alegre (Brazil) in 2001, is a key element in the movement for global justice. A growing body of literature on the forums concerns its function as a transnational venue for civil society and a global symbol for resistance against neoliberalism. However, little empirical research is carried out on the local meanings of the widespread SFs. This article reports on a case study on the organizational process of a local forum in a Swedish town. The analysis focuses on intracoalitional interaction among activists from the labor movement, Attac, and a local cultural institution. The importance of considering local framing processes and the often-neglected influence of fashion when studying the emergence of SFs is emphasized. Findings show how the dichotomy the Old versus the New became crucial in the framing process. Framed as a novelty contrasted with "old" socialist values, the SF was rejected by the labor movement activists as just another expression of a contemporary neoliberal trend of depoliticization. Implications for the study of the social forum phenomenon are discussed.

Key Words: social movement organizations • social forums • framing • fashion

This version was published on August 1, 2009

Journal of Contemporary Ethnography, Vol. 38, No. 4, 435-464 (2009)
DOI: 10.1177/0891241608330355


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