Editorial Type:
Article Category: Research Article
| Online Publication Date: 02 Jul 2008
The Spatial Dynamics of the May 1968 French Demonstrations
The Spatial Dynamics of the May 1968 French Demonstrations
Page Range: 83 – 97
The article studies the May 68 demonstrations in four cities: Paris, Lyon, Saint-Etienne and Roanne, and relies mainly on the archives of the French police. Its main aim is to show that what happened in French streets in May and June 1968 largely depended on the dynamics of the interactions between different contending groups—students, workers, police, radical-right groups, and government supporters—and that an important part of these interactions was determined by the significance these groups gave to the various settings where the events took place, and by the ownership they claimed to have over them. The article relies on the recent interest of social movement scholars for the spatial location of contention, but also on Goffman's theory of the territory of self, to analyze together the symbolic and the strategic dimensions of the May 68 repertoire of contention.
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