Research Project Prospectus - The 60s Generation’s Life Course of Political Participation in Denmark

Professor Kim Voss SOC 280S: Social Movements Malte Nyfos Mathiasen ([email protected]) May 15, 14

The 60s Generation’s Life Course of Political Participation in Denmark Prospectus for a research project.

I would be happy to receive any comments that could help me in the process.


Table of Contents

Research question ...................................................................................................................... 3 Context ......................................................................................................................................................... 5

Literature review and theoretical framework ................................................................. 6 Culture ......................................................................................................................................................... 6 Generation .................................................................................................................................................. 8 Activism ....................................................................................................................................................... 9

Research design ....................................................................................................................... 10 Storytelling and life courses as a method ................................................................................... 11 Data ............................................................................................................................................................. 12 Comparison and measurement ....................................................................................................... 13 Expected findings and arguments .................................................................................................. 13

Literature ................................................................................................................................... 15


Research question

In Denmark when the talk is about social movements and change, the refer-

ence point always seems to be the 68’ers generation and the happy but childish life of

the hippies. The concept of generations is in many accounts continuously used to cat-

egorize the 60s and early 70s, where the baby boomers as the first generation after

WW2 have been classified as a qualitative different generation or even the first youth

generation. Illustratively, many scholars of New Social Movements have celebrated

Inglehardt’s claim that the post WW2 western generations were less materialistic and

more idealistic and cultural, because they never experienced material sufferings and

hunger (Inglehardt, 1971). At the same time I believe one can fairly say that the dis-

cursive power of “generation” is more powerful in some countries rather than in oth-

ers, and in Denmark the concept of the ‘generation’ is often reified, as new emerging

groups of youth claim an identity, and older voices outcry over state of affairs in pub-

lic media.

As a side note I believe that an examination of the ‘68’ers could create re-

newed interest and parallels to the arguably lack of activism today. I therefore set out

to ask a research question, which can be answered through a thick contextualization

of a movement:

How did the activists in the ‘68’ers Generation and the University of Copen-

hagen evolve their values and diffuse into other movements over their life

course?

The relationship under investigation implies to compare the specificity of the

activist in the movement over a long period with non-activist at the same time. Also

the activists of the ‘68’ers Generation and the student revolt in ‘68’ overlap but ana-

lytically needs to be disentangled.

The research design is very open, and I have no elaborate thesis on, what the

results will look like. I have some prior indications that the population in Denmark at

large tends to have quite consistent values over time, especially on a left-to-right po-

litical scale (Gundelach, 2011). I am therefore very eager to find out, if the sample of

activist in the ‘68’ers Generation at the University of Copenhagen diverges profound-

ly, and if they tend to have larger social and sustained (activist) networks, earn less


(or more), maintain a leftist political attitude and continuously organize movements,

as they become older.

Until today there exist no sociological or systematic account on the ‘68’ers

Generation, though there is much written by popular media and historians depicting

the ‘68’ers in the period from 1962-82 or 1945-89 (Scandinavian Journal of History,

33(4), 2008; Gildea et al., 2013; Stewart, 2014). The problem I see with the current

historical accounts are that they put to much emphasis on individuals, single events

and a cohesive narrative of decay without telling how the activists integrated and in-

fused other institutions with their values. No doubt it was a decisive period in Danish

history both culturally and institutional, where the welfare state and student numbers

expanded and even a new university was created to address the demand of the time

and the students. Thus, I believe, there is a dual purpose of the research project. First-

ly, to examine the life course of activist with explanatory interviews and very accurate

micro data and secondly, to inform a very contested dispute over the significance of

the ‘68ers Generation, before the activists die, and the data disappears. As one of the

activist at the 1964 Free Speech Movement at Berkeley recalled at the 40 year com-

memoration, for the students of today, the 60s are as far a past, as the WWI was for

them.

The ‘68’ers Generation is a very prominent case of activism in Denmark and,

therefore comparable to the Civil Rights Movement in the U.S., a natural reference

point and an opportunity to disseminate and test the social movement literature in a

Danish context. But it is also relevant, because the historical path can set landmarks

for repertoires and contestation for future activists and social movement organiza-

tions.


Context

The Danish Student revolt developed from the Institute of Psychology at the

University of Copenhagen in 19'. The students were inspired by events in Germany,

France, a bit of Italy and the U.S., but events only happened in the capital city of Co-

penhagen and not in the three other largest cities of Denmark. I will investigate why

none events happened in the other cities and universities. For this purpose I will ex-

amine records at Aarhus University, which is the second largest city and conducts the

most similar history as Copenhagen. In Copenhagen the activism was relatively short

and lasted for some months. It later returned in 1970 but did not have the same suc-

cess and impact. Their main objective was to increase participation and influence at

the university and diminish the importance of professors and management. In this re-

gard they generally succeeded and have had a large impact, until some recent setbacks

in democratic student governance from 2001 It has often been related to prior event,

such as the youth rebellion in the 60s, the collective movement, anti-nuclear move-

ments, anti-war movement emerging from the Vietnam war

Even Thylejren and Roskilde festival (the largest Northern European Musical

festival), have since 1972 had camps and festivals and a persistent impact developed

by groups of ‘68’ers’ students from Copenhagen.


Literature review and theoretical framework The following section elaborates the main theoretical concepts and discussion

in the canon of social movement literature and relevant for the activists in the 68’ers

Generation and student revolt in Copenhagen.

Gilda et. al set a new standard for the scholarship with oral life history inter-

views from 500 transnational activists in Europe’s ‘68’ (2013), but their selected

sample only include 12 Danes derived from the Women’s movement and “The New

Society”, which is not representative for the whole movement, the student revolt and

cultural shift. Also Gildea et. al ask whether there was a transnational European ‘68’

without a clear definition of transnationalism and an answer to the insinuation that the

‘68’ers were the first global Generation (ibid.: 1; Fietze, 1997). Another relevant part

is their discussion of the absence of a Scandinavian ‘68’, which is complicated by the

Danish case and definitely not appreciated by Danish historians (Gildea et. al, 2013:

4; Scandinavian Journal of History, 33(4), 2008). Nevertheless, I pursue a similar

method and adopt their framework for where ‘68’ happens and where it does not, but

I want to inform the analysis with sociological concept related to the cultural shift,

biographical junctures and a more rigorous analysis of all available activist student in

Copenhagen 1968.

I start out with considerations about culture, cultural shifts and kinship to other

concepts and I then discuss generation and activism, which by scholars and commen-

tators retrospectively have been applied to understand the activities in ‘68’.

In the second part I turn to the research design and describe my data and ex-

pected findings, including some methodological issues concerning the unit of analy-

sis, a feasible control group and activists’ storytelling.

Culture In Culture Moves Rochon (2000) links the political and social world through

culture. Moral language and conceptual categories change over time and move from

consensus to contention. Culture is closely linked to language and what scholars tend

to call ‘discourse’ to stress the linguistic expression of a system of thoughts (Ibid.:

14f, 33) The problem for social research is that discourses and cultural change are de-

centralized phenomenon and difficult to observe, though Rochon’s method is instruc-

tive for how to observe cultural shift through consumption culture, public media and

polls and for issues such as gender and race inequalities. These sources all possess


strengths and weaknesses and I believe that especially the use of a general value sur-

vey and newspaper and media stories will be useful in my case. Ferrer (2003) uses

newspaper stories to compare United States and Germany and indicate a difference in

their master frames and, how ‘radicalism’ and belief niches are constructed differently

in the two countries. Perianal (2006) discusses that law and legislative frames shall be

incorporated to the body of culture, and by emphasizing the staging of social protest

in court and moral language and conceptual categories, I find her argument very com-

patible with Rochon (2000), who demonstrated how moral and judicial categories

loop back to the political, and through varying institutions impact distribution of re-

sources and political power.

In the Making of the Stonewall Myth Armstrong & Crage (2006) argue that

movements are remembered, when 1) activists consider them commemorable and 2)

have sufficient mnemonic capacity. The ‘68’ers Generation meet these standard in the

following decade by having many persons in influential jobs in cultural and economic

institutions, such as media and private business. Post facto we can end that the activist

considered the ‘68’ers movement commemorable, since it is remembered. But I hope

to shed further light on the memory by interviews with different target groups, such as

the activists themselves, audience in Copenhagen and at the University and the gen-

eral public. This is particularly relevant, since the memory of the ‘68’ers have been

highly contested since 80’s, and the interviews might contextualize whether this is an

effect of the subsequent decades or the events around ‘68’ itself. It might turn up that

the 68’ers were remembered just as much by their opponents and audience.

I do not wish depict the ‘68’ers Generation as one of identity politics in con-

trast to class-based and material struggles as other scholars have done writing about

New Social Movements (Inglehardt, 1971; Bernstein & Taylor, 2005). Instead I see

similarities and discontinuities between new and old social movements and the 68’ers

movement. Mainly, the ‘68’ers in the student revolt protested for recognition and a

right to participate and influence in contrast to a materialistic demand for redistribu-

tion.

Bernstein & Taylor (2005) encapsulate, how culture and identity can shape ac-

tivities and social ties. But their policy sphere concerns primarily gay and lesbian

rights and more broadly human and civil rights. It might therefore be interesting to

see, how their framework apply in recognition and right to participate and influence


other policy arenas. Here Amenta (2006) finds that the possibilities for cultural and

political change are limited when a group’s democratic right and influence over poli-

cy are restricted, which point us in the direction that it is by the cultural and political

changes over time, whereby scholars and the general public will evaluate the ‘68’ers

movement.

Poletta and Jasper (2001) add the dimension of collective identities as an al-

ternative explanation to structural and rationalist account of participation. Polletta

takes a starting point in the literature of framing (Snow et. al, 1986) to describe how

narratives and identity created a distinctive collective action frame, which was im-

portant for the student movement sit-in campaigns in the U.S. 60s. The narrative con-

struction of the repertoire, the sit-ins, as local, spontaneous and moral imperative

made them disseminate the campaign and create a activists identity, event though the

narrative often not fit the strategic planning and bureaucratic coordination of the ac-

tivists (Polenta, 1998).

Generation Karl Mannheim founded the concept of ‘generation’ in 64’ right around the

moment, where ‘68’ers evolved (Manheim, 1964). For him generation was a dynamic

process, which best can be identified by how it impacted social life through biological

processes of life and death. It implies that new participants continuously arise in cul-

tural processes and former participants disappear. One can only participate temporally

in historical process, and consequently, cultural heritage is transmitted continuously

from one generation to another (ibid. 170). Kertzer (1983) clarifies that the use of

generation to describe a people living in a given period tend to be more used in Histo-

ry than in Sociology, and the literature applies age, young cohorts and life stages to

concretize it). Whether a generation is remembered and valued depend, as Armstrong

and Crage (2006) substantiated above, on the movements commemoration capacity

but also on other generations and social factors, such as the socialization and values of

subsequent generations (Kertzer, 1983: 135f).

Taylor (2014) argues that generations tend to emerge every 20 year (Taylor,

2014), but with the long sixties and the ‘68’ers as last weighty reference point and no

commemorable youth generations before that time and today’s constant claim makers

of new emerging generations, this fact appears very volatile. If we assume the genera-

tions grow in numbers, as youth and school years are prolonged, and university (and


high school) cohorts dramatically grow in the latter part of the 20th Century, it is diffi-

cult to separate a central feature of a generation. Thus, it tends to be a slippery con-

cept, which can be different to distinguish from a cohort or the context. Broadly

speaking, Banton (1979) approach this problem as a trade-off between folk concepts

and analytical concepts, where a science, such as sociology, must pursue the concise

analytical concept and derogate from popular media and resonating stereotypes. Con-

cordant, Pilcher (1994) argues that generation is a concept of everyday life, which is

used widespread in society but for too long have been disregarded by sociologists. I

must say that I find the public stereotypes problematic and somehow want feed into

the public discussion of collective memory. Thus, it appeals to me to tracks in the pro-

ject, where one is sociological rigorous and one is more journalistic and dramatize

and tell the story of the ‘68’ Generation with their own words.

As a concept ‘generation”’ tend to function as an empty container and overlap

with a broader contextualization of the period, since a generation is often defined by a

distinctive feature from the period. E.g. the 60’s had the baby boom and a culture of

consumption and a hippie counter reaction, and the 00’s had September 11, the Mille-

nials and a boom of internet technology (Taylor, 2014). As mentioned above in case I

use the concept my project needs a clear demarcation of “generation” to prevent it

from tautologies, such as the ‘68’ers in Copenhagen were more students and higher

than ever before and therefore demanded free speech and democracy at the Universi-

ty.

Activism Gildea et. al (2013) summarize three trajectories of activist in the following

paragraph, though I am not convinced that it an adequate description of the Danish or

European case, it can be a starting point:

“Some kept heir leftist dreams alive, despite the risk of seeming naïve or dan-

gerous. Others remade their politics and rejected the leftism of their youth for

liberalism or ne-conservatism. Many more, however, reinvented their activ-

ism, channeling it into the cultural sphere or into their political life” (ibid.: 2)

None of the participants in the ‘68’ers student revolt considered themselves

activists. Contrastingly, the social movement literature often equates participants and


activist, though activism tends to be more extra-parliamentary and non-institutional

action. Precisely, the ‘68’ ers students revolt were lead by neat students, who in the

60s often wore suits and met with Rector. Thus, there must be taken some cautions to

clarify, how ascribing activism will shed a particular light on the circumstances and

rewrite the movement’s self-image.

Corrigall-Brown approaches the question as a balancing of identity, naming

and socializing into a group (2012: 106). She reveals that (leftist) ideology often is

formative for an (activist) ideology. The awkward conclusion is that some right-

winged activists in social movement organizations are not activist and do not operate

in social movement organization, because they do not like the connotations of social

movements and activism. Thus, I risk biasing my project and repelling right-winged

readers.

Corrigall-Brown acknowledges the problem but according to her these move-

ment persons still are activists, because they fit the analytical definition. I still wonder

where to come down on this problem and apply the concept of activism. I believe a

pragmatic solution would be to be open for other concept of participation and let the

empirical evidence guide me in whether to categorize it as protestors, members, crit-

ics or organizers.

Research design McAdam compares in Freedom Summer (1990) the activist with a control

group of non-participating but applying students. Taking this and Munson’s (2010)

method of sampling through referrals of non-activists as an instructive method I plan

to compare the activist group of students at the University of Copenhagen, primarily

with a control group of friends and students at the same time and place, either sam-

pled by random assignment from the cohort of student in ‘68’ or through referrals

from student activists in ‘68’ and secondly with a national sample.

The social movement readings on biographical junctures and participation

(McAdam, 2010; Corrigall-Brown, 2012 and Munson, 2010) made me think about the

misconception that people generally tend to think that social movement activism is a

part of teenage revolts against reproduced patriarchal structures and that perceived

grievances calm down over time and life course. The underlying logic is that as peo-

ple get older and have work nine to five, they tend to be more conservative and not


engage in contentious politics. I do not claim that this is absolutely false. But I believe

there is more to grasp and that people’s life trajectory and social network are better

predictors of activism. My hypothesis would be, instead of an average petty bourgeois

life after the initial (youthful) activism, the activist involved in social movement ac-

tivities in the 60s also were core actors in the 70s and 80s movements against war,

nuclear power etc. and their values were quite consistent over time. This could reveal

that activist identities, when first established, were stabile and reinforced through so-

cial ties.

As far as my research review goes I have not met any sociological accounts of

the ‘68’ers in a Danish context. My scope would therefore primarily build on histori-

cal accounts and research from Germany or the US case of Berkeley, where the scope

conditions can translate to a small country with 5 million citizens and the capital’s

university of Copenhagen with 10-20.000 students in 1968.

Storytelling and life courses as a method It is difficult to filter accounts of storytelling and post justification that people

add to their earlier speech and act, which can make it appear more rational or directed

against a revised target or interest. On one hand I want some biographical and move-

ment story telling, but on the other hand I want a realistic rather than altruistic ac-

count. The following attempts to uncover, how I can better separate the meaning,

which activists’ attribute to their activity, and the activity and cultural meaning, which

other perceived it by.

People are revisionist and especially, when it comes to values and identity

lifestyle they possessed but might not align how they consider themselves today. To

prevent and triangulate a revisionist bias, it might be useful to search for measure-

ments of, what the movement and activists did rather than what they say. Archival

material of meetings, minutes and activities and extrovert public repertories might be

preferable sources to meet these ends. By this approach I hope to encapsulate the in-

teraction between storytelling in the movement and the activists’ actions and values

(Poletta, 1998).

Petitt &Western (2004) use a framework of life cycles to explore how impris-

onment (or military service) by chock and socializing mechanisms can alter people


life trajectories. Their work is instructive to inform how different socioeconomic

groups and generational cohorts with 5-year time-spans and are affected by common

life events. I hope to be able to create a similar index, though my sample probably has

fewer individuals and thus a statistical analysis might end up insignificant. Therefore,

the robustness of my analysis depend on a success to have a fairly large sample and

also have some data on the sampled population.

Data I will find interview participants through a snowballing method from historical

accounts at the University of Copenhagen and the University Councils record. I ex-

pect participants, who have already stated their opinion about the generation and stu-

dent revolt to be leading and readily available account, which need to be countered by

more restrained voices.

There also exist a fairly amount of historical account related to the 40 years

commemoration of the Student Rebellion (Andersen & Olsen, 2004; Frei, 2008; Jen-

sen & Jørgensen, 2008; Scandinavian Journal of History, 33(4), 2008; Gildea et al.,

2013). I also encountered a very informative radio series with many oral histories

from the public Danish Broadcasting Corporation (where several of the activists later

have worked and one became the Director General) (68 dengang og nu, 2008).

1. Review the historical records and archival material in order find out more accurate-

ly, how people at the time talked about the ‘68’ers movement and student revolt and

who and where the central actors and activities unfolded.

2. Survey send to 50-500 political activists and corresponding non-participants. To

establish a control group I will firstly, ask the surveyed to refer me to a non-

participating friend from the University and crosscheck for duplicates and secondly,

try to find records of the cohort from ‘68’ at the University and randomly assign peo-

ple to the survey. I depend upon one of the above sampling strategies to establish a

most similar control group. The second option is preferable, since I achieve a control

group without sampling on the depending variable and thereby skewing the student

sample by the fact that activist and referred friends tend to be more alike than aver-

age. As a last step, I need a national statistical survey to compare the students and

general population. In contrast to the student sample, a culture and value survey exist


over time and thus I can substantiate a cultural shift, which often have been attributed

to the ‘68’ers.

3. Biographical interviews with 50 political activists in the ‘68’ers student and univer-

sity protest. With biographical interviews and the survey above I also seek to identify,

if they activist student were different beforehand or became different due to the activi-

ties and social processes of activism.

4. Statistics Denmark has very detailed register data from the 70s (or maybe first in

the 80s). To the extend, I can and am allowed access, I will have data on an individual

level for the activists and firms, in which they have worked. The data can be coupled

with other data. I do not know yet, if this gives me a unique opportunity or only limits

me, since I have to meet sociological standards of confidentiality and anonymization

and thus cannot connect all the dots without identifying the individuals.

Comparison and measurement

1. A Comparative discourse analysis of the ’68’ers Generation in 68, 78, 88, 98

and 2008.

2. A general comparative value and culture survey conducted by Statistics Den-

mark from 1960 to 2010.

3. A comparison between the activist student and the control group of 1) either a)

student friends referrals or b) randomized sampled student from Copenhagen

University in 68’

Expected findings and arguments Until a year ago the Danish minister of Business Affairs Ole Sohn was criti-

cized for his past being a former leader of the communist party until the fall of the

Berlin Wall and collapse of the Soviet Republic in 89’. Before him the Minister of

Welfare Karen Hækkerup and her husband become infamous for her shift from the

Socialist Left to the largest conservative-liberal party over a 40 years time span. Me-

dia and public opinion gloat over this inconsistency or hypocrisy but also contribute

to produce a myth of political conformism over time, which I do not expect to be true

except from among some top politician. I anticipate my study will show larger varia-

tion and that the average student activist in the ‘68’ers movement had quite consistent

political and cultural belief


Munson (2010) showed that a third of Pro-Life Activists earlier tended to-

wards the opposite Pro-Choice belief, and he also contested value and belief coher-

ence over time. I believe this is a far-reaching finding, which needs to be replicated in

other settings. Instead, I would hypothesize that a more consistent value and belief

system exist among the participating activists. It will also show up recurrent activism

over time acquired and maintained through social ties.

I also have a an issue with how Munson unilaterally states that belief does not

matter, when I would hypothesize there exist much evidence, which suggest that ac-

tion shapes activists and other participants’ beliefs. My inquiry to review the concept

of activists, generation and culture is driven by an urge to revise his theory about be-

lief, and instead I will communicate the social movement theory in a prominent Dan-

ish case and deliver a stronger argument that culture, identity or ideology have been

shaped through the ‘68’ers activism, action and social processes.


Literature

68 dengang og nu. (2008) iTunes. DR. Retrieved April 22, 2014, from

https://itunes.apple.com/dk/podcast/68-dengang-og-nu/id315312578?mt=2

Armstrong, E. A., & Crage, S. M. (2006). Movements and memory: the making of the

Stonewall myth. American Sociological Review, 71(5), 724-751.

Armstrong, E. A., & Bernstein, M. (2008). Culture, Power, and Institutions: A Multi-‐‑

Institutional Politics Approach to Social Movements*. Sociological Theory, 26(1),

74-99.

Amenta, E. (2006). When movements matter: The Townsend plan and the rise of so-

cial security. Princeton University Press.

Andersen, M. B., & Olsen, N. (2004). 1968: dengang og nu. Museum Tusculanum

Press.

Banton, M. (1979). Analytical and folk concepts of race and ethnicity. Ethnic and ra-

cial studies, 2(2), 127-138.

Corrigall-Brown, Catherine (2012). Patterns of Protest: Trajectories of Participation

in Social Movements, Stanford University Press

Ferree, Myra Marx (2003). “Resonance and Radicalism: Feminist Framing of the

Abortion Debates of the United States and Germany.” American Journal of Sociology

109:304-344.

Fietze, B. (1997). 1968: Symbol for the first global generation. BERLINER JOURNAL

FUR SOZIOLOGIE, 7(3), 365.

Bernstein, M., & Taylor, V. (2005). Identity politics. The Wiley-Blackwell Encyclope-

dia of Social and Political Movements.

Gildea, R., Mark, J., & Warring, A. (Eds.). (2013). Europe's 1968: Voices of Revolt.

Gundelach, P. (Ed.). (2011). Små og store forandringer: danskernes værdier siden

1981. Hans Reitzels forlag.


Frei, N. (2008). 1968: ungdomsrevolte & global protest. Ellekær.

Inglehart, R. (1971). The silent revolution in Europe: Intergenerational change in

post-industrial societies. American political science review, 65(4), 991-1017.

Jensen, S. L. B., & Jørgensen, T. E. (2008). 1968 - og det der fulgte: studenteroprø-

rets forudsætninger og konsekvenser. Gyldendal A/S.

Kertzer, D. I. (1983). Generation as a sociological problem. Annual review of sociolo-

gy, 125-149.

Mannheim, K. (1964). The Sociological Problem of Generations. Essays on the Soci-

ology of Knowledge, 306.

Nicholas Pedriana, 2006. "From Protective to Equal Treatment: Legal Framing Pro-

cesses and Transformation of the Women's Movement in the 1960s." American Jour-

nal of Sociology 111:1718-1761.

Pilcher, J. (1994). Mannheim's sociology of generations: an undervalued legacy. Brit-

ish Journal of Sociology, 481-495.

Turner, S. P. (Ed.). (2005). The disobedient generation: social theorists in the sixties.

University of Chicago Press.

Taylor, P. (2014). The next America: boomers, millennials, and the looming generati-

onal showdown.

McAdam, D. (2010). Political process and the development of black insurgency,

1930-1970. University of Chicago Press.

McAdam, D. (1990). Freedom summer. Oxford University Press.

Munson, Z. W. (2010). The making of pro-life activists: How social movement mobi-

lization works. University of Chicago Press.


Polletta, F., & Jasper, J. M. (2001). Collective identity and social movements. Annual

review of Sociology, 283-305.

Polletta, F. (1998). " It Was Like A Fever..." Narrative and Identity in Social Protest.

Social Problems, 137-159.

Rochon, T. R. (2000). Culture moves: Ideas, activism, and changing values. Princeton

University Press.

Snow, D. A., Rochford Jr, E. B., Worden, S. K., & Benford, R. D. (1986). Frame

alignment processes, micromobilization, and movement participation. American soci-

ological review, 464-481.

Special issue on 1968. Scandinavian Journal of History (2008), 33(4)

Documents

Research Project Prospectus - The 60s Generation’s Life Course of Political Participation in Denmark