Movimientos sociales, espacio público y ciudadanía: Los caminos de la utopía

Abstract

This article addresses the relations established between social movements and processes of construction of citizenship by means of the physical and symbolic re-appropriation and re‑signifying of public space. Studies of collective action have traditionally seen the public space as the site in which disputes for the legitimacy of collective demands take place. However, what occurs in the public space has a direct connection with private spaces, with private interests, and with the aggregation of these interests in social networks that link different entities: a kind of shared privacy that is made visible when political mobilization takes over the public space. The crystalization of demands formulated in this shared privacy leads to changes in the rights and responsibilities of citizenship, and this puts into question the limits of institutional(ized) politics.

Keywords

• social movements
• citizenship
• public space
• collective action
• political mobilization
• civil society