A Nested Framework for Understanding Revolutionary Situations

Revolutionary situations are characterized by high contingency as social interactions intensify under radical uncertainty. Transformative events provide structuring moments for these volatile dynamics by shaping the conditions of possibility for social interaction. These events are thus an opportunity to study the contingency of revolutionary situations, including affective solidarities, shifting alliances, tactical adaptations, and the transformation of social claims. This article addresses these considerations by presenting an event-centric and discourse-sensitive framework for analyzing revolutionary situations that centers the interplay between discursive and material arenas of social struggle. This nested framework integrates poststructuralist insights about the constitutive effects of discourse on social interaction into an eventful sociology of contention, approaching revolutionary situations as constituted by a complex interplay of material interactions and symbolic struggles. The analytical purchase of this framework is illustrated by three revolutionary situations in West Asia and North Africa

Contingency · Contingency theory · Situated · Social relation · Social structure · Structuring · Transformation processes · Transformative learning · Anthropological Studies and Insights · Colonial History and Postcolonial Studies · Political Conflict and Governance