The sociology of AIDS activism, the case of ACT UP/New York, 1987-1992. (Volumes I and II).
Item
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Title
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The sociology of AIDS activism, the case of ACT UP/New York, 1987-1992. (Volumes I and II).
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Identifier
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AAI9304655
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identifier
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9304655
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Creator
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Elbaz, Gilbert.
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Contributor
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Adviser: Stanley Aronowitz
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Date
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1992
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Language
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English
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Publisher
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City University of New York.
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Subject
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Sociology, General | Health Sciences, Public Health | Sociology, Social Structure and Development
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Abstract
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The present dissertation is about an AIDS activist organization: AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power/New York (ACT UP/New York). The organization's self-proclaimed goal is to end the "AIDS crisis" using direct action.;Since its creation in 1987, the organization has matured. Only interested in drugs at first, it quickly diversified to include issues such as holistic medicine, issues of concern to white women and people of color with AIDS, national health care, drug use and high-school AIDS education, to name just a few.;Considered the most appropriate, the social movement perspective was elected to analyze ACT UP. The literature on social movements has moved from psychologistic to cultural emphasis via rationalism.;Special attention is given to Alain Touraine's Action Sociology, which represents the theoretical underpinnings of this research. However, disagreements with Touraine's view on the new social movements feeds the thesis of the present study.;Contrary to Touraine's contention that the new social movements are mostly cultural, defensive and post-industrial, the present analysis argues that ACT UP is equally political and cultural, offensive in its strategy and raises issues that are tied to the industrial character of society and in particular to biomedical research.;In order to comprehend the revolutionary character of ACT UP, a reconceptualization of the political realm is necessary. ACT UP's goal is not the take over of the state or the cultural patterns, to use Touraine's formulation, but the "communalization" of those cultural patterns by the social actors, which ultimately negates the power of the state.;Communalization is understood as the active input of a community affected by a specific issue; in the present work: AIDS.;Similar analysis, it is suggested, of other new social movements, such as the women's, the lesbian and the gay movements should be conducted in light of those new categories so as to reevaluate their political and politicizing effects on society.
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Type
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dissertation
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Source
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PQT Legacy CUNY.xlsx
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degree
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Ph.D.
