Temporalizing contention: An agenda for long-term social movement analysis

This Introduction presents the Thematic Section “Social Movements in the Long Term,” which examines how social movements generate effects beyond visible protest peaks and immediate political outcomes. It argues for a long-term approach in which duration, continuity, and historical rootedness are treated as constitutive dimensions of contentious politics. Building on debates on temporality, movement outcomes, abeyance, repertoires and historical sociology, the Introduction identifies the limitations of event-centered research and outlines an agenda for studying delayed, indirect, cultural, organizational, and biographical consequences. The Thematic Section brings together three contributions: César Guzmán-Concha’s analysis of temporal dynamics and complex causality in Chilean contentious politics; Guya Accornero’s account of activist expertise and movements’ knowledge production; and Cristina Flesher Fominaya’s genealogical analysis of the long-term effects of Spain’s 15-M/Indignados movement.