Alternatives for another world?: En kritisk analys av Occupy Wall Street-rörelsens idéer för strukturell förändring

Abstract

In the wake of the latest financial crisis, a group of individuals launched the Occupy Wall Street movement. It wanted to change the structures that economic and political life are founded upon. They believe that the established structures are unfair and exploit the majority of the population. Researchers critisised the movement saying it was ambiguous because it could not produce any realistic ideas for change, while others thought that was a success for the movement. Therefore, the aim of this Bachelor Thesis is to examine the different ideas articulated by the Occupy movement and present them systematically. Through an inductive qualitative text analysis six different themes are identified regarding how the movement wants to change the structures in society to make them fair. The themes are analysed using critical theories by Robert W. Cox, Chantal Mouffe and Antonio Gramsci, who are all a part of the Gramscian field of research. When the six themes were analysed, three different ways to change appeared. The first deals with different methods of how to change society. The second defines a less radical way to reform established structures by putting pressure on existing political forces. The third is the most radical one and seeks to entirely change and replace the existing structures with new ones based on fairness and participation. The conclusion of the thesis is that the Occupy movement articulates three different ways of changing the society that are more or less radical. Which of these ideas that will be adapted by the movement, is dependent on how society evolves in the future.