Field theory, media change and the new citizen movements: Spain's «real democracy» turn as a series of fields and spaces

Abstract

post-Bourdieu version of field theory can produce nuanced analyses of the relationship between media change, the new citizen movements and ongoing struggles for democratic renewal. Through the case of Spain's indignados (15M) movement and its political offshoots, I explore the potential uses of a range of field concepts and propose a conceptual distinction between «field of civic action» and «dispersed civic space». Spain's recent political changes are not a continuous flow of events but rather a series of discrete, ephemeral fields of civic action separated by a long hiatus of dispersed civic space. These complexly mediated fields are socio-political «games» in which civic players with technopolitical and other skills interact with other players in pursuit of specific goals and rewards. As a result, new citizen-led initiatives (e.g. PAH, Podemos, Barcelona en Comú) have bridged the alternative vs. mainstream media divide to great social and political effect.