La transformación de la sociedad desde el movimiento social del software libre

Abstract

The objective of this article is to analyze how users and developers of free software construct a discourse about social transformations starting by recognizing the difference between the normative schemas of private software and the cognitive schemas of free software. This difference, which in principle appears to be merely technical and based on better computer performance issues, gets political and social standing, reclaiming values such as collaboration and altruism. Results reveal novelties about the features of classical social movements, mainly about their organization, the degree of participation and the roles of their constituency, the diffusion of their principles and the way in which they observe societal changes.