75 (Melucci 1989, 74)

---

(Melucci 1989, 74)

These novelties of contemporary movements should be understood not only in the sense that there are now forms of action different from those of the past. Arguments about the novel characteristics of the new movements must also encompass their organizational form. In contemporary collective action, the organization has acquired a different status. It is no longer considered as a means to an end, and it therefore cannot be assessed only in terms of its instrumental rationality. The organization has a self-reflexive character and its form expresses the meaning (or goals) of the action itself. It is also the laboratory in which actors test their capacity to challenge the dominant cultural codes. Finally, the organization directly governs the visible forms of mobilization; the present movements’ pursuit of an external objective is no longer separate from their internal forms. [Melucci, Alberto. 1989. Nomads of the Present. London: Hutchinson Radius.]