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DOI: 10.1177/00113921134797432013 61: 424 originally published online 17 April 2013Current Sociology

Ignacia Perugorra and Benjamn Tejerina15M

Politics of the encounter: Cognition, emotions, and networks in the Spanish

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Politics of the encounter:Cognition, emotions, andnetworks in the Spanish 15M

Ignacia PerugorraRutgers University, USA

Benjamn TejerinaUniversity of the Basque Country UPV/EHU, Spain

Abstract

This article seeks to analyze the mobilizations that are currently taking place in Spain

as a result of the multidimensional crisis unleashed in 2008. The authors study the

15M movement, or that of the Spanish indignados, by focusing on three analyticalaxes: the cognitive, emotional, and relational processes feeding the construction of

a social movement identity. First, the article refers to the diagnostic, prognostic, andmotivational framing tasks performed by 15M participants to define the problematic

situation and attribute blame, articulate a solution to the problem and devise strategiesto achieve that end, and motivate participants to sustain their engagement and remedythe situation. Second, the article concentrates on the emotions that were mobilized by

social movement organizations linked to the 15M (e.g. outrage or indignation), and thoseemotions that emerged spontaneously during the encounters that took place in the

public space: joy, efficacy, and empowerment. Finally, the article addresses the relationalaspects entailed in the process of identity construction, that is, the activation and de-activation of both real and imaginary ties between 15M members and previous and/

or current political and social collectives within the progressive field. In following thistriple objective, the article describes the process of identity-synchronization that hasallowed people with no previous political participation and with different and oftentimes

opposing politico-ideological trajectories to feel part of the movement. The data comefrom 17 in-depth interviews and eight focus groups with key activists, ethnographic

observations in camps and assemblies in both Bilbao and Madrid during the summer of

Corresponding author:

Ignacia Perugorra, Department of Sociology, Rutgers University, 26 Nichol Avenue, New Brunswick, NJ,

08901-2882, USA.

Email: [email protected]

CSI61410.1177/0011392113479743Current SociologyPerugorraand Tejerina2013

Article

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Perugorra and Tejerina 425

2011, and visual materials displayed in web pages and Facebook accounts associated to

the 15M.

Keywords15M, cognition, emotions, identity, indignados, networks, social movements, Spain

IntroductionThe global scenario of social mobilization is rapidly mutating. Periods of relative calm

and stability are being abruptly altered by moments of social effervescence that seem

to be marking a point of fracture with previous decades. The year 2011 was particu-

larly fruitful in witnessing a series of so-called mobilizations of the indignant that

sprawled like a raging tide around the world. Reports of these unprecedented global

protests have portrayed citizens who articulate new kinds of alienation in a now glo-balized world dominated by finance capital, who declare feeling scapegoated by vari-

ous combinations of socioeconomic crises, and who reject the increasing disparities

between the rich and poor, the declining mobility of most, and the exclusion and expul-

sion of many. These citizens repudiate, too, governments and politicians who are per-

ceived as deceitful and corrupt, or negligent and inept, and who, in each and every

case, are suspected of brazenly favoring the top 1% while remaining astonishingly

aloof from popular distress.

Given its multiple sources and diverse manifestations, the task of assessing and diag-

nosing this current cycle of protest is especially arduous (see Tejerina et al., in this issue).The realities of countries in Northern Africa or the Middle East show relevant nuances

among themselves, and also profound differences with the state of affairs in western

countries. However, as stated in the Introduction to this monograph issue, two broad

mobilizational threads can be analytically distinguished within the cycle. First, those

mobilizations that have mainly demanded political reforms to initiate or deepen ongoing

processes of democratization in the Arab world. Second, the massive displays of discon-

tent regarding the erosion of the welfare state and the political mismanagement of the

socioeconomic crisis in Southern Europe and also in the United States. Among the latter

are the 15M mobilizations in Spain, the Indignate-vous protests in France, Italy andGreece, Occupy Wall Street, and other mobilizations spearheaded by young people and

students in the United Kingdom, Belgium, and Israel.

Among these mobilizations, however, the Spanish case is particularly significant.

Since 15 May 2011, the 15M movement, as it came to be known for its inception date,

or that of the Spanish indignados, as its participants were trivially labeled by the mass

media, has served as a beacon for mobilizations in Europe, the Mediterranean area, and

the United States. Transmitted through the most recent information and communication

technologies both by passersby, individual participants and in a more systematic and

strategic manner, by its World Extension Teams (WET), 15M mottoes, activities, and

organizational traits were quickly broadcast to the world. The WET commission of

Acampada Sol (the 15M camp in the Puerta del Sol Square, Madrid) was in fact set up

during the first days of the movement with the explicit objective of disseminating and

coordinating the indignadosmovement at the global level.



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426 Current Sociology Monograph 2 61(4)

The inspirational character of the 15M alone would encourage social movement scholars

to pay special attention to its study. If we however zoom in to analyze the movements char-

acteristics and peculiarities, and if we zoom out to encompass the changes that have occurred

in the Spanish political arena during the last few decades, and in particular since the incep-

tion of the crisis, we find elements that give an additional patina of scientific attractivenessto this movement. In this article we analyze the 15M by focusing on three analytical axes:

the cognitive, emotional, and relational processes feeding the construction of a social move-

ment identity. First, we concentrate on the diagnostic, prognostic, and motivational framing

tasks performed by 15M participants to define the problematic situation and attribute blame,

articulate a solution to the problem and devise strategies to achieve that end, and, finally,

motivate participants to sustain their engagement and remediate the situation. Second, we

concentrate on the emotions that were mobilized by social movement organizations linked

to the 15M (e.g. outrage or indignation), and those positive emotions that emerged spontane-

ously during the encountersthat took place in the public space. Finally, we will address therelational aspects entailed in the process of identity construction, that is, the activation and

de-activation of both real and imaginary ties between 15M members and previous and/or

current political and social collectives within the progressive field.

In following this triple objective, this article describes the process of identity-syn-

chronizationthat has allowed people with no previous political participation and with differ-

ent and oftentimes opposing politico-ideological trajectories to feel part of the 15M. We

argue that portraying the movement as a superhero against injustices, and as a social

movement of persons concerned with common problems has strategically blurred poten-

tially alienating axes of fracture and dissent amid a highly heterogeneous base. In addition,we contend that sharing and being together, both online and offline, has been part of the

solution to the problematic situation. Based on a territorialized way of doing politics from-

the-bottom-up through the occupation of the public space, and a disembodied political

praxis mediated by the possibilities and constraints offered by the Internet and online social

networks, 15M participants have been able to universalize their personal experiences,

understandings, and emotions related to the crisis and the actors responsible for it. They

have also been able to acquire or regain a sense of joy, efficacy, and empowerment, not just

of anger and indignation. Thispolitics of the encounter (Merrifield 2011) performed by 15M

members has also allowed them to depart from old-time politics by temporarily experienc-ing (not just imagining) the utopia of doing real democracy now, that is, engaging in com-

mon matters in an inclusive, horizontal, non-violent, and participatory fashion.

Before delving into the analysis of the 15M we offer a description of the sociohistori-

cal context, and the cycle of protest amid which the movement emerged. Data come from

17 in-depth interviews and eight focus groups with key activists, ethnographic observa-

tions in camps (acampadas) and assemblies in Bilbao and Madrid during the summer of

2011, and web pages and Facebook accounts associated to the 15M.

Context of emergence of the 15M movement:Multidimensional crisis and cycle of protest

By late 2007, Spain was blossoming: it had a public account surplus of more than 2%

of its GDP, and the economy was growing by 3.5%. Just one year later, the surplus had

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become deficit, growth had fallen to less than 1%, and the Spanish economy was offi-

cially entering recession. Although the economic decline was related to a worldwide

financial crisis, it also responded to identifiable domestic facts: the bursting of a dec-

ade-long real estate bubble, and the implosion of the associated lending market.

Following the lead of other developed countries, the Spanish government rapidly cre-ated a 99 billion bail-out fund and began to rescue vulnerable banks. Moreover, in an

attempt to weather the socioeconomic effects of the financial storm, the government

adopted an economic stimulus plan including an 8 billion investment in infrastructure,

the extension of jobless subsidies to the long-term unemployed, and a 2500 Baby

Check for each newborn child.

Despite these measures, the recession ravaged most Spaniards, with a particularly

severe impact on the young. Unemployment rates soared to more than 40% for 20- to

24-year-olds the highest for younger populations in the European Union, and about

twice the already alarming Spanish average for all ages. Those with jobs, however,were not much better off; despite having one or more university degrees, many of them

were caught in a system of temporary contracts, and poorly paid, low-status jobs unre-

lated to the occupations they had been trained for. As such, the Spanish young were

forced to relinquish a key trait of adulthood, independence; in late 2011, almost 70%

of the 18- to 29-year-olds still lived with their parents. This delayed independence was,

in addition, putting further pressure on already tight family budgets and overburdened

support networks.

After initially denying the Spanish economy was in trouble, in May 2010 President

Rodrguez Zapatero announced a slew of adjustment policies. The pack included wagecuts for civil servants, the end of the Baby Check, and the freezing of pension increases.

As talks about Greeces potential economic bailout began to intensify, attention turned

on Spain amid worries over its public deficit (60% of its GDP). As a result, the govern-

ment continued to pass austerity measures, combining them with a considerable rise in

value added tax. In addition, a labor market reform was approved in September. Presented

as a necessary means towards reducing joblessness, the reform actually made it easier

and cheaper for employers to hire and fire workers. In late September 2010 trade unions

called for the first general strike in a decade to protest against the measure; however,

despite the bleak state of affairs the mobilizations impact was almost negligible. InJanuary 2011, the government passed a pension reform raising the retirement age from

65 to 67 and thus hindering the replenishing of labor posts. This time, surprisingly or

not, the unions were on board.

In March 2011 university students joined the tide of mobilizations and called for a

general strike. Thousands of students marched throughout the country in protest against

the unemployment rate, labor precariousness, the rise in tuition fees, the Bologna Plan,

and budget cuts in education. A few days later, the platform Youth Without Future

(Juventud Sin Futuro) organized a demonstration against the economic crisis and the

bipartisan PPPSOE partitocracy (see Abbreviations section). The slogan was:

Homeless, jobless, pensionless, fearless (Sin casa, sin curro, sin pensin, sin miedo).

The long-standing repudiation of the governments socioeconomic and educational poli-

cies was soon to be combined with a novel factor: the rage triggered by a measure that

intended to suffocate the free culture of the Internet. In early February 2011, the



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Internet-based initiative #donotvoteforthem (#nolesvotes) called to withdraw votes from

the political parties that had approved the so-called Sinde Law (PP, PSOE, and CiU; see

Abbreviations section) in the following municipal and regional elections. This anti-

piracy bill aimed at shutting down previously legal websites that enabled the free down-

load of music and film and thus violated copyright laws. The bill was strongly opposedby the Internet collective known as Anonymous, and also by a myriad of bloggers, jour-

nalists, and tech professionals.

Spains domestic restlessness did not, however, act alone; it was boosted by a

chain of international factors. Among them were the Arab Spring mobilizations for

political reforms and civil liberties, Icelands silent revolution against neoliberal

adjustment policies, and the mobilizations of the Portuguese Desperate Generation

(see Baumgarten, this issue). The disclosure of WikiLeaks documents showing Spanish

government officials to be less than forthright, and Stphane Hessels book Time for

Outrage!(Indignez-vous!) also collaborated in inflaming Spanish passions. Seemingly,there was not a single or final straw breaking the camels back; this conjuncture of

uncoordinated domestic and international events worked in a synergic fashion, prompt-

ing a collective outburst of indignation. In this combustible context, the call issued by

the digital platform Real Democracy Now! (DRY, Democracia Real Ya!) to take to the

streets was just the spark that ignited the so-called indignado mobilizations.

Using Twitter and Facebook, DRY incited the unemployed, the poorly paid, the sub-

contractors, the precarious, the young people to take to the Spanish streets on 15

May, the week prior to regional and municipal elections. The protest was called under the

slogan We are not commodities in the hands of politicians and bankers . Despite beingsilenced by the corporate media channels, hundreds of thousands of people took to the

streets in 50 Spanish cities; small supporting demonstrations were also organized in

Dublin, Amsterdam, Istanbul, Bologna, Paris, London, and Lisbon. Coherently with the

They dont represent us (No nos representan) slogan, the demonstrations were char-

acterized by the absence of partisan or trade union flags and placards.

Triggered by the political and police mismanagement of the May 15 mobilization, in

the following evenings the calling for Real Democracy Now quickly gave way to an

Occupy the Square (Toma la plaza) movement. Despite the explicit restrictions made

by the electoral bodies and the constant threat of evictions, the camps held the squares inseveral Spanish cities until mid-July; these occupations constituted the movements most

evident act of civil disobedience. Campers rapidly equipped themselves with organizing

commissions, thematic working groups, and assemblies. The commissions dealt with the

day-to-day functioning of the camps; they concentrated on issues such as cleaning, infra-

structure, first aid, nutrition, respect, action (performances and civil disobedience activi-

ties), extension (art and placard-painting), and communication. The working groups,

instead, focused on themes such as the economy, sustainability, short-term and long-term

politics, international liaisons, etc.

Finally, the camps held their own assemblies, and also general assemblies that gath-

ered campers and non-camping participants. When the camps could no longer be held in

mid-June, they gave rise and passed the torch to decentralized assemblies in small town

and villages, and neighborhoods within large cities. This movement towards the local

was characterized by a steep decrease in the number of participants but, paradoxically, it



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was also accompanied by an internationalization of the protest. The 15M movement was

almost instantly copied around the globe; the development and online diffusion of manu-

als, tutorials, and manifestos allowed for the viral and forthwith replication of its experi-

ences. In addition, 15M activists began to coordinate efforts at the international level,

particularly for the organization of Global Action Days. On 15 October 2011, 951 citiesin 82 countries witnessed a global non-violent protest guided by the slogan United for

global change against capitalism and austerity measures. The second Global Day of

Action was 12 May 2012, organized by the Occupy movements(see Tejerina et al., this

issue) around the world.

Despite these massive popular mobilizations, Mariano Rajoys right-wing Peoples

Party (PP) won a landslide victory in both the May (municipal and regional) and

November (general) 2011 elections. As voters punished the outgoing Socialist govern-

ment for the worst economic crisis in generations and the European Unions highest

jobless rate, Rajoy declared that the public deficit for 2011 would come in at 8% ofSpains GDP, and that the government would be forced to pass new austerity measures.

On December 30 the President announced a cut in the following years public spending

by 8.9 billion.

A superhero against injustices

Previous studies (Freidin and Perugorra, 2007) have pointed to the difficulties involved

in forging collective identities amid social movements composed of publics (Mische,

2005, 2008), that is, of interstitial activist forums where participants build relations andpursue joint actions through the equalization and synchronization of multiple identities.1

Figure 1 shows a conceptual map of Acampada Sol elaborated by the hacker and 15M

member Marga Padilla. Conceived as what the author has called an individual contribu-

tion to the movement based on her specific know-how, the map turned into an interactive

and collective product after it was posted in various web pages, and 15M members

circulated it in different digital networks and even posted it in the Puerta del Sol camp.

In a matter of weeks, the map received hundreds of comments expressing praise, making

suggestions, and posing critiques that were incorporated by Marga in three ensuing ver-

sions. Although the map is intended to depict Sols camp, we use it here to delve into theprocess of collective identity construction that is being performed within the 15M. As

Padilla puts it, This conceptual map is only a help to depict what cannot be repre-

sented. It is a humble, unfinished map, precarious at its core. And needed all the same

We understand collective identity as an interactive and shared definition produced by

a number of individuals, concerning the orientations of their action, and the field of

opportunities and constraints in which such action is to take place (Melucci, 1995, 1996).

That understanding usually involves a definition of the problematic situation and an

attribution of blame (diagnostic framing), the articulation of a solution to the problem

and devising strategies to achieve that end (prognostic framing), and a call to arms or a

fundamental rationale to engage in collective actions tending to remedy the situation

(motivational framing) (Benford and Snow, 2000). Collective identities should be understood

as a process, that is, as something constructed and negotiated in a dialectical interaction

with historical events and networks of groups and individuals (Melucci, 1995).



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As mentioned earlier, the 15M demonstration was the spark that ignited the camps

and ensuing mobilizations. Although DRY decoupled from the camp, according to

Padillas conceptual map there is continuity in the message. The placards designed by

DRY for the 15 May march (see Figure 2) help us understand what that message was

about: political corruption, capitalist greed, vital (not only labor) precariousness, andspecial treats awarded by the Spanish government to banks and the exceptionally

wealthy while common people suffer adjustment measures and the curtailment of their

social rights. This diagnostic framing exemplifies what Gamson (1995) denominates

an injustice frame, that is, an interpretive scheme that characterizes the actions of an

Figure 1. Conceptual map of Acampada Sol (v.3), elaborated by Marga Padilla.Note: Linguistic errors in the original.



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sources of the problem, and relies on boundary and adversarial framing(Benford and

Snow, 2000). Marga Padillas conceptual map allows us to reconstruct the identity work

through which 15M participants have crafted a we, and a them (Aminzade and

McAdam, 2001; Diani, 2003). The them has included those antagonists identified as

responsible for the situation of injustice: mainly thieving and swindling bankersand cor-rupt politicians. According to the map (see Figure 1), 15M members are united by their

discomfort towards these actors; these are the enemies against whom their collective

action has been directed:

We can vote, but we dont have a voice, and we are frustrated by the politicians lack of will to

develop mechanisms of direct participation in decision-making processes. Mechanisms that

would put an end to corruption and to the lack of transparency in politics and public institutions,

and that would place the citizen before the markets and other private interests. (15M manifesto

How to Cook a Non-violent Revolution)

Indignant, but also joyful and empowered

The formation of a collective actor, however, does not only involve cognitive agreements

and negotiations such as those entailed in the framing tasks addressed in the previous

section but also demands affective or emotional investments. Passion and emotions, as

much as ideology and interests, push people to mobilize and act together (Goodwin

et al., 2001). Having diagnosed the problematic situation, and identified its sources and

those responsible for the injustice, DRY encouraged personsto put an end to cynicism

and apathy. It called Spaniards to feel, and to act; its slogans read Occupy the street

(Toma la calle) and Be outraged! (Indgnate!). Borrowing from Stphane Hessels

viral manuscript, DRY strategically mobilized the emotion of indignation to motivate

and then broaden participation. In doing this, it turned this emotion into the stepping

stone for the construction of the movements collective identity.

Several 15M members have concurred with Zygmunt Baumans controversial state-

ment: The 15M is an emotional movement (interview with Javier de la Cueva). However,

in their view, emotions and cognition are not mutually exclusive, but mutually

invigorating:

A friend of mine said during the first days of the camp: There is no cynicism here. Everybody

believes in what she/he is doing. Maybe thats what Zygmunt Bauman meant when he said

the 15M was, above all, emotion. We are alive, and we are together! There is a change of

atmosphere [clima], and that has a very strong emotional intensity. And you can sense that in

the bodies, in the faces. But I wouldnt say that it is just an emotional movement and that

there is no thinking involved. There is thought in emotions, and we are thinking a lot. (Interview

with Amador Fernndez-Savater)

The 15M is an emotional movement, but outrage was not the sole emotion pushing the

15M forward. Once the uprising was in motion, and people were taking to the streets and

occupying squares, indignation would be replaced, or at least complemented, by collec-

tive enthusiasm and joy. As a 15M member put it, The feeling during the 15M demon-

stration was of happiness (interview with Leila Nachawati). Or, [the 15M] is a cry



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coming from a society that is tired, fed up. Its been a cry, but a smiling one (interview

with Julio Albarrn). Once they were in action, 15M members also felt empowered:

[With the 15M] We have moved from powerlessness to power, from isolation and competition

to being together, to discovering the other as an accomplice and no longer as an obstacle, fromcynicism to we can change things and we can be protagonists of that change. That generates

a very strong emotion. (Interview with Amador Fernndez-Savater)

In the early stages of the 15M, reflex emotionssuch as outrage and anger, but also fear,

anxiety, and uncertainty, were readily available among Spaniards, and were managed

organizationally by DRY members (Goodwin et al., 2004). When afraid or outraged

about something, people may be more likely to join a movement that aims to do some-

thing about the perceived source of that indignation and fear, especially when these emo-

tions are collectively shared, as was the case of the 15M. However, these reflectiveemotions were later spontaneously intertwined with affective emotions(e.g. joy, pride,

efficacy, empowerment) connected to positive commitments to people, ideas, and places.

By creating bonds that underlie the rational core of self-interest, these affective emotions

can engender trust and solidarity, and thus form a solid basis for collective identity and

more persistent engagement with the movement.

A social movement of persons

But, who are the 15M members after all? Or, more specifically, how do 15M membersperceive and present themselves? As mentioned earlier, the boundary framing per-

formed by 15M participants has identified both a them against whom collective action

has been directed, but also a we bound by bonds of trust and affection. We argue that

this we has been synthesized in the termpersons; persons not people are at the

heart of the process of collective identity construction being conducted within the 15M.

Most 15M members do not portray themselves as activists or militants. In their view-

point, these terms are associated to the old way of doing politics(la vieja poltica),

based on ideological or partisan affiliations. 15M members reject these acronyms and

flags, because they divide (interview with Miguel Arana). In turn, they think of them-

selves as members of a community ofpersons; they thus encouraged the development of

individual messages and personalized hand-made placards. The centrality of the term

personcan also be observed in the banners utilized during the 14 October 2011 world

demonstration for global change (see Figure 3), and appreciated in this interviewees

portrayal of the 15M:

A movement whose protagonists were not militants, that doesnt have a codified vocabulary of

protest, that was very inclusive, that wasnt just talking about the Left, that didnt speak about

revolution in a classical sense that tries to have everybody, anybody, do politics. Some

militant friends used to tell me they are talking about persons, and that is not a politicalconcept. I, on the contrary, saw the power associated to talking about persons: we are all

persons, and talking about persons and persons problems we can be together, and start talking.

(Interview with Amador Fernndez-Savater)



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Figure 3. Banners utilized in the occupy demonstrations that took place all over the world on

15 October 2011.Note: The placard reads: 15 October. Stop the cuts. Rescue persons now!!! United for global change. Take to thestreet. 6 p.m. Paseo del Parque, in front of the Town Hall.

Note: The placard reads: 15 October. #World revolution. An ethical revolution, a change of course, is needed. Thissystem treats human beings as numbers and not as persons. Together we can change it .



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As with injustice frames, talking about personsallowed both people with no previous

political participation and those with different militant trajectories to feel part of the

same collective. This term synchronized (Mische, 2005) different and probably oppos-

ing political ideologies; it also blurred other potentially alienating axes of dissent: gen-

der, class, religious, and political cleavages along the lines of the Left-Right and Spanishunionism-peripheral nationalism divides (for an analysis of the effect of political cleav-

ages on passive support and active engagement in the 15M, see Perugorra et al.,). The

We are the 99 percent slogan issued by Occupy Wall Street activists and immediately

appropriated by the 15M, synthesized this principle of inclusiveness in a brilliant fash-

ion. So did the United by common sense (Unidos por el sentido comn) slogan that

could be seen in banners all across Spain:

We are bringing up the fact that we are the 99 percent, that what unites us are problems and

ways of thinking that are common to many people, in a very transversal way. All thesethings can be common to many different people, people who do not have a clear identity. We

need to start thinking over the basis of common problems, in lieu of identities. [15Ms]

Inclusiveness has to do with this: it is a movement that is based on problems, and not on

identities. We want to begin with concrete problems, not with ideologies. We will arrive at that,

or not, eventually. Concrete problems having to do with real life, with everybodys life; this

way the movement will become real, will have to do with the lives we lead and not with

lucubrations about the world that then do not bear any relation to practices, to life.(Interview

with Amador Fernndez-Savater)

Having problems instead of ideologies or identities as a point of departure marked apath of inclusivenessfor the 15M since its inception. But these transversal problems

were not limited to the crisis train, and werent just collective; they also had individual

manifestations, and both levels seem to be intertwined in the perspective of 15M mem-

bers. According to Marga Padillas map (see Figure 1), the we is integrated by persons

who feel discomfort with their personal lives for doing what they dont want to do,

abiding by rules they dont want to follow, and working at jobs they dislike. As we show

below, collective involvement has provided mitigation to this individual distress for 15M

members.

At the collective level, in turn, the we is associated to traditional social movements(e.g. labor organizations), new social movements (e.g. feminism, indigenous move-

ments, squatter movements), and, using an interviewees terminology, social move-

ments that are not movements of diverse kinds (e.g. H for Housing, Anonymous,

#donotvoteforthem, Youth Without Future). We can also observe events (e.g. May 68

and Argentina 2001) and even books or manifestos (e.g. Indignez-vous!, Reacciona).

The things that happened before section of Padillas conceptual map can be inter-

preted as a social movement genealogy composed of both international and domestic

progenitors, of remote, more recent, and even contemporary ancestry (Zerubavel, 2012).

The real and imaginary ties linking the 15M to these actors within what could be

called the progressive field refer to the relational dimension of identity construction

processes (Melucci, 1995). This genealogy can be thought of, too, as a narrative of

becoming (Polletta, 1998).



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Politics of the encounter

As we mentioned earlier, collective involvement in the 15M has provided relief to peo-

ples individual distress. According to Padillas conceptual map (see Figure 1), Acampada

Sol is made of people who want to be and live together to combat their discomfort withtheir personal lives. In the words of an interviewee, With 15M we have recovered that

part of person who is willing to share, a part we had long forgotten (interview with

Carolina Garca). In a previous section we showed that sharing or being together gave

15M participants a sense of empowerment, efficacy, and joy. This encounter (Merrifield,

2011) has motivated participants to get involved in the 15M, and to sustain their engage-

ment even in times of declining activity. This encounter is also at the core of the prognos-

tic framing performed by 15M members (Freidin and Perugorra, 2007); it is seen as a

first step in the bumpy and sinuous road towards finding a solution to the multidimen-

sional crisis (Benford and Snow, 2000).Nonetheless, 15M members do not just want to be together; the movement is not a

ludic rendezvous. They see themselves as self-convened persons that occupy the

square to do real democracy now. As Padillas map shows, democracy is associated to

using words, not violence, and to a friendly atmosphere promoted by the act of listen-

ing and respect. It is also tied to engaging with common matters, with problems that

affect society as a whole. Real democracy is achieved with collective intelligence,

described as heterogeneous and inclusive, intergenerational, and unrepresentable

that is, avoiding acronyms and flags because they divide. As mentioned before, one of

the outcomes of this from-the-bottom-up democratic praxis is collective enthusiasm. So

is the growing support in other cities and countries, which in turn gives strength to

Acampada Sol and the movement at large.

As can be observed in Padillas map, real democracy is accomplished (or done) in

two different ways: presentially, in camps, assemblies, thematic working groups, and

commissions, and in a disembodied and deterritorialized fashion through the use of

online media. The 15M manifesto How to Cook a Non-violent Revolution (2011)

explicitly alludes to this double embeddedness of collective action:

We recovered and utilize the public space: we occupied the squares and the streets of our cities

to meet and work in a collective, open and visible way. We inform and invite every citizen toparticipate. We debate problems, look for solutions and organize actions and mobilizations.

Our digital networks and tools are open: all the information is available on the Internet, in the

streets and in the squares. (15M manifesto How to Cook a Non-violent Revolution)

The 15M encounterthus combines online activism with more traditional forms of mili-

tancy. On the one hand, it embraces the digital age sociability, where everybody is get-

ting together in social media and can organize without organizations in order to change

the world without taking power (Holloway, 2002). This form of activism is inspired by

the idea that grassroots organizing no longer needs an organizer, a mediator; it followsthe do-it-yourself-with-others spirit. On the other hand, the 15M is based on traditional

repertoires: camps, assemblies, and demonstrations are characterized by the physicality

of bodies being present in a spatial meeting place (Gladwell, 2010). 15M members create

group commonality through face-to-face, strong-tie offline activism, but also through



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online weak-tie association. Their territorializedway of doing politics from-the-bottom-

up through the occupation of the public space, and the disembodiedpolitical praxis medi-

ated by the possibilities and constraints offered by the Internet and online social networks

seem to be complementary, and not mutually exclusive. The two flanks strengthen one

another; adding speed, a new dimension (Merrifield, 2011). We contend that this mutualreinforcement is facilitated by the structural affinity of their methods: assemblies and

online networks are both characterized by direct participation, horizontality, and open

deliberation.

Conclusions

The 15M movement counts on different organizational precursors in the process of social

mobilization (Youth Without Future), and in the articulation of forms of online (#donot-

voteforthem) or hybrid (onlineoffline) protests (Malestar.org). As we have pointed out,the movement has its immediate origin in the profound discontent regarding the erosion

of the welfare state, and the political mismanagement of the socioeconomic crisis. The

plural composition of the indignados reflects the overwhelming rejection of the most

negative consequences of the processes of globalization and neoliberal adjustment: the

increased levels of social inequality, and the precariousness of the life conditions of

broad swathes of society, especially, but not exclusively, the young. In addition, the 15M

movement transfers to the public sphere a long-term discontent with the functioning of

the Spanish democracy, and persistent demands for accountability in the administration

of public affairs and the prosecution of political corruption. In the perception of 15Mmembers, this situation and this authority system are defined as unjust, and it is pre-

cisely this injustice frame that has legitimated its disobedience.

Several members agreed with the statement that the 15M is an emotional movement.

The emotion of outrage or indignation constituted a central stepping-stone for the con-

struction of a collective identity in the beginnings of the movement. However, once the

uprising was in motion, indignation was overtaken by collective enthusiasm and joy

derived from the experience of being together.

Although 15M members have tried to build on common problems in lieu of available

identities, they have nonetheless performed prognostic, diagnostic, and motivationalframing tasks that have begun to craft and shape their own novel collective identity.

Their boundary and adversarial framing has demarcated a them against which collec-

tive action has been directed: mainly thieving and swindling bankers and corrupt politi-

cians. It has also forged a we, composed of persons not people, not militants

united by their discomfort towards these actors, but also towards the labels and meth-

ods coming from old-time politics. Talking about persons allowed both people with

no previous political participation and with different militant trajectories to feel part of

the 15M; itsynchronizeddifferent and probably opposing political ideologies and blurred

other potentially alienating axes of dissent.

15M members have also crafted a narrative of becoming; that we has a present and

a future, but also has a traceable past. This narrative draws on the relational dimension of

identity construction processes, and is depicted as a social movement genealogy tying

the 15M to both international and domestic progenitors. The ties real and imaginary



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composing this family tree link the movement to recent and also far-removed strug-

gles, traditional and new social movements, and even social movements that are not

movements to use an interviewees expression that belong to what might be denomi-

nated the progressive field. In addition, 15M members have provided their narrative of

becoming with an individual dimension. 15M members arepersons who used to feel adiscomfort with their individual lives, and who now want to be and live together in a

friendly atmosphere. The progressive genealogy crafted by 15M members could even-

tually come into conflict with the all-synchronizing portrayal of the 15M as a social

movement of persons, and cause the disaffection of participants who do not sympathize

with this ideology.

Being together has allowed 15M participants to universalize their personal experiences,

understandings, and emotions, and has given them a sense of joy, empowerment, and effi-

cacy. Sharing is thus at the core of the prognostic framing performed by 15M members to

solve the problematic situation, and at the heart of the motivation drawing them to getinvolved and sustain participation. This politics of the encounterhas been facilitated and

boosted by a mutually reinforcing offline, strong-tie activism and online, weak-tie asso-

ciation, both based on an open, horizontal, and participatory philosophy. In the words of

Merrifield (2011), squares and digital media have provided a scenario for an illicit rendez-

vous of human bonding and solidarity, a material, virtual, and emotional topography in

which something disrupts and intervenes in the previous paralysis. Nonetheless, 15M mem-

bers do not just want to be together; they gather to do, to do real democracy, interpreted

and enacted as an engagement in common matters, an involvement thought of as inclusive,

non-violent, and necessarily direct or unrepresentable. In their political encounters 15Mmembers begin to materialize, and experience in their everyday lives, what until then seemed

an utopia confined to representative political institutions.

Our study of the Spanish 15M reveals the need to build a bridge across the internal

boundaries of cultural or constructivist approaches to the study of contemporary social

movements, particularly of those integrating the 20112012 protest cycle (see Tejerina

et al., in this issue). Our findings show that cognitive, emotional, and relational aspects

are unmistakably interwoven into a complex and fascinating fabric: the collective iden-

tity that is being crafted by the 15M movement. An in-depth and holistic understanding

of this intricate process can only rest on the simultaneous analysis of this triad of under-lying fibers.

Abbreviations

DRY: Real Democracy Now! (Democracia Real Ya!).

CiU: Convergence and Union (Convergncia i Uni), center-right electoral coalition

in Catalonia, Spain. It is technically a federation of two constituent parties, the larger

Democratic Convergence of Catalonia (CDC) and its smaller counterpart, the Demo-

cratic Union of Catalonia (UDC). It is led by Artur Mas, the current president of the

Catalan Government.

PSOE: Spanish Socialist Workers Party (Partido Socialista Obrero de Espaa),

center-left political party in Spain.

PP: Peoples Party (Partido Popular), right-wing political party in Spain.



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Data sources

Interviews with Julio Albarrn, Miguel Arana, Javier de la Cueva, Amador Fernn-

dez-Savater, Carolina Garca, Leila Nachawati, and Zulo, conducted by Stphane M

Grueso, Patricia Horrillo, and Pablo Soto during 2011 and 2012 for the project 15M.cc, available at: http://15M.cc.

The remaining interviews and eight focus groups also analyzed in this article form

part of the study Political Representations and 15M Movement (Representaciones

polticas y movimiento 15-M, No. 2921), conducted by the Centro de Estudios So-

ciolgicos in June 2011. Available at: www.cis.es/cis/opencm/EN/1_encuestas/estu-

dios/ver.jsp?estudio=12664.

Conceptual map Acampada Sol v.3 elaborated by Marga Padilla, available at:

www.15m.cc/2011/09/metodologia-de-trabajo.html.

Manifesto Cmo cocinar una revolucin no violenta (How to Cook a Non-violent

Revolution), available at: takethesquare.net/es/2011/08/18/como-cocinar-una-

revolucion-no-violenta/ (accessed 20 January 2012).

Acknowledgements

Previous versions of this article were presented at the ISA International Conference From

Social to Political: New Forms of Mobilization and Democratization (Bilbao, 910 February

2012) and at the ESA International Conference The Debt Crisis in the Eurozone: Social

Impacts (Lesvos, 1314 September 2012).

The authors would like to thank the participants in these meetings for their critiques and

suggestions.

Funding

This work was supported by the Department of Education, Universities, and Research of the Basque

government (Research Group IT382-10), and by the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness

through the research project Respuestas sociales a la crisis y procesos de precarizacin de la vida en

la sociedad contempornea (Social reactions to the crisis and the precarization of life conditions in

contemporary society) (CSO2011-23252), directed by Professor Benjamn Tejerina.

Notes1. We use collective identity and social movement identity as interchangeable terms; the latter

is defined as the collective identity based on shared membership in a movement (Polletta and

Jaspers, 2001).

2. Italics and quotation marks are used to signal words or passages extracted from the tran-

scriptions of our in-depth interviews, focus groups and observations, or from webpages and

Facebook accounts associated to the 15M. Italics alone are used to foreground key concepts in

our analysis.

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Author biographies

Ignacia Perugorra is a PhD candidate in sociology at Rutgers University, working on the interac-

tion between identity battles, social movement networks, and political opportunity structures in themaking of participatory culture. She is a Fulbright scholar and has also been awarded fellowships

by the Institute of International Education and the Graduate School at Rutgers University. She

received her MA in sociology at Rutgers and her BA at the University of Buenos Aires, both with

honors. She is affiliated to the Gino Germani Research Institute (University of Buenos Aires) and



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is currently a visiting researcher at the Collective Identity Research Center (University of the

Basque Country). She has participated in numerous research projects with Argentine, American,

and European funding, and has taught undergraduate and graduate courses both in Latin America

and the United States. Her most recent publications include Global Movements, National

Grievances: Mobilizing for Real Democracyand Social Justiceand From Social to Political:New Forms of Mobilization and Democratization(edited with B Tejerina, 2012). She is also the

co-editor of Grassroots: The Newsletter of the Research Committee on Social Movements,

Collective Action and Social Change of the International Sociological Association. Her research

interests lie at the intersection of culture and politics, with a particular focus on cultural activism

and cultural citizenship.

Benjamn Tejerina is Professor of Sociology and director of the Collective Identity Research Center

at the University of the Basque Country. His research interests include collective action and social

movements, living conditions, precariousness and transformations in work culture, sociology of

language and ethnolinguistic movements, collective identity, social conflict and youth transitions,

and sociological theory. Among his selected publications areFrom Social to Political: New Forms

of Mobilization and Democratization(edited with I Perugorra, 2012), La sociedad imaginada.

Movimientos sociales y cambio cultural en Espaa(2010), Barrios multiculturales. Relaciones

intertnicas en los barrios de San Francisco (Bilbao) y Embajadores/Lavapis (Madrid)(edited

with A Prez-Agote and M Baraano, 2010);Hacia una nueva cultura de la identidad y la poltica.

Tendencias en la juventud vasca(with B Cavia, G Gatti, AG Seguel, I Martnez de Albniz, S

Rodrguez Maeso, A Prez-Agote and E Santamara, 2005); Los movimientos sociales.

Transformaciones polticas y cambio cultural (edited with P Ibarra, 1998); and Sociedad civil,

protesta y movimientos sociales en el Pas Vasco (with JM Fernndez Sobrado and X Aierdi,

1995). In 1990 he received the National PhD Dissertation Award in Sociology and Political

Sciences from the Sociological Research Center (CIS, Spain). He is the president of the Research

Committee on Social Movements, Collective Action and Social Change (RC48) of the International

Sociological Association.

Rsum

Cet article a comme objectif danalyser les mobilisations actuelles en Espagne commeconsquence de la crise multidimensionnelle qui commena en 2008. Le mouvement

15M, aussi connu comme mouvement des Indignados, est analys. Lanalyse abordent

trois dimensions analytiques: les processus cognitifs, motionnelles et de relationprsents dans la constructions de lidentit dun mouvement social. Dans un premier

moment, nous aborderons le travail de diagnostique, pronostique et motivation faitpar les activistes du 15M. Ce travail dfinit la situation problmatique et attribue

responsabilit, propose une solution au problme ainsi comme des stratgies pouratteindre lobjectif, et motiv les participants tenir leurs compromis sont labores.Dans un deuxime moment, lanalyse sera porte tant sur les motions mobilises

pour les organisations sociales lies au 15M (par exemple, outrage ou indignation),que sur les motions surgies spontanment des rencontres dans lespace public:

joie, efficacit et empowerment. Finalement, les aspects relationnels prsents dansles processus de construction de lidentit seront analyss. Cest--dire, lactivation etdsactivation des liens rels et imaginaires entre les membres du 15M et des groupes

politiques et sociaux prcdents ou actuels du champ progressiste. Notre travail, travers ce triple objectif, dcrit le processus de synchronisation entre identits qui a



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permis que individus sans participation politique pralable et avec trajectoires politico-

idologiques diffrentes, et mme opposes, se sentent membres du mouvement. Lesdonnes utilises sont: 17 entretiens et huit runions de group avec des activistes cls,des observations ethnographiques des campements et des assembls Bilbao et Madrid

durant lt 2011, et matriels graphiques des pages web et Facebook du 15M.

Mots-cls

15M, cognition, motions, identit, indignados, rseaux, mouvements sociaux, Espagne

Resumen

Este artculo pretende analizar las movilizaciones que actualmente estn teniendo

lugar en Espaa como consecuencia de la crisis multidimensional que se desat en

2008. Estudiamos el movimiento 15M, tambin conocido como de los indignados,centrndonos en tres ejes analticos: los procesos cognitivos, emocionales y relacionalesque estn presentes en la construccin de la identidad de un movimiento social. Enprimer lugar, nos referiremos a las tareas de diagnstico, pronstico y motivacin

realizadas por los participantes en el 15M para definir la situacin problemtica y atribuirresponsabilidad, articular una solucin al problema y elaborar estrategias para alcanzar

el objetivo propuesto, y motivar a los participantes a mantener su compromiso. Ensegundo lugar, nos concentraremos en las emociones movilizadas por las organizacionesde movimientos sociales vinculadas al 15M (ej. ultraje o indignacin), y las emociones

que surgieron espontneamente en los encuentros que han tenido lugar en el espaciopblico: alegra, eficacia y empoderamiento. Por ltimo, abordaremos los aspectosrelacionales presentes en el proceso de construccin de la identidad, es decir, la activacin

y desactivacin de lazos reales e imaginarios entre los miembros del 15M y colectivospolticos y sociales anteriores o actuales presentes en el campo progresista. Al perseguir

este triple objetivo, nuestro trabajo describe el proceso de sincronizacin identitaria queha permitido que personas sin participacin poltica previa o con trayectorias poltico-ideolgico diferentes y a menudo opuestas se consideren parte del movimiento. Los

datos utilizados provienen de diecisiete entrevistas en profundidad y ocho reunionesde grupo con activistas clave, observaciones etnogrficas en acampadas y asambleas en

Bilbao y Madrid durante el verano de 2011, y materiales grficos publicados en pginasweb y cuentas de Facebook asociadas al 15M.

Palabras clave

15M, cognicin, emociones, identidad, indignados, redes, movimientos sociales, Espaa

Documents

Current Sociology 2013 Perugorría 424 42