%0 Journal Article
%T Institutionalization as Path to Autonomy: An Anarchist Social Center in Brighton
%A E. T. C. Dee
%J Space and Culture
%@ 1552-8308
%D 2018
%R 10.1177/1206331217720077
%X A common view in social movement theory is that institutionalization signals the decline and possibly the end of a radical social movement. To put it in a nutshell, having arisen spontaneously as the result of a combination of factors, a movement gathers steam and puts people on the street in protests and demonstrations, before consolidating power and solidifying the raw energy into organizations which can better negotiate with established actors. In studying the Cowley Club, an anarchist social center in Brighton, England, which is cooperatively owned by its members, I interrogate the notion that institutionalization necessarily signifies decay and a shift into conformity. In doing so, I draw on a small but growing field of research analyzing squatters¡¯ movements in Western Europe and also refer to the activist debate which occurred when the Cowley Club was set up
%K social centers
%K institutionalization
%K autonomy
%K anarchism
%K new social movements
%U https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/1206331217720077