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Cited by 344Social Movements and Cultural IdentityAmerican Political and Social DynamicsHIV/AIDS Research and Interventions

Silence, death, and the invisible enemy: AIDS activism and social movement newness

Gamson, Josh·1989·Social Problems
DOI 10.2307/800820
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Abstract

Examining the dynamics and activities of the AIDS activist movement—here, through an analysis based on a participant-observation study of the AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power (ACT UP) in San Francisco—provides an opportunity to clarify issues on which social movements literature tends to be hazy. ACT UP mixes strategic action and material targets with expressive action and cultural targets; their cultural activity takes the form of boundary-crossing and the contesting of images. They often have difficulty distinguishing their targets, and are caught both denying and affirming that AIDS is a gay disease. I argue that these actions and dilemmas are best understood in the context of changed forms of domination, more and more an invisible and disembodied process of “normalization,” with the state gradually less directly involved. This argument not only explains the particulars of ACT UP's activism, but also poses challenges to theorizing on contemporary (“new”) social movements.

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  • The urgency of the HIV/AIDS pandemic has been an indelible force in placing previously unquestioned sexual and gender norms under the looking glass, revealing that the transmission of a microscopic biological entity is in fact driven by social, cultural, political and economic forces.

    “The urgency of the HIV/AIDS pandemic has been an indelible force in placing previously unquestioned sexual and gender norms under the looking glass, revealing that the transmission of a microscopic biological entity is in fact driven by social, cultural, political and economic forces (Berkman et al., 2005;Ford;Odallo;Chorlton, 2003;Gamson, 1989;Parker, 1996Parker, , 2000)).”

    From From global discourse to local action: the makings of a sexual rights movement? (2006) · cites this paper as Gamson, 1989

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Authors
Gamson, J.
Venue
Social Problems
Publisher
Oxford University Press (OUP)
Published
1989-10
Volume
36
Issue
4
Pages
351-367
ISSN
  • 0037-7791 (ISSN-L)
  • 1533-8533
DOI
10.2307/800820
OpenAlex
W2164168782
Cited by
344
References
26
Citations by year
2026: 1 · 2025: 20 · 2024: 8 · 2023: 6 · 2022: 5 · 2021: 4 · 2020: 6 · 2019: 19 · 2018: 11 · 2017: 45 · 2016: 7 · 2015: 3 · 2014: 15 · 2013: 7 · 2012: 11
FWCI
11.14
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
closed
Locations
  • Social Problems (publishedVersion)
  • USF Scholarship Repository (University of San Francisco) (submittedVersion)
Topics
  • Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Social Movements and Cultural Identity
  • Social Sciences › Arts and Humanities › History › American Political and Social Dynamics
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Infectious Diseases › HIV/AIDS Research and Interventions
Keywords
AIDS activism, ACT UP, new social movements, normalization, domination, boundary crossing, expressive action, silence, invisibility, San Francisco

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