by Law, Wing Sang. / Thesis (M.Ph.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 1988. / Bibliography: leaves [13-19].

New Social Movement Theory characterizes post 1960's protest movements such as the peace, environment and women's movement as being distinctively different from older movements such as the workers movement. The salient differences are in the social bases from which the movements draw their participants,the types of issues which are addressed, and the methods used in their protest. New Social Movements are heralded as being the vanguard for social change by some and as a bourgeoise distraction from the "real" project of emancipation by others. The objective of this thesis is to examine the congruence of the environmental movement in British Columbia with this concept of New Social Movements. Using the theoretical formulations of Claus Offe as a base, the thesis examines the social makeup of environmental groups in British Columbia, reviews the types of issues on which they are working, and identifies the methods which they employ in their protests. The results indicate that, while the leadership may be drawn from a more highly educated and service oriented new middle class, the general membership represents a broad social base. The issues addressed by the movement are perceived as being for the "benefit of all" rather than for a specific social class, and the methods of protest employed are primarily of a "working for change within the systems" approach as opposed to overthrowing any established political system. The thesis concludes that, while there may be elements of radicalism within the movement, it is primarily characterized as reformist, with many small fragments working on specific issues, loosely networked, and dedicated to working with government and other sectors of the population to find solutions.

New Social Movement Theory characterizes post 1960's protest movements such as the peace, environment and women's movement as being distinctively different from older movements such as the workers movement. The salient differences are in the social bases from which the movements draw their participants,the types of issues which are addressed, and the methods used in their protest. New Social Movements are heralded as being the vanguard for social change by some and as a bourgeoise distraction from the "real" project of emancipation by others. The objective of this thesis is to examine the congruence of the environmental movement in British Columbia with this concept of New Social Movements. Using the theoretical formulations of Claus Offe as a base, the thesis examines the social makeup of environmental groups in British Columbia, reviews the types of issues on which they are working, and identifies the methods which they employ in their protests. The results indicate that, while the leadership may be drawn from a more highly educated and service oriented new middle class, the general membership represents a broad social base. The issues addressed by the movement are perceived as being for the "benefit of all" rather than for a specific social class, and the methods of protest employed are primarily of a "working for change within the systems" approach as opposed to overthrowing any established political system. The thesis concludes that, while there may be elements of radicalism within the movement, it is primarily characterized as reformist, with many small fragments working on specific issues, loosely networked, and dedicated to working with government and other sectors of the population to find solutions. / Arts, Faculty of / Sociology, Department of / Graduate

Abstract ¡§The economic miracle of Taiwan¡¨ is the result of heavy interference of the State into economic development. After democratization, the State is not as convenient as it was with the authoritative period, as far as economic sector is concerned. The case for Bin-nan industrial exploit should be able to increase national income for 1%, but stalled for 11 years, it stays at the origin. It means that the State has lost the autonomy in forming and setting up policies that are closely related to the welfare of the public. Utilizing the Model of The theory of Claus Offe¡¦s system analysis for exploring the changes in autonomy of state after democratization, aided with case for Bin-nan industrial exploit, we discussed the economic, legitimate, and political sub-system and made throughout interpretation. It is clear that in the highly controversial case for Bin-nan industrial exploit, the State slowed down the pace of development approval in exchange of support of the administration of the public and left the capitalists to communicate and negotiate with the local and social groups. The State expressed its support of the project orally on the one hand and assist in administration operations to avoid capital flee on the other hand, which avoid the non-support of current administration from the public due to full support of capitalist, which may lead to the legitimacy crisis of the administration. During the economic development process after democratization of Taiwan, the State is still holding the dominating position in the implementation of mercantilism and is still playing the initiative role in economic development and continues in promoting capital accumulation and in pushing industried technology. The will in developing economy has indicated that the State has its preoccupies position, so the State inevitably has dual consideration in the selection of autonomy policy, which is expecting continuous capital accumulation and securing the consent from the people for its legitimate ruling base.