incommensurability

The fundamental incompatibility between the logics and values of the modern world-system and those of actors resisting it, making mutual understanding difficult.

1 chapter across 1 book

Social Movements and World-System Transformation (2013)Jackie Smith, Michael Goodhart, Patrick Manning, John Markoff

Part I: Disrupting hegemonic discourses and modes of thought

This chapter examines how dominant modernist and colonial world-system logics shape both the understanding and practice of social movements, emphasizing the necessity of disrupting these hegemonic discourses to enable revolutionary change. It highlights the incommensurability between the prevailing order's values and those of marginalized actors, particularly the 'colonial other,' and argues for decolonizing thought to recognize alternative worldviews and revolutionary practices that challenge exclusionary power structures.