TITLE:
May ‘68: The Effectiveness of Students and Industrial Workers Through a Contentious Politics Lens
AUTHORS:
Julia Bouchut
KEYWORDS:
Contentious Politics, May ‘68, March 22 Movement, French Student Movement, Youth Protest, Night of the Barricades, Autogestion, Grenelle Accords
JOURNAL NAME:
Open Journal of Social Sciences,
Vol.12 No.12,
December
2,
2024
ABSTRACT: May ‘68 was a transformative social movement that emerged from the tension between rapid socioeconomic changes and the persistence of conservative power structures in France. Student protests gained national attention with the Sorbonne occupation and violent clashes with the police. Within days, workers across the country independently joined the movement, initiating the largest strike in French history. However, students and industrial workers had different objectives: while students opposed capitalism and government authority, workers sought improvements in socioeconomic conditions and workplace self-management (autogestion). This paper utilizes a comprehensive framework of contentious politics to examine the objectives, repertoire, and performance of social actors, alongside government responses, to analyze the outcomes of the movement and the effectiveness of students and industrial workers in achieving their goals. Today, many ideals of May ‘68 continue to resonate with younger generations, especially the commitment to fairness and social justice. These principles underscore how contentious actions empower young people to find their voices and actively engage in the democratic process to create a more inclusive and equitable society.