Shahbag : a critical social moment : a collective agency capabilities analysis

This thesis sets out an approach to understanding the impact of change oriented ‘social moments’ on social practices and structures. The empirical case on which the thesis draws to develop this argument is the Shahbag protests in Bangladesh. At the theoretical level, the thesis suggests that ‘Social Moments’ oriented to change (as differentiated from social movements) can be triggered by latent injustices occurring within a given society. Using a Critical Theoretical lens and the Capability Approach, the thesis sets out a Being-Doing-Impact Model oriented to an understanding of the conditions necessary for a Social Moment to occur. These moments occur where individuals from different parts of the social habitus come together, to create a scene, as a critical mass in…