Tykanova E. V. (2026). Variability in the Goals of Urban Social Movements in Russia: The Case of Protecting and Preserving Historical and Cultural Heritage. Universe of Russia, 35(3), 24-46.

Текст статьи на сайте журнала URL: https://mirros.hse.ru/article/view/38645 (дата обращения 21.08.2026)

Abstract

This article analyzes goal setting by social movements involved in conflicts over the protection and preservation of historical and cultural heritage in Russian cities. Drawing on theoretical developments in social movement studies, the article examines the types and scale of goals within a single social movement, their interrelation and compatibility, and the social conditions of their transformation. The empirical basis of the study is semi-structured interviews with members of five social movements involved in major urban development conflicts over the preservation of historical and cultural heritage sites in five Russian million-plus cities. The data analysis shows that several types of goals always coexist within a single activist team. The primary goals of such groups are instrumental and include the need to preserve and protect the contested site. The instrumental goals are combined with cultural ones, which are related to the preservation of historical heritage and to the development of cultural identity among groups inside and outside the social movement. Cultural goals are scaled depending on the values that members of social movements attribute to the contested site and the adjacent territory. In some cases, activists set political goals, which take the form of a sequential hierarchy, where the achievement of one goal leads to intentions to pursue the next. Within an urban social movement, activists’ goals fall along a spectrum from minimal to maximalist. Such goals can be complementary or contradictory and, as a result, may cause a fragmentation of the interests within the social movement. Goals change as a result of competition among leaders in activist teams, depending on the intermediate outcomes of interactions among the actors involved, and under the influence of external factors. Finally, the goals of urban social movements can be “invented,” that is, formulated in the course of contesting historical and cultural heritage sites.