How the 15M movement worked and why it stopped working. Profiles of participation and disengagement processes between May 2011 and May 2012

Abstract

In this paper we offer the retrospective view of a research project carried out by Comisión de Análisis Sol 15M from 2011 to 2012. Through this research, we aimed to describe 15M participants’ positions of affinity to the movement and the processes by which they would disengage from it. We based our description on an analysis of the different profiles of participation. The description of the different kinds of affinity to the 15M movement helps explain why this popular, massive, non-centralized movement ―which irrupted suddenly and was unprecedented in Spain’s recent history― remained cohesive and socially relevant for months. Moreover, the disengagement processes help explain why the movement could not incorporate new participants so as to remain active in the following years.