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The end of alternative organising (just as we were getting to know it)? A conjunctural analysis of the prefiguration terrain

Matt Wilson Orcid Logo

Culture and Organization, Pages: 1 - 20

Swansea University Author: Matt Wilson Orcid Logo

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DOI (Published version): 10.1080/14759551.2026.2619436

Abstract

The last fifteen years has seen a significant rise of interest in alternative forms of organising within CMS. Although this work covers a diverse world of organisational forms, this academic interest is commonly connected to the prefigurative turn in social movements which helped shift the radical i...

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Published in: Culture and Organization
ISSN: 1475-9551 1477-2760
Published: Informa UK Limited 2026
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URI: https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa71501
first_indexed 2026-02-26T11:14:23Z
last_indexed 2026-03-18T05:40:33Z
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spelling 2026-03-17T17:06:02.8956996 v2 71501 2026-02-26 The end of alternative organising (just as we were getting to know it)? A conjunctural analysis of the prefiguration terrain 2f52fc48733d840a44ba122da34337a7 0000-0002-6351-7723 Matt Wilson Matt Wilson true false 2026-02-26 CBAE The last fifteen years has seen a significant rise of interest in alternative forms of organising within CMS. Although this work covers a diverse world of organisational forms, this academic interest is commonly connected to the prefigurative turn in social movements which helped shift the radical imaginary away from electoral politics and towards strategies aimed at building a new world from the bottom-up. Yet the momentum of such movements has stalled in recent years, and a growing number of academics and activists are forcibly rejecting prefiguration. This shift in the radical imaginary is of huge importance for the future of alternative organising, and research into it, but CMS scholars appear to have overlooked it. In the following article, I argue that CMS research has too often followed a case-study approach, and that as a discipline it needs to pay closer attention to, and actively engage in, the wider landscape of radical theory and practice. Drawing on the work of Stuart Hall, I show why his use of conjunctural analysis is useful for understanding alternative organisations and their possible futures. I offer my own conjunctural perspective on the current state of prefiguration and its often fractious relationship with more vertical forms of left politics, and conclude by suggesting some ways in which we might develop work which can help inform not only the micro-practices of alternative organisations but also wider debates about the future direction of radical politics. Journal Article Culture and Organization 0 1 20 Informa UK Limited 1475-9551 1477-2760 Prefiguration; alternative organising; conjunctural analysis; CMS; social movements 1 3 2026 2026-03-01 10.1080/14759551.2026.2619436 COLLEGE NANME Management School COLLEGE CODE CBAE Swansea University SU Library paid the OA fee (TA Institutional Deal) 2026-03-17T17:06:02.8956996 2026-02-26T11:10:06.2172334 Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences School of Management - Business Management Matt Wilson 0000-0002-6351-7723 1 71501__36435__7c81dce628ca4c009355e608df4c42ec.pdf 71501.VoR.pdf 2026-03-17T17:02:18.3307854 Output 898651 application/pdf Version of Record true © 2026 The Author(s). This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License. true eng http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
title The end of alternative organising (just as we were getting to know it)? A conjunctural analysis of the prefiguration terrain
spellingShingle The end of alternative organising (just as we were getting to know it)? A conjunctural analysis of the prefiguration terrain
Matt Wilson
title_short The end of alternative organising (just as we were getting to know it)? A conjunctural analysis of the prefiguration terrain
title_full The end of alternative organising (just as we were getting to know it)? A conjunctural analysis of the prefiguration terrain
title_fullStr The end of alternative organising (just as we were getting to know it)? A conjunctural analysis of the prefiguration terrain
title_full_unstemmed The end of alternative organising (just as we were getting to know it)? A conjunctural analysis of the prefiguration terrain
title_sort The end of alternative organising (just as we were getting to know it)? A conjunctural analysis of the prefiguration terrain
author_id_str_mv 2f52fc48733d840a44ba122da34337a7
author_id_fullname_str_mv 2f52fc48733d840a44ba122da34337a7_***_Matt Wilson
author Matt Wilson
author2 Matt Wilson
format Journal article
container_title Culture and Organization
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publishDate 2026
institution Swansea University
issn 1475-9551
1477-2760
doi_str_mv 10.1080/14759551.2026.2619436
publisher Informa UK Limited
college_str Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences
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hierarchy_top_id facultyofhumanitiesandsocialsciences
hierarchy_top_title Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences
hierarchy_parent_id facultyofhumanitiesandsocialsciences
hierarchy_parent_title Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences
department_str School of Management - Business Management{{{_:::_}}}Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences{{{_:::_}}}School of Management - Business Management
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description The last fifteen years has seen a significant rise of interest in alternative forms of organising within CMS. Although this work covers a diverse world of organisational forms, this academic interest is commonly connected to the prefigurative turn in social movements which helped shift the radical imaginary away from electoral politics and towards strategies aimed at building a new world from the bottom-up. Yet the momentum of such movements has stalled in recent years, and a growing number of academics and activists are forcibly rejecting prefiguration. This shift in the radical imaginary is of huge importance for the future of alternative organising, and research into it, but CMS scholars appear to have overlooked it. In the following article, I argue that CMS research has too often followed a case-study approach, and that as a discipline it needs to pay closer attention to, and actively engage in, the wider landscape of radical theory and practice. Drawing on the work of Stuart Hall, I show why his use of conjunctural analysis is useful for understanding alternative organisations and their possible futures. I offer my own conjunctural perspective on the current state of prefiguration and its often fractious relationship with more vertical forms of left politics, and conclude by suggesting some ways in which we might develop work which can help inform not only the micro-practices of alternative organisations but also wider debates about the future direction of radical politics.
published_date 2026-03-01T05:58:06Z
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