CRISIS, ALTERNATIVE KNOWLEDGE PRODUCTION AND SOCIAL MOVEMENTS: DIFFERENCES BETWEEN THE WEST AND THE EX-SOVIET REGION

The article focuses on the production of alternative knowledge. While official knowledge maintains and reproduces the hegemony of the elite, alternative knowledge is the intellectual and cultural germ of another world. Web 2.0 has provided new possibilities and improved the basis for generating, sharing and disseminating alternative knowledge. However, in order to have a social impact, alternative knowledge needs to undergo a socialization process and to have driving forces behind it. Normally, these tasks are accomplished by social movements. The author argues that social movements in the West and the ex-Soviet region differ substantially in the nature of knowledge they produce and bring into the public space. Latvia is in an anomalous situation because the complete absence of social movements reduces the country's ability to find alternatives and new perspectives. In periods of crisis and emergency situations, the lack of such an ability can have tragic consequences.