An Interview with Alberto Melucci * (Interview‪)‬

This is a revised and expanded version of an original interview conducted by Yasushi Yamanouchi and Shujiro Yazawa at the Hitosubashi University, Tokyo, in September 1994. The occasion for the interview was Alberto Melucci's participation in the conference 'The World and Japan in the Age of Multiculturalism' organised by Hitotsubashi University 1921 September 1994. This conference whose proceedings are now available in Hitotsubashi Journal of Social Studies, no. 27, August 1995, opened the first public debate on the issue of cultural differences in Japan. The interview was originally published in Japan as 'Atarashii Shakai Undo to Kojin no Henyo' (New Social Movements and Individual Transformation), Shiso, no. 3, 1995. Y. Y. Could you first of all tell us what has led you to the latest stage in your work? It is my impression that you have participated in many different social fields and that the social theory you are developing is taking shape in response to your experiences in these fields. Of particular importance here has been your field research on the social mobilisations in Milan in the 1980s. You adopted, as a starting point, resource mobilisation theory, or collective action theory, used by social scientists in the United States, and after major modifications to these approaches you subsequently formulated your own theory of 'new social movements'.