Social movement
Social movements are a type of
group action. They are large
informal groupings of
individuals and/or
organizations focused on specific
political or
social issues, in other words, on carrying out, resisting or undoing a
social change.
Modern social movements became possible through
education (the wider dissemination of
literature), and increased mobility of labour due to the
industrialisation and
urbanisation of
19th century societies. The freedom of expression, education and relative economic independence prevalent in the modern
Western culture is responsible for the unprecedented number and scope of various contemporary social movements.
Political science and
sociology have developed a variety of theories and empirical research on social movements. For example, some research in political science highlights the relation between popular movements and the formation of new
political parties as well as discussing the function of social movements in relation to
agenda setting and influence on politics.
Charles Tilly argues that there are three major elements to a social movement [Tilly, 2004]:
# campaigns: a sustained, organized public effort making collective claims on target authorities;# social movement repertoire: employment of combinations from among the following forms of
political action: creation of special-purpose associations and coalitions, public meetings, solemn processions, vigils, rallies, demonstrations, petition drives, statements to and in public media, and pamphleteering; and# WUNC displays: participants' concerted public representation of
worthiness,
unity,
numbers, and
commitments on the part of themselves and/or their constituencies.
Sidney Tarrow defines [Tarrow, 1994] a social movement as
collective challenges by people with common purposes and solidarity in sustained interactions with elites, opponents and authorities. He specifically distinguishes social movements from political parties and
interest groups.
Tilly claims that the social movement did not exist before the late eighteenth century: although each elements like campaigns, social movement repertoire and WUNC displays has a long history, only recently have they been combined together into a proper social movement. Social movement was invented in England and North America during the first decades of the nineteenth century and has since then spread across the globe.[Tilly, 2004]
Tilly argues that the early growth of social movements was connected to broad economic and political changes including
parliamentarization,
capitalization, and
proletarianization. [Tilly, 2004]
Political movements that evolved in late
18th century, like those connected to the
French Revolution and
Polish Constitution of May 3, 1791 are among the first documented social movements, although Tilly notes that the British
abolitionist movement has "some claim" to be the first social movement (becoming one between the sugar boycott of 1791 and the second great petition drive of 1806). The
labor movement and
socialist movement of the late 19th century are seen as the prototypical social movements, leading to the formation of
communist and
social democratic parties and organisations. From
1815,
Britain after victory in the
Napoleonic Wars entered a period of social upheaval aformed from
1905 as pressure for reform continued, resulting in the collapse of the Russian State at the end of the
First World War.
In 1945, Britain after victory in the
Second World War entered a period of radical reform and change. In the
1970s,
women's rights,
peace,
civil rights and
environmental movements emerged, often dubbed
New Social Movements.They led inter alia to the formation of
green parties. Some find in the end of the
1990s the emergence of a new global social movement, the
anti-globalization movement.
Key processes
Several key processes lie behind the history of social movements. The process of urbanisation, which created large cities, facilitated
social interaction between scores of people. It was in cities, where people of similar goals could find each other, gather and organise, that those early social movements first appeared. Similarly, the process of industrialisation which gathered large masses of workers in the same region was responsible for the fact that many of those early social movements addressed matters important to that
social class. Many other social movements were created at
universities, where the process of
mass education brought many people together. With the development of
communication technologies, creation and activities of social movements became easier - from printed pamphlets circulating in the 18th century
coffeehouses to
newspapers and
Internet, all those tools became important factors in the growth of the social movements. Finally, the spread of
democracy and
political rights like the
freedom of speech made the creation and functioning of social movements much easier.
Social movements have been and continue to be closely connected with
democratic political systems. Occasionally social movements have been involved in
democratizing nations, but more often they have flourished after democratization. Over the past 200 years, they have become part of a popular and global expression of
dissent.[Tilly, 2004]
Sociologists distinguish between several types of social movement:
* scope
** reform movements - movements dedicated to changing some
norms, usually legal ones. Examples of such a movement would include a
trade union with a goal of increasing workers rights, a
green movement advocating a set of
ecological laws, or a movement supporting introduction of a
capital punishment or right to
abortion. Some reform movements may advocate a change in custom and moral norms, for example, condemnation of
pornography or proliferation of some
religion.
**
radical movement - movements dedicated to changing some
value systems. Those are usually much larger in scope than the reform movements, Examples would include the American Civil Rights Movement which demanded full civil rights and equality under the law to all Americans, regardless of
race, or the
Polish Solidarity (
Solidarność) movement which demanded the transformation of communist political and
economy system into democracy and
capitalism.
* type of change
** innovation movement - movements which want to introduce new norms, values, etc. The
singularitarianism movement advocating deliberate action to effect and ensure the safety of the
technological singularity is an example of an innovation movement.
** conservative movement - movements which want to preserve existing norms, values, etc. The anti-machines 19th century
Luddites movement or the modern movement opposing the spread of the
genetically modified food are examples of conservative movements.
* target audience
** group-focus movements - focused on affecting groups or society in general, for example, advocating the change of the political system. Most of such groups eventually transform into or join a political party.
** individual-focused movements - focused on affecting individuals. Most
religious movements would fall under this category. Those movements rarely transform into political parties.
* methods of work
**
peaceful movements - opposed to using violent means. Mentioned American Civil Rights movement, Polish Solidarity movement or
Mahatma Gandhi civil disobedience movements would fall into this category
** violent movements - various armed
resistance movements up to and including
terrorist organisations. Examples would include
Hezbollah,
Basque Euskadi Ta Askatasuna (
ETA) or
Ireland Provisional Irish Republican Army (
IRA) movements.
*old and new
**old movements - most of the 19th century movements which recruited their followers from a specific social class (only workers, only peasants, only whites, only aristocrats, only protestants, etc.). They were usually centered around some
materialistic goals like improving the
standard of living of the given social class.
**
new movements - movements which became dominant from the second half of the 20th century - like the
feminist movement,
pro-life movement,
civil rights movement, environmental movement,
free software movement,
gay rights movement, peace movement,
anti-nuclear movement, anti-globalization movement, etc. Sometimes they are known as
new social movements. They are usually centered around a non-materialistic goal.
*range
**global movements - social movements with global objectives and goals. Movements such as the
World Social Forum seek to change society at a global level, advocating the imposition of restrictions on free trade and liberal capitalism.
**local movements - most of the social movements have a local scope. They are based on local or regional objectives, such as protecting a specific natural area, lobbying for the lowering of tolls in a certain motorway, etc.
Social movements are not eternal. They have a
life cycle: they are created, they grow, they achieve successes or failures and eventually, they dissolve and cease to exist.
They are more likely to evolve in the time and place which is friendly to the social movements: hence their evident symbiosis with the 19th century proliferation of ideas like individual rights, freedom of speech and civil disobedience. They are more likely to form in the societies and cultures allowing expression of ideas by individuals - like most of the Western culture, which explains why most social movements exist in United States and Europe, and fewer in more autocratic places like Russia or China. Such friendly context and environment is only a background facilitating the creation of the social movement. There must also be polarizing differences between groups of people: in case of 'old movements', they were the
poverty and
wealth gaps. In case of the 'new movements', they are more likely to be the differences in customs, ethics and values. Finally, the birth of a social movement needs what sociologist
Neil Smelser calls an
initiating event: a particular, individual event that will begin a
chain reaction of events in the given society leading to the creation of a social movement. For example, American Civil Rights movement grew on the reaction to black women,
Rosa Parks, riding in the whites-only section of the bus (although it is important to note that Rosa Parks was not acting alone or spontaneously -- typically activist leaders lay the groundwork behind the scenes of interventions designed to spark a movement). Polish Solidarity movement, which eventually
toppled the communist regimes of Eastern Europe, developed after trade union activist
Anna Walentynowicz was fired from work. Such an event is also described as a
volcanic model - a social movement is often created after a large number of people realise that there are others sharing the same value and desire for a particular social change. Thus, one of the main difficulties facing the emerging social movement is spreading the very knowledge that it exists. Second is overcoming the
free rider problem - convincing people to join it, instead of following the mentality 'why should I trouble myself when others can do it and I can just reap the benefits after their hard work'.
 |
Incident of Rosa Parks who was arrested for refusing to give up her seat to make room for white people sparked the American Civil Rights Movement |
Many social movements are created around some
charismatic leader, i.e. one possessing
charismatic authority. After the social movement is created, there are two likely phases of recruitment. The first phase will gather the people deeply interested in the primary goal and ideal of the movement. The second phase, which will usually come after the given movement had some successes and is trendy; it would look good on a
résumé. People who join in this second phase will likely be the first to leave when the movement suffers any setbacks and failures.
Eventually, the social crisis can be encouraged by outside elements, like opposition from government or other movements. However, many movements had survived a failure crisis, being revived by some hardcore activists even after several decades.
Sociologists have developed several theories related to social movements [Kendall, 2005]. Chronologically they include:
*
collective behavior/
collective action theories (1950s)
*
relative deprivation theory (1960s)
*
value-added theory (1960s)
*
resource mobilization (1970s)
*
frame analysis theory (1970s) (closely related to
social constructionist theory)
*
new social movement theory (1980s)
See
list of social movements for a more complete list of social movements. The below list contains only very few selected movements not mentioned in the main article above:
*
Animal rights movement
*
Clean Living Movements*
Conservation movement*
Cultural movement*
Ecology movement*
Ethiopian movement*
Free software movement*
Labor movement*
Prison reform*
Reform movements in the United States
*
Taisho democracy in
Japan*
Unity of science*
countermovementEncyclopedia of American Social Movements, Edited by
Immanuel Ness, 2004, ISBN 0765680459
*
Diana Kendall,
Sociology In Our Times, Thomson Wadsworth, 2005, ISBN 0534646298
*
Kurt Schock,
Unarmed Insurrections: People Power Movements in Nondemocracies, University of Minnesota Press, 2005.
*
Charles Tilly,
Social Movements, 1768â€"2004, Boulder, CO, Paradigm Publishers, 2004 262 pp. ISBN 1594510423 (hardback) / ISBN 1594510431 (paperback)
*
Sidney Tarrow,
Power in Movement: Collective Action, Social Movements and Politics, Cambridge University Press, 1994.
*
Marco G. Giugni,
How Social Movements Matter, University of Minnesota Press, 1999, ISBN 0816629145
*
Social Movements: A Summary of What Works (pdf)*
Wiki on: Social Movements across Europe
