Examples of Social Movements

The old social movements clearly saw reorganisation of power relations as a central goal. So the ‘new’ social movements were not about changing the distribution of power in society but about quality-of-life issues such as having a clean environment.

Civil Rights Movement Perhaps the most famous civil rights activist in the U.S. is Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., who led a nonviolent movement for change in the 1950s and early 1960s. He advocated for protests, grassroots organizing, and civil disobedience in place of violent activism.

• civil rights movement in the United States.
• environmental movement.
• green movement.
• gay rights movement.
• labor movement.
• anti-globalization movement.
• vegetarian movement.
• feminist movement.

The four stages of social movement development are emergence, coalescence, bureaucra- tization, and decline. The Decline stage can result from several different causes, such as repression, co-optation, success, failure, and mainstream.

A social movement is a loosely organized effort by a large group of people to achieve a particular goal, typically a social or political one. This may be to carry out, resist or undo a social change. It is a type of group action and may involve individuals, organizations or both.

(i) Social change is continuous and ongoing. It indicates Sum total of countless individual and collective action gathered across time and space. (ii) Social movements are directed towards some specific goals. It Involves long and continuous social effort and action by people.

More specifically, we looked at the following theories that try to understand the origins of social movements: deprivation theory; resource mobilization theory; political process theory; structural strain theory; and new social movement theories.

Most theories of social movements are called collective action theories, indicating the purposeful nature of this form of collective behavior.

Deprivation, discontent, and frustration are frequently assumed to be sufficient causes for initiating or joining a social movement. The relationship is not a simple one, however. There is little evidence that the most deprived segments of a population are the most likely to participate in social movements.

As defined by social theorists and political scientists, relative deprivation theory suggests that people who feel they are being deprived of something considered essential in their society (e.g. money, rights, political voice, status) will organize or join social movements dedicated to obtaining the things of which …

Fraternalistic relative deprivation is more often associated with massive group social movements others in their group. For example, an employee who feels they should have gotten a promotion that went to another employee may feel egoistically relatively deprived. group social movements like the Civil Rights Movement.

What is the relationship between deliberate social action and consequences? Deliberate social action can have intended and unintended consequences.

Wherever they occur, social movements can dramatically shape the direction of society. When individuals and groups of people—civil rights activists and other visionaries, for instance—transcend traditional bounds, they may bring about major shifts in social policy and structures.

Some scholars explain the rise of social movements by citing the grievances of people who feel that they have been deprived of values to which they are entitled. Similarly, individuals engage in deviant behaviors when their means do not match their goals.