Social Movements

Social Movements

Social movements around the world have been platforms of social change, and opponents, including governments, have often attempted to curtail the movements’ efforts. Social movements are organized purposeful alliances of people that strive to work towards a common objective that can bring about social change. They are often formed as a response to situations of oppression, inequality, and unmet political, social, cultural, or economic demands. The groups can develop to bring about change, resist change, or provide a platform for disenfranchised groups so that can they can have a political voice. Social movements are generally civilian-based and involve widespread participation to alert, serve, educate, and mobilize people towards the desired change. They employ collective action to change present power structures to transform society. Modern social movements are possible due to the fast dissemination of information, increased mobility due to industrialization and freedom of expression rights.  The conditions that make every day people come together to form social movements include relative deprivation and resource mobilization.

Social movements are wide alliances of individuals linked through their collective interest in advocating for social change. Moreover, social movement can push for a specific social change but can also support opposing a particular social change organized by another entity. The movements do not require a formal organization to be defined as social movements. Different movements can function separately for a common cause and still be considered as a social movement. In the beginning, social movements are poorly organized, and the mechanism of group interaction is spontaneous and elementary. As the movement develops, it takes the values of its society and acquires customs, form, and organization and established leadership. Modern social movements are possible due to the wide dissemination of publications coupled with increased mobility of populations due to industrialization. They are also possible due to freedom of expression that is prevalent in modern societies.

Sociologist Anthony Giddens has identified four main areas on which modern social movements function in society. The area includes democratic movements that promote political rights, labor movements that seek control at the workplace for the workers, and ecological movements which seek to protect the environment. A fourth of the area of social movement is in the realm of peace movements that seek to promote peace in their societies.

Social movements emerge due to dysfunctional relationships that develop between various systems. For instance, the union movement started after the industrial revolution since the economy could not effectively distribute wealth and resources to workers. The movements can only emerge if certain economic or political problems exist, which prompt the dissatisfied people to start and join social movements. Such issues include lack of political freedom, a faltering economy, government foreign policies, and discrimination based on race, sexual orientation, gender, or ethnicity. Without social problems, people would not have a basis for protesting, and the movements would not emerge. Whatever the condition that causes social movements to arise, it is general dissatisfaction among members of the public that contributes to shared discontent. The discontent arises because the persons feel that they are deprived relative to specific groups, or they have not attained some ideal state (Sen & Avci, 2016). The discontent with the state of affairs is referred to as relative deprivation. In situations where the formal channels which the public uses to voice their concerns do not function, social movements are necessary.  Thus, social movements form due to relative deprivation, whereby society members feel that their needs are not fulfilled compared to another group.

Another cause of social movements is resource mobilization. The theory is a recent alternative explanation of how social movements emerge and advances that social movements arise when discount persons can mobilize enough resources to advocate for their demands (Sen & Avci, 2016). Accordingly, tangible resources include money and facilities. Intangible resources include knowledge, legitimacy, cultural commitment, media, and some help from the powerful elite. The emphasis on resources explains why some deprived, and discontented individuals can mobilize while others cannot. Such movements reduce the number of free-riding members through various initiatives, such as where organizers create collective and selective incentives to attract participants. Moreover, unlike other social movement theoretical frameworks, the resource mobilization concept is considered to be goal-oriented and rational. Further, the theory highlights that grievances are vital but are not sufficient to stimulate social movements. Instead, social movements require critical resources from external sources to facilitate movement mobilization.  Thus the resource mobilization theory explains why some people come together to form social movements.

In conclusion, social movements are collective enterprises that depend on mass participation to bring about a change in the order of life within society. They emerge due to condition of dissatisfaction with the current state of affairs and from resource mobilization. Resource mobilization explains that both tangible and intangible resources, as well as the capacities of discontent groups, enable them to form social movements. Relative deprivation can also cause some people to form groups whereby discontent arises because the persons feel that they are deprived relative to certain groups, or they have not attained some ideal state.