The Meaning of Social Movements

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POLITICAL DEVELOPMENT
Assignment Topic
ISSUSES OF SOCIAL MOVENMENT IN

POLITICAL DEVELOPMENT
Submitted By Supervised By
Sania Affan Ma’am Zahra
Roll No 45 Session 2016-2020
Semester (6th)
Department of Political Science
GOVERNMENT COLLEGE WOMEN UNIVERSITY SIALKOT
Date: 20-03-2019
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Contents
Issues of social movement in political development ................................ 3
1) The Meaning of Social Movements ...................................................... 3
2) Introduction ........................................................................................... 3
3) The social unrest may be caused by the following factors ................... 3
4) The major units of analysis or major dimensions ................................. 4
5) Conclusion............................................................................................. 6
6) References ............................................................................................. 6
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Issues of social movement in political development
1) The Meaning of Social Movements

In the society a large number of changes have been brought about by efforts exerted by people
individually and collectively. Such efforts have been called social movements. A social
movement may, therefore, be defined as “a collectively acting with some continuity to promote
or resist a change in the society or group of which it is a part”.
According to Anderson and Parker, social movement is “a form of dynamic pluralistic behavior
which progressively develops structure through time and aims at partial or complete modification
of the social order.” Lundberg and others define social movement as, “a voluntary association of
people engaged in concerted efforts to change attitudes, behavior and social relationships in a
larger society.”
Social movements may be of numerous kinds, such as religious movements, reform movements,
or revolutionary movements.
2) Introduction
A social movement is a type of group action. Social movements can be defined as

"organizational structures and strategies that may empower oppressed populations to mount
effective challenges and resist the more powerful and advantaged elites”. They are large,
sometimes informal, groupings of individuals or organizations which focus on
specific political or social issues. In other words, they carry out, resist, or undo a social change.
They provide a way of social change from the bottom within nations.
Modern Western social movements became possible through education (the wider dissemination
of literature) and increased mobility of labor due to the industrialization and urbanization of
19th-century societies.
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.
3) The social unrest may be caused by the following factors

(i) Cultural Drifts:
The society is undergoing constant changes. The values and behavior are changing in all
civilized societies. In the course of cultural drift most of the people develop new ideas. To get
these ideas operative in society they organize a movement. The development of a democratic
society, the emancipation of women, the spread of mass education, the removal of untouched
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ability, equality of opportunity for both the sexes, growth of secularism are the examples of
cultural drift.
(ii) Social Disorganization:

A changing society is to some extent disorganized because changes in different parts of society
do not take place simultaneously. One part changes more rapidly than the other producing
thereby numerous lags. Industrialization has brought urbanization which has in its turn caused
numerous social problems.
Social disorganization brings confusion and uncertainty because the old traditions no longer form
a dependable guide to behavior. The individuals become rootless. They feel isolated from the
society. A feeling develops that the community leaders are indifferent to their needs. The
individuals feel insecure, confused and frustrated. Confusion and frustration produce social
movements.
(iii) Social Injustice:

When a group of people feel that injustice has been done to it they become frustrated and
alienated. Such feeling of injustice provides fertile soil for social movements. The feeling of
social injustice is not limited to the miserable poor. Any group, at any status level may come to
feel itself the victim of social injustice. A wealthy class may feel a sense of injustice when faced
with urban property ceiling Act or high taxes intended to benefit the poor. Social injustice is a
subjective value judgment. A social system is unjust when it is so perceived by its members.
Thus, social movements arise wherever social conditions are favorable. It may be noted that in a
stable, well integrated society there are few social movements. In such a society there are very
few social tensions or alienated groups.
The people are contented. But in a changing and continuously disorganized society the people
suffer from tensions. They are not fully contented. In such a society they perceive social injustice
and become dissatisfied. It is the dissatisfied who build social movements. The modern society is
more afflicted by social movements.
4) The major units of analysis or major dimensions

1) Movement-Countermovement
. The typical strategy of social movement analysis has been to examine the adherents and
organizations comprising a social movement. Often the focus has been upon one segment of a
movement--an SMO and its adherents. Resource mobilization theory leads one to focus upon the
relations of movement organization sand adherents to authorities and their agents. Yet such a
focus ignores a central aspect of almost any movement: that a movement very often generates a
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counter movement that may become independent of the authorities. Much of the mobilization
potential of a movement, its tactics, and its ultimate fate stem from its hatless with a
countermovement; that is true for pro- andante-abortion, the adoption movement, and nuclear
and anti-nuclear power, The theoretical issue is how best to describe this interaction.
2) The Structure of Social Movement Industries.
McCarthy and Zald introduced the concept of a social movement industry as an analogue to the
economist's concepts of an industry, a group of organizations (firms) offering similar products to
a market of buyers. Social movement industries are all' the SMOs striving for similar change
goals in a society. It should be immediately apparent that the concept alerts us to aspects of
movements largely ignored. Pew movements are dominated by a single organization; send any
sophisticated movement leader recognizes the continuing tension of cooperation and conflict
with other units of the industry. Yet to date we have not had explicit models or propositions to
deal with the issue.
3) The Social Movement Sector,
The social movement sector has been defined as the combination of all social movement
industries in a society. McCarthy and Zald (1977) introduce the concept to get at the issues of tile
generalized readiness to support movements for change in a society.
Because of their economist bias and because they largely focus upon the American case, they
mainly discuss how levels of affluence, discretionary time, communication facilities, and
repression act as inhibitors or facilitators of the sector. This is, however, an incomplete approach.
Casual inspection would lead one to note that other societies, seeming as open and rich as ours,
have fewer social movements, and these are differently integrated into the political structure of
society.
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5) Conclusion
There are numerous and varied causes of social change. Four common causes, as recognized by
social scientists, are technology, social institutions, population, and the environment. All four of
these areas can impact when and how society changes. They are all interrelated: a change in one
area can lead to changes throughout. Modernization is a typical result of social change.
Modernization refers to the process of increased differentiation and specialization within a
society, particularly around its industry and infrastructure.
But American analysts of social movements have shied away from serious attention to ideology,
to symbol systems, their internal socio-psycho logic. Recent developments in semiotics,
hermeneutist, and culture systems, however, may soon make it possible to bridge that gap.
Without attention to meaning systems, analysis of macro structural factors may risk missing the
shaping content of concern of social movement action, with only symbolic analysis we risk
analysis empty of cost, constraint and opportunity.
6) References
 https://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/handle/2027.42/50978/204.pdf
 Zald; Mayer N. and Roberts Ash, "Social Movement Organizations: Growth, Decline and
Change," in Social Forces 44 (March, 1966), 327-41.
 https://opentextbc.ca/introductiontosociology/chapter/chapter21-social-movements-and-
social-change/

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ISSUSES OF SOCIAL MOVENMENT IN

Sania Affan Ma’am Zahra

Roll No 45 Session 2016-2020

Department of Political Science

GOVERNMENT COLLEGE WOMEN UNIVERSITY SIALKOT

Issues of social movement in political development

1) The Meaning of Social Movements

A social movement is a type of group action. Social movements can be defined as

3) The social unrest may be caused by the following factors

(ii) Social Disorganization:

(iii) Social Injustice:

4) The major units of analysis or major dimensions

2) The Structure of Social Movement Industries.

3) The Social Movement Sector,

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