University of Sarajevo

Fakulty of Political Sciences

Department of Political Science

Social movements of 1960s in USA

Research paper

Subject: Politics and Ethics

Sarajevo, decembar 2020.

Table of Contents
1.
INTRODUCTION......................................................................................................................3
2.The main information on the concept of Social Movements...................................................3
3.The roots of Social Movements...............................................................................................4
4.Major Social Movements.........................................................................................................5
4.1 Civil Rights Movement.................................................................................................5
4.2 The Student Movement.................................................................................................8
4.3 The Anti-Vietnam War Movement..............................................................................9
4.4 Women's movement....................................................................................................10
4.5 Gey Rights Movement................................................................................................11
4.6 Environmental Movement...........................................................................................12

CONCLUSION.........................................................................................................................12
LITERATURE..........................................................................................................................13

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1. INTRODUCTION

The topic of research paper is "Social Movements of 1960s in United States of America".
This paper is consisted of couple parts necessary for proper understanding of these
movements. We start from the basic concepts, more precisely from the definition of social
movements, and then what factors contributed to their appearance in America. The central
part of this paper deals with the issue of social movement, defining it and clarifying its main
determinants.
These movements include civil rights movement, student movement, anti-Vietnam war
movement, women's movement, gay rights movement and environmental movement. Each of
them has changed government strategy to varying degrees, and perhaps more importantly, has
changed the living standards of every American today.

2. The main information on the concept of Social Movements

Social movement, a loosely organized but sustained campaign in support of a social goal,
typically either the implementation or the prevention of a change in society’s structure or
values. Although social movements differ in size, they are all essentially collective. That is,
they result from the more or less spontaneous coming together of people whose relationships
are not defined by rules and procedures but who merely share a common outlook on society.
"Social movements can be imagined as collectives that with a certain degree of organization
and continuity, with the aim of challenging or defending the existing authorities, whether
institutionally or culturally based, operate outside institutional or organizational channels in a
group, organization, society, culture or to the world order of which they are a part.” 1 Aspects
of a social movement contained in this definition - resilience, collective action, network
character, common interpretation of problems of the movement itself, provoking powerful
opponents, continuity - they represent starting point for appropriate specific questions.

Modern social movements became possible through the wide dissemination of literature and
the increased mobility of labor, both of which have been caused by the industrialization of

1
Thomas Kern (2008): Soziale Bewegungen. Ursachen, Wirkungen, Mechanismen. Wiesbaden: Verlag für
Sozialwissenschaften, page 9.

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societies. Anthony Giddens, a renowned sociologist, has identified four areas in which social
movements operate in modern societies:

1. democratic movements that work for political rights,

2. labor movements that work for control of the workplace,
3. ecological movements that are concerned with the environment,
4. peace movements that work toward peace.

3. The roots of social movements

There are several different reasons why social movements errupted during 1960s in USA.
First of all, it's important to mention the change that occured in role of the federal
government. In 1930s, USA suffered through Great Depression which is considered to be the
worst economic downturn in American history. During that time, President Franklin Rooswelt
created the New Deal programs. They aimed at promoting economic recovery and putting
Americans back to work through Federal activism. New Federal agencies attempted to control
agricultural production, stabilize wages and prices, and create a vast public works program for
the unemployed. For the first time, the federal government assumed a major role in ensuring
the welfare of its citizens. Americans began to look to their federal government to resolve
problems.
Second, after World War II (1939-1945) ended, the United States emerged as a global power
that competed with the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR); both of them represented
different ideology, Western democracy on one side and Communist sysem on the other. Their
goal was to covince people around the world that they are superior than the USSR.
Third,  a national culture was emerging that linked all Americans more closely than ever
before; television became common and allowed people to witness events taking place in other
parts of the country and the world.
Fourth, the 1960s were period of relative economic prosperity for most of the country. Many
Americans were better off financially than they had ever been. Economic security also
allowed Americans to question why some groups remained mired in poverty and to focus
more attention—and spend more money—on remedying injustices and social problems.
Fifth, young people played an important role in the movements for social change during the
1960s. Numbers alone made them important; more than 76 million babies were born during

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the post-World War II "baby boom." In addition, these young people spent more years in
school and  strongly influenced the national culture, and the political activism.

4. Major Social Movements

The major social movements began with the civil rights movement during the 1950s and
early 1960s. The civil rights movement fought to end long-standing political, social,
economic, and legal practices that discriminated against black Americans. It influenced later
movements for social change, both by inspiring Americans to fight for change and by using
methods of direct action, such as protest marches, rallies, and nonviolent civil disobedience
tactics like sit-ins.
These later movements included a student movement dedicated to greater student power; a
movement to protest American involvement in the Vietnam War (1959-1975); the women’s
movement, which fought to bring full equality to American women; the gay rights movement,
which tried to end traditional biases and laws against homosexuals; and the environmental
movement, which fought to change the conditions of man-made pollution, unchecked
population growth, and the exploitation of natural resources. In the 1960s, many Americans
participated in more than one protest movement. Although their specific goals differed, all of
the movements were built on the ideal of citizen-activism and a belief that social justice could
be won through political change.

4.1 Civil Rights Movement

Civil rights are the protections and privileges given to all citizens by law. Civil rights are
rights given by nations to their citizens within their territorial boundaries. Human rights, on
the other hand, are rights that individuals have from birth.
In countries like South Africa, the United States and Europe, laws which guarantee civil rights
are written down.
Examples of civil rights and liberties include:
 the right to privacy
 the right of peaceful protest
 the right to a fair investigation and trial if suspected of a crime
 the right to vote
 the right to personal freedom

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  the right to freedom of movement
 the right to equality before the law.
Therefore, when one group is denied for any of these rights or even more of them, the only
thing they can do is to fight for them. That was the case of African Americans. They faced
various forms of discrimination and segregation in almost all aspects of life. For example
African Americans often had to sit in the back of public buses, were refused service in most
restaurants and hotels, and still went to racially segregated schools, despite the 1954 Supreme
Court ruling, Brown v. Board of Education, which outlawed racially segregated education.
Employment ads were separated into "Negro" and "white" categories, and African Americans
were openly restricted to the lowest paying and lowest status occupations. In addition, most
African Americans were effectively denied the right to vote.

The movement was characterized by major campaigns of civil resistance. Between 1955 and
1968, acts of nonviolent protest and civil disobedience produced crisis situations between
activists and government authorities. Federal, state, and local governments, businesses, and
communities often had to respond immediately to these situations that highlighted the
discrimination African Americans faced. Actions included boycotts such as the successful
Montgomery Bus Boycott in Alabama, sit-ins such as the influential Greensboro sit-ins,
marches such as the Selma to Montgomery marches in Alabama and the march on
Washington, as well as a wide range of other nonviolent activities.
 The Montgomery bus boycott was a political and social protest campaign against the
policy of racial segregation on the Montgomery, Alabama public transit system. The
campaign lasted from December 5, 1955, when Rosa Parks, an African
American woman, was arrested for refusing to surrender her seat to a white person, to
December 20, 1956, when a federal ruling, Browder v. Gayle, took effect and led to a
Supreme Court decision that declared the Alabama and Montgomery laws requiring
segregated buses to be unconstitutional. Many important figures in the Civil Rights
Movement took part in the boycott, including the Reverend Martin Luther King,
Jr. and Ralph Abernathy.
 The Greensboro sit-ins  were a series of nonviolent protests in Greensboro, North
Carolina, in 1960, which led to the Woolworth department store chain removing its
policy of racial segregation in the southern United States. While not the first sit-in of
the Civil Rights Movement, the Greensboro sit-ins were an instrumental action, and
the most well-known sit-ins of the movement. They led to increased national
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 sentiment at a crucial period in U.S. history. The primary event took place at the
Greensboro Woolworth store; a site that is now the International Civil Rights Center
and Museum.
 The March on Washington was one of the largest political rallies for human rights in
U.S. history. It demanded civil and economic rights for African Americans. Thousands
of participants headed to Washington, D.C., on Tuesday, August 27, 1963. The next
day, Martin Luther King, Jr., standing in front of the Lincoln Memorial, delivered his
historic “I Have a Dream” speech, in which he called for an end to racism.
 The three Selma-to-Montgomery marches in 1965 were part of the voting rights
movement underway in Selma, Alabama. By highlighting racial injustice in the south,
they contributed to passage that year of the Voting Rights Act, a landmark federal
achievement of the Civil Rights Movement. Activists publicized the three protest
marches to walk the 54-mile (87-km) highway from Selma to the Alabama state
capital of Montgomery as showing the desire of African American citizens to exercise
their constitutional right to vote, in defiance of segregationist repression.

The most important achievements of 1960s civil rights movements were:

 Passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which banned discrimination based on
“race, color, religion, or national origin” in employment practices and public
accommodations. It ended unequal application of voter registration requirements
and racial segregation in schools, at the workplace, and by facilities that served the
general public.
 The Voting Rights Act of 1965, which restored and protected voting rights.
Designed to enforce the voting rights guaranteed by the Fourteenth and Fifteenth
Amendments to the United States Constitution, the act secured voting rights for
racial minorities throughout the country, especially in the south. According to the
U.S. Department of Justice, the act is considered the most effective piece of civil
rights legislation ever enacted in the country.
 The Immigration and Nationality Services Act of 1965, which dramatically opened
entry to the United States for immigrants other than traditional European groups.
 The Fair Housing Act of 1968 (also known as the Civil Rights Act of 1968), which
banned discrimination in the sale or rental of housing.

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 4.2 The Student Movement

The student movement was the following significant social change development to appear
during the 1960s. A large number of its initial coordinators had first gotten politically
dynamic in the mid 1960s working close by blacks in civil rights movement. Composed
predominantly out of white students, the student movement worked principally to fight racism
and poverty, increase student rights, and to end the Vietnam War. At the center of the student
movement was a confidence in participatory vote based system, or the possibility that all
Americans, not only small group of first class, ought to choose the major monetary, political,
and social inquiries that molded the country. In a participatory democracyt, citizens would
consolidate and work straightforwardly to accomplish change at the nearby level. The
students planned to offer capacity to individuals with the goal that they could battle for their
own privileges and for political and financial changes.

In 1960 a little gathering of youngsters shaped Students for a Democratic Society (SDS). By
1968 nearly 100,000 youngsters around the country had joined this association. The SDS
picked up strength from the Free Speech Movement that happened at the University of
California, Berkeley, in 1964. Berkeley students fought after college authorities prohibited
political leafleting nearby. They grumbled that they were dealt with like numbers, not
individuals, at the stuffed Berkeley grounds. Different students around the nation framed
similar protest organizatios, demanding an end to restrictive campus rules that failed to treat
them like responsible individuals.

Numerous other student activists during the 1960s battled for social change by working for
political applicants and by shaping nearby change associations. For instance, during the
official primaries of 1968, a large number of student volunteers worked for Eugene
McCarthy, who ran for the Democratic Party selection on the issue of finishing the battle in
Vietnam. By the mid 1970s, student activists helped organize the environmental movement
and the women’s movement.

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 4.3 The Anti-Vietnam War Movement

When the war in Vietnam began, many Americans believed that defending South Vietnam
from communist aggression was in the national interest. Communism was threatening free
governments across the globe. Any sign of non-intervention from the United States might
encourage revolutions elsewhere.
As the war dragged on, more and more Americans grew weary of mounting casualties and
escalating costs. The small antiwar movement grew into an unstoppable force, pressuring
American leaders to reconsider its commitment.
Leaders of this movement opposed the war on moral and economic grounds. The North
Vietnamese, they argued, were fighting a patriotic war to rid themselves of foreign
aggressors. Innocent Vietnamese peasants were being killed in the crossfire. American planes
wrought environmental damage by dropping their defoliating chemicals.
Ho Chi Minh was the most popular leader in all of Vietnam, and the United States was
supporting an undemocratic, corrupt military regime. Young American soldiers were
suffering and dying. Their economic arguments were less complex, but as critical of the war
effort. Military spending simply took money away from Great Society social programs such
as welfare, housing, and urban renewal.
The late 1960s became increasingly radical as the activists felt their demands were ignored.
Peaceful demonstrations turned violent. When the police arrived to arrest protesters, the
crowds often retaliated. Students occupied buildings across college campuses forcing many
schools to cancel classes. Roads were blocked and ROTC 2 buildings were burned. Doves
clashed with police and the National Guard in August 1968, when antiwar demonstrators
flocked to the Democratic National Convention in Chicago to prevent the nomination of a
prowar candidate.
Despite the growing antiwar movement, a silent majority of Americans still supported the
Vietnam effort. Many admitted that involvement was a mistake, but military defeat was
unthinkable. When Richard Nixon was inaugurated in January 1969, the nation was bitterly
divided over what course of action to follow next.

2
The Reserve Officer Training Corps (ROTC) is a college program situated across the United States that
prepares young adults to become officers in the U.S. Military.

9
 4.4 Women's movement

The modern women's movement started in the last part of the 1960s. Numerous women
who took part in this movement, also had certain type of work in the previous movements,
their main tasks were photocopying and answering phones. Some started to fight against these
roles because they often belittled their values as a woman and a citizen. They started to
question the traditional roles for women in U.S. society. During the 1950s and mid 1960s,
society forced ladies to marry, have kids, and afterward stay at home to bring up those kids.
The predominant view was that ladies' capacities in the work environment and in open life
were restricted by their actual delicacy and by their roles as mothers. Ladies were required to
remain at home and to rely upon men to offer them financial support.

Therefore, ladies were regularly avoided from high status or well-paying positions. They had
just picked up the vote in 1920 and had little voice in the country's political and financial life.
In 1963 The Feminine Mystique, by Betty Friedan, was distributed and turned into a best-
seller. This book addressed numerous ladies' disappointments with the job that society
expected of them. The book encouraged ladies to work for change.

One of the movement's first triumphs was the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which, in addition to
other things, banned segregation and discrimination based on gender. In any case, government
officials rarely enforced the antigender discrimination provision. Because of this official
indifference, in 1966 a little gathering of women led by Friedan shaped the National
Organization for Women (NOW) to request that the government prosecute cases of job
discrimination against women.

The women's movement is not a unified force with a single ideology or goal. Some activists
fight for equal job opportunities; others focus on changing the relationship between men and
women. They questioned traditional gender roles and tried to change the social view that a
woman's value depends on her physical attractiveness. For many women, an important issue
is controlling their bodies. Abortion was illegal in almost all states, rape was rarely
prosecuted, and domestic violence was widely regarded as a private matter. Some radical
activists believe that American society will have to be completely reshaped. They rejected the
so-called patriarchal values or the values of men, such as competition, aggressiveness and

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selfishness. They believe that women are naturally more nurturing and compassionate, and
advocate the establishment of a society based on female values.

By the mid-1970s, feminists had made some changes. In 1971, Congress prohibited
discrimination against girls and women in schools. In 1973, feminist lawyers won the
Supreme Court in Roe v. A judgment in the Wade case in which the judge ruled that women
have the constitutional right to choose abortion. Millions of women who have never
participated in public demonstrations have used the feminist rhetoric and legal victories won
by feminists to create greater equality in marriage and personal life and expand their
economic and political opportunities.

4.5 Gey Rights Movement

In the 1960s, most state laws prohibited homosexual behavior. State and federal laws
often make it illegal to serve gay men in the government, and private employers often
discriminate against them. The armed forces do not allow gay or lesbian men to serve. And
most Americans find it acceptable to ridicule, ridicule and even harass homosexuality. As a
result, American homosexuals usually hide their sexual orientation.

The gay rights movement began in the late 1960s, when civic activism became more common
due to the Civil Rights Movement and other social change movements. The first large-scale
homosexual protest occurred in 1969. At Stonewall Inn, a gay bar in New York City, gays
spontaneously protested when the police tried to arrest them and close the bar. Encouraged by
this spontaneous resistance, many other gays and lesbians were active in other protest
movements in the 1960s, and they increased their efforts to organize gay liberation
movements.

The gay rights movement has a double agenda: to gain the acceptance of homosexuality and
end discrimination against homosexuality. Activists try to make homosexuality accepted by
the wider society, thereby encouraging gay men to show their homosexuality. Once
homosexuals disclose their sexual identity, homosexual activists believe that they can end the
legal and social discrimination against homosexuals in American society through protests and
lobbying.

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By 1973, about 800 gay organizations existed, many people took place just to offer support
and safe environment for the members of this group. However, due to religious beliefs, most
Americans in the 1970s and beyond did not regard homosexuality as an acceptable way of
life.
4.6 Environmental Movement

Americans have been paying attention to the natural environment for a long time, but it was
not until the end of the 1960s when so many Americans became active in political activities
that mass movements dedicated to protecting the environment emerged. Biologist Rachel
Carson contributed to this awakening with her best-selling book Silent Spring (1962). She
detailed the methods of using chemical pesticides to kill birds, fish and animals and endanger
human species. Carson followed dozens of other books to warn of imminent ecological
disasters. Reports of environmental disasters, such as the oil spill on the coast of Southern
California in 1969, have been broadcast on television, further expanding the scope of the
warning. In the late 1960s, environmentalists used this information to get a politicized citizen
into a new mass movement.

5. CONCLUSION

When they arose, many Americans opposed every development of these social changes. They
did not want to change their beliefs and practices, so many people refused to support any of
these movements. This is to be expected, because people do not always respond positively to
new things. Therefore, it is important to inform people about certain issues that disrupt
society, which will make people aware that what is currently happening may be wrong.
According to the researches student movement, gay rights movement and anti-Vietnam War
movement never succeeded to gain approval of the majority of Americans. On the other hand,
civil rights movement, the environmental movement, and the women's movement influenced
views of many, not only in America, but also in other parts of the world.
All the protest movements in the 1960s attracted public attention and raised issues important
to the country. The civil rights movement, the women's movement, and the gay rights
movement require Americans to consider the equality of all citizens of the United States. The
student movement explored the meaning of freedom in the United States. The anti-Vietnam
War movement requires Americans to consider the appropriateness of using state power and

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government foreign policy. Environmentalists asked how good the economic growth of the
United States would be if it caused the destruction of the earth.
Campaign activists often raised problems that many Americans would rather ignore in a
confrontational way. In answering these questions, Americans have changed dramatically.
Regardless of race, sexual orientation or gender, equal opportunities and equal rights became
laws for American citizens over time.

LITERATURE

1. Thomas Kern (2008): "Soziale Bewegungen. Ursachen, Wirkungen, Mechanismen.

Wiesbaden: Verlag für Sozialwissenschaften", page 9.
2. Donatella Della Porta and Mario Diani (2006): "Social Movements: an introduction",
page 84.
3. The "New Environmentalism" of the 1960s:
https://www.uwosh.edu/facstaff/barnhill/ES-243/pp%20outline%20New
%20Environmentalism.pdf
4. https://www.britannica.com/topic/social-movement#ref25277 (Date of access to the
website: 26.12.2020., 12:30)
5. https://courses.lumenlearning.com/boundless-sociology/chapter/social-movements/
(Date of access to the website: 26.12.2020., 13:40)
6. https://www.archives.gov/seattle/exhibit/picturing-the-century/great-depression.html
(Date of access to the website: 26.12.2020., 15:38)
7. https://www.britannica.com/topic/baby-boom-US-history ( 26. 12. 2020., 16:08)
8. https://www.sahistory.org.za/article/1960s-civil-rights-and-black-power-movements
(26. 12. 2020., 18:05)
9. https://courses.lumenlearning.com/boundless-ushistory/chapter/the-emergence-of-the-
civil-rights-movement/ (26.12.2020., 19:36)
10. https://history.state.gov/milestones/1921-1936/great-depression (26.12., 20:12)
11. https://journals.openedition.org/rccs/646#tocto1n5 (26.12.2020., 20:44)
12. https://www.ushistory.org/us/55d.asp (26.12.2020., 23:56)

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13. https://tavaana.org/en/case-studies/1960s-70s-american-feminist-movement-breaking-
down-barriers-women (27.12.2020., 14:56)
14. https://www.history.com/topics/gay-rights/history-of-gay-rights (27.12. 2020., 15:30)
15. https://info.umkc.edu/makinghistory/the-gay-liberation-movement/ (27.12.2020.,
15:55)

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