Social Action Movements

1. Introduction:

Social movements are any broad social alliances of people who are connected through their shared
interests in blocking or affecting ( moving) social change. Social movements do not have to be
formally organized. Multiple alliances may work separately for common causes and still be
considered as a social movement.

Social movements are conscious, concerted and sustained efforts by ordinary people to change some
aspects of their society by using extra-institutional means. They are more conscious and organized
than fads and fashions. They last longer than a single protest or riot. There is more to them than
formal organizations, although such organizations usually play a part. They are composed mainly of
ordinary people as opposed to army officers, politicians or economic elites. They need not be
explicitly political, but many are.

Social movements are one of the principal social forms through which colectivities give voice to their
grievance, concerns about rights, welfare, well-being of themselves and others by engaging in
various types of collective action, such as protesting in the streets, riots. Sm have long functioned as
an important vehicle for articulating and pressing a collectivity’s interests and claims.

Meaning and Definitions of Social Movements

Social movements can be viewed as collective enterprises to establish a new order of life. They have
their inception in the condition of unrest, and derive their motive power on one hand from
dissatisfaction with the current form of life, and on the other hand, from wishes and hopes for a new
scheme or system of living. —Herbert Blumer

Mass movements mobilize people who are alienated from the going system, who do not believe in
the legitimacy of the established order, and who therefore are ready to engage in efforts to destroy
it. The greatest number of people available to mass movement will be found in those sections of
society that have the fewest ties to the social order. —William Kornhauser

Social movements are those organized efforts, on the part of excluded groups, to promote or resist
changes in the structure of society that involve recourse to non-institutional forms of political
participation.

—Doug McAdam

Rather than seeing social movements as expressions of extremism, violence, and depri-vation, they
are better defined as collective challenges, based on common purposes and special solidarities, in
sustained interaction with elites, opponents, and authorities. —Sidney Tarrow
A movement is not merely a perpetuated crowd, since a crowd does not possess organizational and
motivational mechanisms capable of sustaining membership through periods of inaction and waiting.
Furthermore, crowd mechanisms cannot be used to achieve communication and coordination of
activity over a wide area, such as a nation or continent.

A social movement is a collectivity or a collective enterprise. The individual member experiences a

sense of membership in an alliance of people who share his dissatisfaction with the present state of
affairs and his vision of a better order. —Encyclopedia Britannica

Social movements may be defined as informal networks, based on shared beliefs and solidarity,
which mobilize about conflictual issues, trough the frequent use of various forms of protest – della
Porta & Diani 1996:14–15).

In a number of pieces, Mario Diani (1992a; 2003a; 2004a; Diani and Bison 2004) has maintained that
social movements are a distinct social process, consisting of the mechanisms through which actors
engaged in collective action:

· Are involved in conflictual relations with clearly identified opponents;

· Are linked by dense informal networks;

· Share a distinct collective identity.

Social movement is a collective, organized, sustained and noninstitutional challenge to authorities,

powerholders, or cultural beliefs and practices.

Characteristic of social Action movements

1. Collective Action

Social movement undoubtedly involves collective action. However, this collective action, takes the
form of a movement only when it is sustained for a long time. This collective action need not be
formally organised. It could be an informal attempt also. But it should be able to create an interest
and awakening in relatively large number of people.
 2. Oriented towards Social Change

A Social movement is generally oriented towards bringing about social change. This change could
either be partial or total. Though the movement is aimed at bringing about a change in the values,
norms, ideologies of the existing system, efforts are also made by some other forces to resist the
changes and to maintain the status quo.

3. Ideology behind the Movement

An important component of social movement that distinguishes it from the general category of
collective mobilisation is the presence of an ideology. Example. A student strike involves collective
mobilisation and is oriented towards change. But in the absence of an ideology a student strike
becomes an isolated event and not a movement. On the contrary, if the strike is committed to an
ideology, it may last for longer period and assume the form of a movement.

4. Organisational Frame Work

As Paul Wilkinson has pointed out that a social movement requires a minimum of organizational
framework to achieve success or at least to maintain the tempo of the movement. To make the
distinction clear between the leaders and followers, to make clear the purposes of the movement, to
persuade people to take part in it or to support it, to adopt different techniques to achieve the goals
— a social movement must have some amount of organisational framework.

2. The Techniques and Results

A social movement may adopt its own technique or method to achieve its goal. There is no certainty
regarding it. It may follow peaceful or conflicting, violent or non-violent, compulsive or persuasive,
democratic or undemocratic means or methods to reach its goal.

The same thing is true of the results. It may become successful or it may fail; it may become partial
success or at least it may create a general ‘awakening’ in the public regarding an issue. The result of a
movement has a close bearing on-the ideology and the organisational framework.

Features of Social Movements

Some of the features of social movements are as follows:

 i. The sense of belonging and group consciousness is very important for a
social movement. Such consciousness can be brought about through active
participation of the group members.

ii. Social movements lead to the creation of an entirely new social, economic,
and political order.

iii. Most of the social movements tend to develop a new set of ideas, which
become obligatory for the members of the group to adopt and follow.

iv. It is obvious that the social movements involve collective action rather than
indi-vidual action.

v. Social movements may be organized or unorganized.

vi. Social movements may be peaceful in nature or they may also turn violent.

vii. The aim of a social movement is to bring about or resist social change in the
society.

viii. The life of the social movement is not certain. This is because it may
continue for a long period or it may die out soon.

Cause of Social Movements

According to Vidya Bhushan Sachdeva (p. 285), social movements do not just happen. It is social
unrest which gives rise to a social movement.
The social unrest may be caused by the following factors

Cultural Drifts

The society undergoes constant changes. The values and behavior are changing all the time in
civilized societies. In the course of cultural drift, most people develop new ideas. To get these ideas
operative in the society they organize a movement.

The development of a democratic society, the emancipation of women, the spread of mass
education, the removal of untouchability, the equality of opportunity for both the sexes, and the
growth of secularism are some examples of cultural drift.

Social Disorganization

A changing society is, to some extent, disorganized because changes in different parts of the society
do not take place simultaneously. One part changes more rapidly than the other, thereby producing
numerous lags. Industrialization has brought about urbanization which in turn has caused numerous
social problems.

Social disorganization brings confusion and uncertainty, because the old traditions no longer form a
dependable guide to behavior, and individuals become rootless. They feel isolated from society. A
feeling develops that the community leaders are indifferent to their needs. Individuals feel insecure,
confused, and frustrated. Confusion and frustration lead to social movements.

iii. Social Injustice

When a group of people feel that injustice was done to them, 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.
The wealthy class may feel a sense of injustice when faced with urban property ceiling law— 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 occur whenever such kind of
social situation arises. In a stable and well-integrated society, the chances for social movements are
very rare.

It is understood that people living in such a society are contented and satisfied. In a disorganized and
continuously changing society, social movements occur more frequently, as most people are
dissatisfied with the existing conditions. Lack of social justice also makes people dissatisfied and
paves the way for social movements. Modern society is more afflicted with social movements than
the earlier societies.

Stage 1: Emergence

The perception that all is not well triggers off social movements. Widespread dissatisfaction becomes
the basis of other movements. Sometimes, a small vanguard (forerunner/ lead) group increases
public awareness on some issues and makes it a prominent public issue.

Stage 2: Coalescence (Blending, Union)

Once a social issue has emerged as a movement, it must define itself and develop a strategy for
“going public”. The leaders must determine policies and tactics, and there should be a drive to recruit
new members. At this stage, collective actions such as demonstrations or rallies must be organized to
attract public and media attention. Alliances with other organizations should be formed in order to
gain necessary resources.
Stage 3: Bureaucratization

A social movement must take on bureaucratic traits in order to become a political force. As it
becomes established, the movement starts depending on the talents and charisma of its leaders and
relies more on a capable staff.

If movements do not become established in this manner, they may face the risk of dissolution.
Sometimes, bureaucratization can also hinder a social movement, as leaders may become too
involved in building up the organization and not concentrate on encouraging the members towards
change.

Stage 4: Decline

Over a period of time, social movements lose their importance and influence. Sometimes, if the
goals of the movement are fulfilled, decline simply indicates success. Organizational factors such as
poor leadership, loss of interest among members, or repressive authority may also lead to the
demise of a movement.

Sometimes, a social movement declines because the established power structure diverts leaders
from their goals through different means such as offers of money, prestige, and other rewards.
Cooptation or “selling out” is common, and organizational leaders use their position to enrich
themselves. Another cause for the decline of a social movement is repression.
Participants may be threatened by officials, who discourage new recruits, and even by imprisoned
leaders in order to crush a social movement. Sometimes, a social movement can collapse because it
may opt for “going mainstream”. Such movements may become an accepted part of system, and no
longer challenge the authorities or the status quo.

Types of Social Movements

The classification of social movements is not easy as a movement may have a mixed nature or may
change completely at different stages during its career. However, the social movements are classified
into millenarian, migratory, Utopian, expressive, reformist, rebellion, revolutionary, and resistance.

A detailed discussion on all these social movements is given as follows:

Expressive Movement
Expressive movements arise when people are discontented and cannot easily change the unpleasant
situations (i.e., they feel powerless and cannot flee from the social system) with the result that the
individual comes to terms with that unpleasant reality and changes his own reactions in order to
make his life bearable. One of the best examples of expressive movement is Hippie Movement.

Reformist Movement

A reform movement can be described as a mass movement that seeks to change only one specific
aspect of a society .The reform movement is an attempt to modify some parts of the society without
completely changing the whole social system.

Most of the reform movements are possible in democratic countries as people have an opportunity
to express their opinions and criticize the existing social institutions and can bring about some
changes in them. The movement to abolish untouchability and dowry system, and the movement to
preserve wildlife are all examples of the reform movements.
Revolutionary Movement
The Revolutionary Movement aims at overthrowing the existing social system and replacing it with a
new one. Revolutionary movements are quite opposite to the reform movements. Revolutionists
generally believe that reform is not possible under the existing social system.

Usually, revolutionary movements arise when people have no other alternative to reform the social
system other than changing it as a whole. Revolution serves as an alternative to the individuals to
come out of their existing misery. The communist revolution in Russia and China are the examples of
revolutionary movements.

Resistance Movement

A resistance movement can be described as a movement that arises not only for the purpose of
instituting change, but also to block change or to eliminate a previously instituted change.
Revolutionary movements arise as people are dissatisfied and feel that the pace of social change is
very slow, whereas resistance movements occur when people consider that the change is rapid. The
movement against Hindi of Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam is a typical example of resistance
movement.

Revivalist Movement

A revivalist movement seeks to take the system back to its original pristine purity. Most of the
movements try to involve people in the political process and bring about political awareness among
the people. Some movements aim at bringing about a change in the lives of certain sections of
society, such as the downtrodden as well as women.