Social Movements

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Recommended: Differences in functionalism and symbolic interactionism

Social Movements Nazis, National Organization for Women, National Association for the Advancement of Colored people and even the Ku Klux Klan, may not seem to have much in common; yet they all share a common goal or interest. All these organizations are a part of different social movement or large groups of people who are organized to resist or promote social change. Why do people join social groups? What exactly draws all kinds of different individuals into forming a unity or a common alliance based upon a single idea? How many different types of social movements are there? To answer these questions an in-depth look is required either via the symbolic interactionalist viewpoint or the functionalist so that we may better understand the whole rationality of social movements. Let's first look at why people join social movements. Social movements start, as a seed of deeply felt discontent from the idea that some faction in society is no longer tolerable. A renowned sociologist named William Kornhauser said that social movements fill a certain void by offering people a sense of belonging. In some cases it is merely a persons overwhelming urge or desire to right the wrongs in society, that drives them to "take matters into their own hands." An example would be the homeless; these individuals are the most isolated of all people yet feel no desirable urge to even want to join anything except food lines. Another reason or explanation why people join social movements is due to the deprivation theory. The deprivation theory states that people who are deprived of things deemed valuable in society join social movements with the hope of redressing their grievances. There is also the flip side to this theory; relative depriv... ... middle of paper ... ...focus their energies on running the organization. The media plays a major role in controlling people's ideas or decision-making. To do this they use many different propaganda techniques or "tricks of the trade." My personal favorite technique would have to be the "bandwagon" approach. The idea that everybody is doing it so therefore it must be right. By showing you a diverse group of individuals all doing or enjoying the same thing it gives you the false hood that their product or service is the "people's choice." These companies play on the emotions of people by allowing them to see that they won't be alone, everybody is doing it so why shouldn't you, In a way it is a form of peer pressure. Numerous people may only jump on the "band wagon" because their friends or family are doing it and they don't want to be the only ones left on the outside looking in.

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