Wait a second!
More handpicked essays just for you.
More handpicked essays just for you.
New social movement theory essay
How does the study of sociology help in understanding society
New social movement theory essay
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
Recommended: New social movement theory essay
RQ: Why do social movements emerge and what is their impact on political systems?
The aim of this review essay is to compare and contrast the main schools of thought specialised in social movements, the comparative case studies chosen and the relevant literature. The time frame in which my final essay will be embedded goes from 1960 onwards, with social movements becoming a permanent component of western democracies. With regard to the theoretical frame, my starting point is the differentiation of two main approaches, the American and the European, regarding literature from authors like Della Porta and Mario Diani. Then I will focus on the four currently dominant perspectives and in the way they approach the reason for social movements to emerge, also in what their impact is on political systems. Finally, in an attempt to present empirical data to support the theory, I will use two case studies regarding current social movements and their impact on political systems.
Like with other sociological phenomenon there is not a neat answer to what a social movement is, but scholars like Blumer have managed to create definitions that enable future scientific research. As an example as I consider it to have many similarities with what, before reading more deeply about the topic, would be my description of a social movement:
Social movements can be viewed as collective enterprises seeking to establish a new order of life. They have their inception in a 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 system of living. The career of a social movement depicts the emergence of a new order of life.
But even with this def...
... middle of paper ...
...ial Movements Reader: Cases and Concepts. Malden, MA: Blackwell Pub., 2003. 1-3. Print.
Lyman, Stanford M. "Collective Protest: A Critique of Resource-Mobilization Theory." Social Movements: Critiques, Concepts, Case-studies. Houndmills, Basingstoke: Macmillan, 1995. 137-68. Print.
Mejias, Jorge. "Social Networks and the Spanish 15-M Movement." Mapping Ignorance. N.p., 18 June 2013. Web. 09 Mar. 2014.
Porta, Donatella Della, and Mario Diani. "The Study of Social Movements." Social Movements: An Introduction. Malden, MA: Blackwell, 2006. 1-21. Print.
Raman, Omar H. "KONY2012: The Rise and Fall of an Online Social Movement." OMAR H. RAHMAN Multi-platform Journalist. N.p., n.d. Web. 09 Mar. 2014.
Tarrow, Sidney G. "From Contention to Social Movements." Power in Movement: Social Movements and Contentious Politics. Second ed. Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 1998. 71-123. Print.
Existing within the movement must be a leader or leaders, as well as a large number of committed followers or members. Additionally, social movements have “organizations or coalitions” working as a guiding backbone for collectivity and regulation (Stewart,
"The Role of Civil Disobedience in Democracy." Civil Liberties Monitoring Project. Web. 01 Oct. 2011. .
Polletta, Francesca and James Jasper. “Collective Identity and Social Movements.” Annual Review of Sociology 27.1 (2001): 283–305. Print.
Filene wrote “An Obituary for “The Progressive Movement”” in direct response to Hofstadter and other historians that there was never a Progressive ‘Movement.’ He argues that most historian are too caught up in defining Progressivism that they do not consider what it means for something to be a movement. He states that a social movement is a group acting to cause change or to stop change. Filene argues that there was never a movement, that society and progressives were too fractured to act as one group.
Petrou, Micheal. “Inside A Revolution.” Maclean’s 127.9 (2014): 20. MAS Ultra - School Edition. Web. 5 Mar. 2014
The sociologist Emile Durkeim saw social movements as the result of “anomie”, a societal pathology or social disorganization, described as the “madding crowd”. But in his analysis, Sydney Tarrow approached the concept of successful social movements as “collective challenges, based on common purposes and social solidarities, in sustained interaction with elites, opponents, and authorities”. The question addressed in this essay is not to draw an analysis of what is a social movement, but rather to explain what make these groups of action reach favourable outcomes of their specific political or social issues in a democratic society. For that purpose, feminist movements from the 20th century up to now in France are perfect examples of growing social
As this paper aims at outlining, delineating and comparing pre-industrial and industrial protests and social movements Charles Tilly`s theory on repertoire of contention is one of the most applicable and effective for such an objective. Charles Tilly`s theory serves as an excellent delineation of the contrast between pre-industrial and industrial manners of people acting together when in the pursuit of shared interests. In the 1870s people were aware of how to express their grievance such as seizing shipments of grain, attack tax gatherers, and take revenge on wrongdoers and people who had violated community norms. However what they were not familiar yet with were acts such as mass demonstrations, urban insurrections and strikes (Tarrow, 1998). By observing the repertoire of contention Tilly managed not only to track the rise of the national social movement, but also to analyze and explain it. Utilizing the repertoire of contention in order to compare and understand the behaviour of people with regards to expressing their grievances within the aforementioned two periods.
The following essay will attempt to evaluate the approach taken by Dworkin and Habermas on their views of civil disobedience. The two main pieces of literature referred to will be Dworkin?s paper on 'Civil Disobedience and Nuclear Protest?' and Habermas's paper on 'Civil Disobedience: Litmus Test for the Democratic Constitutional State.' An outline of both Dworkin's and Habermas's approach will be given , further discussion will then focus on a reflective evaluation of these approaches. Firstly though, it is worth commenting on civil disobedience in a more general context. Most would agree that civil disobedience is a 'vital and protected form of political communication in modern constitutional democracies' and further the 'civil disobedience has a legitimate if informal place in the political culture of the community.' Civil disobedience can basically be broken down into two methods, either intentionally violating the law and thus incurring arrest (persuasive), or using the power of the masses to make prosecution too costly to pursue (non persuasive).
Routledge, P. "Resisting and reshaping destructive development: social movements and globalising networks." Geographies of Global Change (2002): 310-327.
The authors state, “…spontaneous and organized political response always carries within it the capability of remaking and retaking public space and the public
The literature on social studies enjoys a wide range of social movement’s definitions (Christiansen 2009). This diversity of such a definition is due to the fact that theorists tend to define the term of a social movement depending on their particular theoretical formulation (Diani 1992). Therefore, this section will first consider definitions proposed by group of scholars that represent four major trends in social movements analysis. These trends are as follow, the ‘Collective Behavior Perspective’ (Turner and Killian), the ‘Resource Mobilization Theory’ (RMT) (ZaId and McCarthy); the ‘Political Process Perspective (Tilly); and the ‘New Social Movements Approach’ (NSMs) (Touraine, Melucci). Then, a definition by Della Porta and Diani is selected as this definition has been centered on the most important characteristics of the social movements and oft-cited by researchers.
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.
Researchers classify social movements according to the type of change they seek (Aberle, 1966, Cameron, 1966, Blumer, 1969, as cited in Macionis, 2007). According to John Macionis, a social movement is when people commonly band together to create an organized activity that encourages or discourages social change (Macionis, 2008). In the case of this radical society, Hippies were typically ...
Walgrave, Rens Vliegenthart & Stefaan. The Interdependency of Mass Media and Social Movements. Amsterdam : University of Amsterdam .
Collective Action is a unique concept, as despite it being an integral part of society, it is contradictory in it’s function with small groups often more successful then large ones in obtaining their objectives. Collective action is the rational calculus of the masses coming together in order to achieve a common goal of providing a non-excludable and non-rivalrous public good, where the benefits of such a movement