WEEK 17: LESSON XII: CIVIL SOCIETY AND SOCIAL MOVEMENTS

TOPICS FOR DISCUSSION

A. MEANING OF CIVIL SOCIETY

WHAT DEFINES A CIVIL SOCIETY?

Think about the country that you live in - what does it take to make that country operate smoothly? The
government takes care of law and order and businesses offer goods and services in exchange for money, which
both help to keep a society moving. But what about other groups, like churches or the PTA, how do they
contribute to your society? These other groups actually play a very big part in how your country operates, and
they fall into a category known as civil society.

What Is Civil Society?

Initially, Civil Society used to be defined as a political community i.e., a society governed by the government, law
and authority. In contemporary times, however, Civil Society is distinguished from the state and political
community. It means nongovernmental, private, voluntarily organized associations or institutions of the people,
through which they try to secure their needs, desires and objectives.

Such associations and organizations work independently of the government. Civil Society even opposes the
wrong politics, decisions and projects of the government. In doing so the civil society depends upon
constitutional, peaceful and legal method of action.
The term Civil Society is used to collectively refer to the voluntary organizations’ corporate bodies, socially
active groups, and firms working in each society.
Civil Society is the set of intermediate associations which is neither the state nor the family, but which plays an
active and positive role in social, economic, and cultural activities.

According to Andrew Heywood, "Civil society refers to "a realm of associations, business, interest groups,
classes’ families and so on."

Civil Society includes all private organizations of the people. Press, professional associations of the people,
Human Right groups and organizations, voluntary social service organizations, and in fact, all NGOs working in
society.

In other words, Civil Society refers to the effective presence of non- governmental autonomous groups and
associations, business groups, interest groups, trade unions, voluntary social service organizations, in fact, all
non-governmental organizations, and groups working for securing public interests and welfare by their self-
efforts.

A civil society is comprised of groups or organizations working in the interest of the citizens but operating
outside of the governmental and for-profit sectors. Organizations and institutions that make up civil society
include labor unions, non-profit organizations, churches, and other service agencies that provide an important
service to society but generally ask for very little in return.

Civil society is sometimes referred to as the civil sector, a term that is used to differentiate it from other sectors
that comprise a functioning society. For example, the United States is made up of three sectors: the public
sector, which is the government and its branches; the private sector, which includes businesses and
corporations; and the civil sector, which includes the organizations that act in the public's interest but are not
motivated by profit or government.

Features of Civil Society:

a. Civil Society consists of non-governmental, voluntarily organized associations, organizations and
institutions of the people.
b. Civil Society is different from both the State and Society.
c. Civil Society is, however, neither opposed to state nor to society. On the contrary it works as a
supplementary to each of the two. It, however, works in an organized and autonomous way.
d. A healthy and efficient democratic system needs and integrates civil society, society and state.
e. Civil Society is constituted by the well-organized and active presence of a number of social, economic and
cultural associations and groups of the people.
 f. Both Liberalism and Marxism accept and advocate the role of Civil Society but each conceptualizes it in a
different way.

B. ROLES OF THE CIVIL SOCIETY

1. Civil Society as an instrument for securing rights and interests of the people:
Civil Society works for discharging several economic, social, cultural, moral and other responsibilities which fall in
the domain of private activities. It is not a part of government and yet it serves the purpose of securing the rights,
general welfare and development of all the people of the state.

2. Growing Strength and Role of Civil Society in our Country:

In our country the Civil Society has been becoming more and more aware, alert and active. The continuous
presence and successful working of Indian liberal democratic political system, the spread of literacy, the freedom
of mass media, the existence of a very broad based decentralized local self-government system, the presence of
a direct, homogeneous and democratic process of Political Socialization and people's full commitment to liberal
democracy have been together helping the Civil Society to become increasingly active and strong.

The Right to Information and the implementation of the Right to Information Act has given an additional strength
to the Civil Society. It now uses this Act for securing its objectives; It has now come to be a powerful actor in the
process of Indian democratic polity, economy and society. Anna Hazare's anti-corruption movement and the
movement for the creation of a strong Lokpal as the watchdog against corruption have shown the increasing
strength and role Civil Society in our country.

3. Need of Civil Society in Undemocratic States:

Civil Society is needed even in an authoritarian system because it can help the process of overthrow of the
authoritarian regime and replace it with a democratic system. The Civil Society, particularly the Bar Association
of Pakistan, played a key role in 2008 to compel General Parvez Musharraf to accept the demand for holding
democratic and free elections for constituting a democratic government capable of developing Pakistan as a
democratic state and society.

Since March 2008, Pakistan has been living with a democratic government and this development has been
helping the Civil Society in Pakistan to become better organized and more active and efficient in playing its role
in Pakistani society, economy and polity. It alone can help the Pakistani government in controlling the menace of
terrorism.

In February 2011 several states of Africa, particularly Tunisia, Egypt, Yemen and some others have experienced
the increasing strengths of their civil societies. Strong opposition to authoritarian and dictatorial regimes was
demonstrated by the civil society in Egypt.

The civil society of Tunisia successfully secured its objective of overthrowing the forces of authoritarianism in
their country and on 11th February 2011, the Egyptian Civil Society also successfully secured its objective of
eliminating the authoritarian regime of Hosni Mubarak in their country. It is expected that it will now ensure the
installation of a democratic regime in the country.

In fact, the civil society of each state has been trying to become more active and assertive in its society, polity
and economy. It is indeed a very healthy development which is destined to give more strength to the movements
for the restoration of democratic regimes in all authoritarian states of the world.

The current drive for the protection of Human Rights of all the people living in all parts of the globe and the
environment protection movements will get more and more support and efforts from the civil society of each
member of the international community.

C. MEANING OF SOCIAL MOVEMENTS

Social Movements
Concept of Social Movements: Social movements are a type of group action. 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.

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.”

Thus, social movement is the effort by an association to bring about a change in the society. A social movement
may also be directed to resist a change. Some movements are directed to modify certain aspects of the existing
social order whereas others may aim to change it completely. The former are called reform movements and the
latter are known as revolutionary movements.

Social movements may be of numerous kinds, such as religious movements, reform movements, or revolutionary
movements.
Social movements may be distinguished from institutions:

Firstly, Social institutions are relatively permanent and stable elements of a culture, whereas social movements
have an uncertain life. Marriage is a permanent social institution but the life of family planning movement is not
certain. Secondly, institutions hold institutional status. They are regarded as necessary and valuable aspects of
the culture. A social movement lacks institutional status. Some people are indifferent or even hostile to it.
Social movements may also be distinguished from association. Firstly, an association is an organized group,
while some social movements may be totally unorganized. Secondly, an association carries the customary
behavior of the society, while the social movement is concerned with some change in behavior norms.

D. FEATURES OF THE SOCIAL MOVEMENT:

a. It is an effort by a group
b. Its aim is to bring or resist a change in society
c. It may be organized or unorganized
d. It may be peaceful or violent
e. Its life is not certain. It may continue for a long period or it may die out soon.

Causes of Social Movements:

Social movements do not just happen. It is social unrest which gives rise to a social movement.

Factors Causing Social Unrest among Societies:

1. 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 untouchability, equality of opportunity for both the sexes, growth of secularism
are the examples of cultural drift.

2. 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.

3. 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.

The People More Susceptible to Social Movements:

a. Mobile and have little chance to become integrated into the life of the community
b. Not fully accepted and integrated into the group and are termed marginal
c. Isolated from the community
d. Threatened by economic insecurity and loss of social status
e. Free from family responsibilities or are estranged from their families
f. Maladjusted.

Thus, the people who are homeless and misfits of society become the supporters of mass movements. It may
also be noted that some people join the social movements for reasons unrelated to the movement’s objectives.
Some may join it first to fill their leisure Ume, or they may be personally attracted to some of its members.

The Sequence Pattern of Social Movements:

1. First, there is unrest and discontent in some part of the population. A small group of individuals becomes
conscious of the need for a change, voices its feelings and opinions, and sets out to influence the
opinions and emotions of others and prepare them for a reform.
2. Then, thereafter, there is a period of growth in following. A preliminary organization is affected and the
program is restated in more popular and appealing terms.
3. Then follows a more systematic effort to gain supporters. There is a formal campaign. Backed by the
enlarged following and increased propaganda the leaders eventually exert pressure on those in authority.
4. The program is either accepted or rejected, or partly accepted and partly rejected. If accepted, necessary
institutional changes are made; if rejected the movement either collapses or reorganizes for a new trial of
strength at a later date.
Thus, most completed movements pass through four stages of unrest, excitement, formalization and
institutionalization.

TYPES OF SOCIAL MOVEMENTS:

1. Migratory Movement:
Migratory movement takes place when a large number of people leave one country and settle at some other
place. The reason for mass migration may be discontent with present circumstances or the allurement of a bright
future. Mere migration of people does not mean migratory movement.

There is a migratory social- movement only when there is a common focus of discontent, a shared purpose or
hope for the future and a widely shared decision to move to a new location. The Zionist movement, the
movement of Jews to Israel was a migratory social movement. Similarly, the movement of people from East
Germany to West Germany can be called migratory social movement.

2. Expressive Movement:
When people are faced with a social system from which they cannot flee and which they feel powerless to
change, the result is an expressive social movement. In an expressive social movement, the individual comes to
terms with an unpleasant external reality by modifying his reactions to that reality. He somehow makes life
bearable. He tries to ignore the miserable present and fixes his gaze upon a glorious future. The Hippie
movement is an expressive social movement.

3. Utopian Movement:
A Utopian movement is one which seeks to create an ideal social system or a perfect society which can be found
only in man’s imagination and not in reality. There have been a number of Utopian socialist in the nineteenth
century such as Robert Owen and Charles Fourier. Such movements are based on a conception of man as
basically good, cooperative and altruistic. The Sarvodaya movement can be called a Utopian movement.

4. Reform Movement:
The reform movement is an attempt to modify some parts of the society without completely transforming it.
Reform movements can operate only in a democratic society where people have freedom to criticize the existing
institutions and may secure changes. The movements to abolish untouchability, dowry system, preserve wild life,
control population growth are reform movements. The total revolution movement led by J. P. Narayan was a
reform movement. The movement led by J. P. Narayan was a reform movement.

5. Revolutionary Movement:

The revolutionary movement seeks to overthrow the existing social system and replace it with a greatly different
one. The reform movement wants to correct some imperfections in the existing social system but a revolutionary
movement wants to root out the system itself. Revolutionary movement’s flourish where reform is blocked so that
revolution remains the people’s only alternative to their present misery. The communist movements in Soviet
Russia and China were revolutionary movements.

6. Resistance Movements:
The resistance movement is an effort to block a proposed change or to uproot a change already achieved. The
revolutionary movement arises because people are dissatisfied with the slow rate of social change whereas
resistance movement arises because people consider social change too fast. The D. M. K. movement against
Hindi can be termed resistance movement.

7. Revolutionary Movements:
As said above, revolutionary movements or revolutions seek to over throw the existing social system itself and
replace it with a greatly different one. The communist revolution in Soviet Russia overthrew the Czarist regime
and replaced it with the communist system of production and distribution of goods.

According to MacIver, “at a time when a political regime is overthrown by force in order to impose a new form of
government or a government which proclaims a new policy on some crucial issue, we may call it a revolution.”
He further says, ‘The assassination of a king or President or Premier would not constitute a revolution if it was
inspired by personal motives or were the act of a small group of desperados who could not hope to establish an
alternative government.

A revolution implies a deep schism within the state. It reveals a pathological condition of the individual which
shows by contrast the physical nature of the political authority.” Revolutions flourish where reform is blocked so
that revolution remains the only alternative left with the people. It is accompanied by violence, mass-scale
killings, use of underground methods and untold sufferings, yet the people resort to it because they see no hope.

Although an Oligarchy state ruled by an oligarch or a class is most prone to revolution, however, a democracy
also is not free from it. In an oligarchy, the people have no power, their rights are suppressed, there is coercion
and oppression which take the people to revolution. In a democracy, religious, social or economic issues may
cause revolution. The earlier writers like John of Salisbury and Mace Gold held that contract with God is superior
to contract with men and hence paramount over the demands of the state.

Religion is a big emotive issue which can flare up in a revolution. Among the social issues the most important is
the feeling by a particular group or race that it is not getting its just share in the political set up of the country and
that the only alternative is to achieve autonomy or to be separated from the state to which it is coercively bound.

If such a group or race occupies a determinate territory, such feeling acquires greater force. In the economic
sphere, the present division between capital and labor, the owners of the means of production and workers, has
fostered much bitterness and revolutionary feeling. The capitalists control the government and, therefore, the
only way of abolishing the capitalism is to get control over the government.

However, in contrast to oligarchies, the democracies are less prone to revolutions, in the words of MacIver, “A
truly democratic state is vastly more secure than an oligarchy against the threat of /evolution. Doubtless, the
general will is still most imperfect and undeveloped, but at least it is sufficiently real to give it a new character to
political authority. The formal basis of this authority is no more the division of master and servant but the unity of
agent and principal.”

MacIver also holds that when authority ceases to exist in its own right and becomes derivative, when it becomes
authority over action as distinct from authority over thought and opinion, when it becomes authority according to
prescribed norms instead of personal command, when it becomes reciprocal instead of unilateral and when it
learns to appreciate its relation to that inner control which all personality seeks for itself, the conditions for
revolution are abolished.

Role of Leadership:
Social movements in order to succeed must have effective organization and strong leader. The members or
supporters must be recruited in greater number, financial support must be procured and various tasks connected
with the movement must be properly allocated. There must also be proper coordination among personnel
assigned to more or less specific roles. In social movements the role of the leader is very important.

Many a movement fails due to lack of leadership. The leader is the spokesman of the group. He is the
coordinator and the important participator in the decisions as to the goals and methods. He is an example to
others. He enjoys great authority and power. He also enjoys great prestige. He excels others in personal
qualities. The leader has great responsibilities. He is expected to fulfill them.

He is expected to keep his word, to stick by the members and to uphold the group norms and values. If he does
not live up to the level expected, he suffers a loss of prestige and even of position in the group. He can be thrown
out of leadership. If he betrays the confidence reposed in him by the supporters, he may even be killed. Thus,
the leader plays a crucial role in a social movement. The success or failure of the movement depends largely on
him.

The Leadership Functions Are Related to the:

a. goal achievement
b. strengthening of the social movement

Functions of Leadership in Achieving Goals:

1. Make suggestions for action
2. Evaluate the movement towards the goal
3. Prevent activities irrelevant to the goal
4. Offer effective solutions for goal achievement

Functions in the Second Category Maintain and Strengthen the Movement.

1. Encourage the members
2. Release tension that builds up
3. Give everyone a chance to express himself
4. Stimulate coordinated action

The leader has the basic responsibility for seeing that the social movement achieves its goals. The followers
follow the leader because they recognize that he can lead them to the goal. The leader should select his
technique with great forethought. It should be “reality-oriented.” The leader should know that in case of failure of
the movement he may have to suffer rebuffs, loss of status and blame. He should, therefore, be very cautious in
assuming the leadership, and having assumed should be careful in handling it successfully. A leader can
channelize the mass enthusiasm into constructive social reforms or he can eventually destroy the social system.
(Source: www.sociologydiscussion.com › Social Movements)

Common features between Civil Society and Social movement

Social movements and civil society have structures like organizations a well identified leadership and ideology.
Civil society initiatives and social movements are social processes which undergo several stages of progression
from mobilization to intensive collective action.

Social movements and civil societies pledge for change in the established order of society. However, some of
them also work to resist change in society. They both occupy civil space in society. The creation of new
collective identity is an essential part of both social movements and civil society. They are based on identified
ideological choices.
They are initiated by enterprising people for the maximization of specific interests. Here both processes can be
taken over by the state. Social movements are broader categories or agencies. At times it even looks for radical
change by attacking the existing structure of the society. Civil society looks for gradual change within the existing
arrangement. Civil society at times asks political questions and political solutions through developmental
activities. (Source: http://www.sociologyguide.com/civil-society/common-features.php)