SOCIAL MOVEMENT -II

(For B.A. LL.B. III Semester)

Compiled by Sanjay Singh

There are a number of classifications in which various social movements may be categorized. At one stage

of the cycle, a movement may be categorized in one segment but after the completion of the cycle, it may

be put in any other category. There is also a possibility that at the same time due to its characteristic

feature a particular social movement may be put into two or more than two categories.

CLASSIFICATION OF SOCIAL MOVEMENTS

• PROACTIVE SOCIAL MOVEMENT ( AIMED AT PRODUCING CHANGE IN THE SYSTEM OR

TRANSFORM THE SYSTEM)

• REACTIVE ( RESISTANCE TO CHANGE, TRADITIONALISTIC )

 BLUMER( 1969)

• GENERAL SOCIAL MOVEMENT (gives general direction towards which they move in a

slow, yet a persisting fashion, unorganised, neither established leadership nor recognized

movement.
• SPECIFIC SOCIAL MOVEMENT (has clear-cut and well-defined objectives, which seeks to

reach the goal. It also develops a recognised and accepted leadership and definite goals,

characterised by collective consciousness, for example, various reform and revolutionary

movements)

• EXPRESSIVE SOCIAL MOVEMENT (do not seek to alter the institutions or its social order

or its objective character. Various religious and fashion movements come under this

category)

 RALPH H TURNER & LEWIS M KILLIAN ( 1957)

• VALUE ORIENTED (gain support primarily from the conviction for social change)

• POWER ORIENTED (are directed towards contestation of power and status and their

accumulation

• PARTICIPATION ORIENTED (seeks membership and gratification mainly through self-

expression)

 DAVID ABERLE( 1966)

• TRANSFORMATIVE

• REFORMATIVE

• REDEMPTIVE

• ALTERATIVE
 APPROACHES TO STUDY SOCIAL MOVEMENT

 ACCORDING TO T K OOMEN, APPROACHES MAY BE CLASSIFIED AS FOLLOWS:

• HISTORICAL ( LIFE-CYCLE APPROACH OR THE CAREER OF MOVEMENTS)

• PSYCHOLOGICAL( EXPRESSIONS OF INDIVIDUAL PARTICIPANTS NEEDS AND DISCONTENTS,

MOTIVE OF THE INDIVIDUALS)

• SOCIOLOGICAL( PRESUPPOSES A THEORY OF SOCIETY BECAUSE COLLECTIVE ACTION IS ONE OF

THE POSSIBLE RESPONSES TO SOCIETY)

SOCIAL MOVEMENTS AFTER 1960’S

 THE MOVEMENTS OF THAT PERIOD REVEALED THE DIFFICULTIES EXPERIENCED BY TWO

PRINCIPAL THEORETICAL MODELS OF INTERPRETATION OF SOCIAL CONFLICT IN EXPLAINING THE

REVIVAL OF COLLECTIVE ACTION:

1. THE MARXIST MODEL

2. THE STRUCTURAL-FUNCTIONALIST MODEL

REACTIONS TO THESE THEORETICAL MODELS

IN AMERICA, THE CRITIQUE OF STRUCTURAL- FUNCTIONALISM EMERGED WITHIN THREE MAIN

PERSPECTIVES:

1. COLLECTIVE BEHAVIOUR

2. RESOURCE MOBILIZATION

3. POLITICAL PROCESS

FROM DIFFERENT STARTING POINTS, EACH EXPLORED THE MECHANISMS WHICH TRANSLATE VARIOUS

TYPES OF STRUCTURAL TENSION INTO COLLECTIVE ACTION

IN EUROPE, HOWEVER, DISSATISFACTION WITH MARXISM LED TO THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE “NEW

SOCIAL MOVEMENTS” PERSPECTIVE, CONCERNED WITH TRANSFORMATIONS OF THE STRUCTURAL BASES

OF CONFLICT (THE WHY OF ACTION)

THEORETICAL PERSPECTIVES ON SOCIAL MOVEMENTS

 FOUR DOMINANT PERSPECTIVES EMERGED IN THE CONTEXT OF SOCIAL MOVEMENTS:

1. COLLECTIVE BEHAVIOUR

2. RESOURCE MOBILIZATION

3. POLITICAL PROCESS

4. NEW SOCIAL MOVEMENT

THEORY OF COLLECTIVE BEHAVIOUR

 NEIL SMELSER( 1962) CONSIDERED SOCIAL MOVEMENTS TO BE THE SIDE-EFFECTS OF OVER RAPID

SOCIAL TRANSFORMATION. AT TIMES OF RAPID LARGE SCALE TRANSFORMATIONS, THE

EMERGENCE OF COLLECTIVE BEHAVIOURS –RELIGIOUS CULTS, SECRET SOCIETIES, POLITICAL

SECTS, ECONOMIC UTOPIAS- HAD A DOUBLE MEANING: REFLECTING ON THE ONE HAND THE

INABILITY OF INSTITUTIONS AND SOCIAL CONTROL MECHANISM TO REPRODUCE SOCIAL

COHESION; AND ON THE OTHER ATTEMPTS BY SOCIETY TO REACT TO CRISIS SITUATIONS

THROUGH THE DEVELOPMENT OF SHARED BELIEFS, ON WHICH TO BASE NEW FOUNDATIONS FOR

COLLECTIVE SOLIDARITY

 JAMES COLEMAN( 1990) EMPHASIZES THAT SITAUATIONS OF FRUSTRATION, ROOTLESSNESS,

DEPRIVATION AND SOCIAL CRISIS AUTOMATICALLY PRODUCE REVOLTS REDUCES REVOLT TO AN

AGGLOMERATION OF INDIVIDUAL BEHAVIOURS. THERE HAVE BEEN NUMBER OF RESPONSES TO

THE THEORETICAL GAPS.

 THE FIRST HAS DEVELOPED BY SYMBOLIC INTERACTIONISTS THROUGH THE REVITALIZATION OF

COLLECTIVE BEHAVIOUR PERSPECTIVE, STATING THAT COLLECTIVE PHENOMENA ARE NOT

SIMPLY THE REFLECTION OF A SOCIAL CRISIS BUT RATHER AN ACTIVITY AIMED AT PRODUCING

NEW NORMS AND NEW SOLIDARITIES

 THE CHICAGO SCHOOL( Robert E Park, ERNEST W BURGESS, HERBART BLUMER) DIFFERENTIATED

THE CONCEPT OF COLLECTIVE BEHAVIOUR FROM COLLECTIVE PSYCHOLOGY. IT INDICATES THE

SHIFT OF ATTENTION FROM THE MOTIVATION OF INDIVIDUALS TO THEIR OBSERVABLE ACTIONS.

 COLLECTIVE BEHAVIOUR IS IN FACT DEFINED AS BEHAVIOUR CONCERNED WITH CHANGE, AND

SOCIAL MOVEMENTS AS BOTH AN INTEGRAL PART OF THE NORMAL FUNCTIONING OF SOCIETY

AND THE EXPRESSION OF A WIDER PROCESS OF TRANDFORMATION

  ROOTED IN SYMBOLIC INTERCATIONISM , THE CONTEMPORARY SCHOOL OF COLLECTIVE

BEHAVIOUR SEES PARTICULAR RELEVANCE IN THE MEANINGS ACTORS ATTRIBUTE TO SOCIAL

STRUCTURES; AND THE LESS STRUCTURED SITUATIONS FACED BY THE INDIVIDUAL, THE MORE

RELEVANT THIS ASPECT APPEARS TO BE.

 WHEN EXISTING SYSTEMS OF MEANING DO NOT CONSTITUTE A SUFFICIENT BASIS FOR SOCIAL

ACTION , NEW NORMS EMERGE, DEFINING THE EXISTING SITUATION AS UNJUST AND PROVIDING

A JUSTIFICATION FOR ACTION

 THE GENESIS OF SOCIAL MOVEMENTS IS IN THE COEXISTENCE OF CONTRASTING VALUE SYSTEMS

AND OF GROUPS IN CONFLICT WITH EACH OTHER. A SOCIAL MOVEMENT DEVELOPS WHEN A

FEELING ODF DISSATISFACTION SPREADS, AND INSUFFICIENTLY FLEXIBLE INSTITUTIONS ARE

UNABLE TO RESPOND

RESOURCE MOBILIZATION

 AMERICAN SOCIOLOGISTS INITIATED, IN THE 1970S, A CURRENT OF RESEARCH CENTRED ON THE

ANALYSIS OF PROCESSES BY WHICH THE RESOURCES NECESSARY FOR COLLECTIVE ACTION ARE

MOBILIZED

 THE BASIS QUESTIONS WHICH THIS APPROACH SEEK TO ANSWER TO RELATE TO THE EVALUATION

OF COSTS AND BENEFITS OF PARTICIPATION IN SOCIAL MOVEMENT ORGANIZATION

 WHILE VIEWING COLLECTIVE MOVEMENTS AS AGENTS OF CHANGE, ALONG THE LINE OF

COLLECTIVE BEHAVIOUR APPROACH, SCHOLARS OF RESOURCE MOBILIZATION CONSIDER THEM

ALSO TO BE PROTAGONISTS IN THE NORMAL WORKINGS OF THE SYSTEM

  THE DEFINITIONOF SOCIAL MOVEMENTS AS CONSCIOUS ACTORS MAKING RATIONAL CHOICES, IS

THEREFORE, AMONG THE MOST IMPORTANT INNOVATIONS OF THE RESOURCE MOBILIZATION

APPROACH

POLITICAL PROCESS

 A RATIONAL VIEW OF COLLECTIVE ACTION IS ALSO FOUND IN THE PERSPECTIVE OF POLITICAL

PROCESS THEORITS ALSO

 BUT THIS APPROACH PAYS MORE SYSTEMATIC ATTENTION TO THE POLITICAL AND

INSTITUTIONAL ENVIRONMENT IN WHICH SOCIAL MOVEMENT OPERATE

 THE CENTRAL FOCUS OF POLITICAL PROCESS THEORIESIS THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN

INSTITUTIONAL POLITICAL ACTORS AND PROTEST

 THE ‘POLITICAL OPPORTUNITY STRUCTURE’: PETER EISINGER ( 1973) USED THIS CONCEPT IN

COMPARISON OF THE RESULTS OF THE PROTEST IN DIFFERENT AMERICAN CITIES, FOCUSING ON

THE DEGREE OF OPENNESS ( OR CLOSEDNESS) OF THE LOCAL POLITICAL SYSTEM

 POLITICAL PROCESS APPROACH SUCCEDED IN SHIFTING ATTENTION TOWARDS INTERACTIONS

BETWEEN NEW AND TRADITIONAL ACTORS , AND BETWEEN LESS CONVENTIONAL FORMS OF

ACTION AND INSTITUTIONALIZED SYSTEMS OF INTEREST REPRESENTATION

NEW SOCIAL MOVEMENTS ( NSM)

 THE RESPONSE OF EUROPEAN SOCIAL SCIENCES TO THE RISE OF THE MOVEMENTS OF 1960’S AND

70’S WAS A CRITIQUE OF THE MARXIST MODELS OF INTERPRETATIONOF SOCIAL CONFLICT. SUCH

MODELS HAVE ENCOUNTERED A NUMBER OF PROBLEMS IN EXPLAINING RECENT

DEVELOPMENTS

 THE CENTRALITY OF LABOUR-CAPITAL CONFLICT, ACCESS TO HIGHER EDUCATION, ENTRY OF

WOMEN INTO THE LABOUR MARKET HAS CREATED NEW STRUCTURAL POSSIBILITIES FOR

CONFLICT AND NEW FRAME OF SOCIAL STRAIFICATION WHICH WERE NOT BASED ON CONTROL

OF ECONOMIC RESOURCES

 THE DETERMINISTIC ELEMENT OF THE MARXIST TRADITION WHICH WAS CONDITIONED BY THE

LEVEL OF DEVELOPMENT OF PRODUCTIVE FORCES AND BY THE DYNAMIC OF CLASS RELATIONS

WAS REJECTED

 AN INFLUENTIAL EXPONENT OF THIS APPROACH ALAIN TOURAINE, WAS THE MOST EXPLICIT IN

UPHOLDING THIS POSITION: ‘SOCIAL MOVEMENTS ARE NOT A MARGINAL REJECTION OF ORDER,

THEY ARE CENTRAL FORCES FIGHTING ONE AGAINST OTHER TO CONTROL THE PRODUCTION OF

THE SOCIETY BY ITSELF’

ACCORDING TO TOURAINE, IN THE PROGRAMMED SOCIETY , NEW SOCIAL CLASSES WILL REPLACE

CAPITALISTS AND THE WORKING CLASS AS THE CENTRAL ACTORS OF THE CONFLICT