Social Movements

1
Social Movements

• A Different Kind of Politics?

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Examples

• THE STUDENT MOVEMENT
• THE WOMENS MOVEMENT
• THE PEACE MOVEMENT
• THE ECOLOGIST MOVEMENT
• THE ENVIRONMENTAL MOVEMENT
• ANTI-CAPITALIST MOVEMENT
• ANTI-POVERTY MOVEMENT

3
Structure of Lectures

• Defining the term social movement
• The basic/defining characteristics
• Theoretical approaches How do we explain rise
  and development?
• New social movements
• Areas of contention
• The impact of social movements

4
Additional Reading

• della Porta, Donatelli and Diani, Mario (1999)
  Social Movements An Introduction (Oxford
  Blackwell).
• Scott, Allan (1995) Ideology and the New Social
  Movements (London Routledge).
• Wilkinson, Paul (1971) Social Movement (London
  MacMillan).

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Introduction

• Rise in interest in social movements
• Common theme is that social movements are
  different
• See Byrne

6
Byrne 1997 9

• Alongside the normal avenues of political
  participation parties, protectional interest
  groups and even promotional pressure groups we
  have a new form of political action, social
  movements.

7
Byrne cont.

• These movements have radical aims which question
  some of the core ideals associated with advanced
  industrial democracies. The motives of their
  supporters, and the ways in which they pursue
  these aims, seem to be significantly different
  from those found in mainstream politics.

8
Wilkinson 1971

• extraordinary confusion and difficulty
• complete absence of consensus
• Central feature SMs committed to radical changes
  in society
• Built on Heberle 1951 emphasis on change in
  social and political order
• Associated with democracy

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DEFINING CHARACTERISTICS

• 1. ORGANISATION
• 2. IDEOLOGY/ AIMS
• 3. TACTICS NVDA (Greenpeace, Brent Spar)
• 4. MEMBERS

10
Byrne separation of

• political parties (formal political organisations
  that participate in elections)
• protectional interest groups (groups that protect
  interests of members e.g. tus and professional
  assocs)
• promotional interest groups (groups that campaign
  for a general cause e.g. anti-poverty groups or
  animal groups)
• social movements (which include many
  organisations or groups, such as the
  environmental movement)
• riots (spontaneous acts of civil disobedience)

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Byrne Ideology, Orgn Tactics

• Ideology Organisation Tactics
• Parties reformist formal conventional
• Protectional reformist formal conventional
• interest groups (excluding strikes)
• Promotional reformist formal/ usually un-
• interest groups informal conventional
• Riots radical informal/ unconventl
• none

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Byrne on social movements

• Ideology Orgn Tactics
• reformist Some formal Conventional
• and radical mostly informal un-
• conventional some emphasis
  on personal

13
Diani/ della Porta and Diani

• Looseness/informality of organisation system
  of interaction between organisations.
• A single organisation is not a social movement!!!!

14
Diani 1992 3

• A social movement is a network of informal
  interactions between a plurality of individuals,
  groups and/or organisations, engaged in a
  political or cultural conflict, on the basis of a
  shared collective identity.

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Questions explored

• Why do people become involved in social
  movements, and what kind of people become
  involved?
• What is the organisational form of social
  movements?
• What is the relationship between social movements
  and economic and social changes in modern
  society?
• What has been the impact of social movements?
• Explaining the rise of social movements.

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The Different Approaches

• Classical perspectives
• Resource mobilisation theory (SMOs)
• Political process/ political opportunity
  structure approaches (constraints
  opportunitites)
• European new social movement models
  (post-industrialism/post-materialism) (OFFE)

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Post-industrialism

• An active Keynesian state
• Welfare provision
• Expansion of service sector

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Old and new politics

• Old Economy based. Emphasis on economic
  affluence political order strong military
  defence
• New Identity based, and involves different set
  of demands. Greater democratisation equal
  rights for minorities the environment military
  disarmament.
• (See OFFE)

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The New Middle Class

• Knowledge
• Expertise
• Social movement members

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Post-Materialism

• Ronald Inglehart
• Culture-shift
• Hierarchy of needs argument

21
Old and New Social Movements

• Location
• Ideology and aims
• Organisation
• Medium of change
• (See Dalton and Keuchler)

22
Scott (1995 154)

• None of the imputed characteristics are confined
  to new
• social movements. An emphasis upon democracy and
• participation, for example, can be viewed as a
  function
• of the concern of social movements in general to
  open
• up social and political decision-making
  procedures
• Participatory demands and ideology belong to the
• ideological baggage of any movement, the workers
• movement just as much as NSMs

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The Impact of Social Movements

• Ability to mobilise
• Policy success
• Cultural change
• BUT VERY DIFFICULT TO ASSESS E.G. INTEGRATION OF
  DEMANDSSUCCESS OR FAILURE?

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SUMMARY

• A social movement is a form of collective action.
• Key characteristics include informal networks,
  shared identities, and the promotion of political
  or cultural change.
• Theories explore a range of questions, from why
  people join movements to the effects of political
  systems on the development of these movements.
• The meaning of new social movement is an
  example of analytical confusion in the
  literature.
• The impact of social movements is difficult to
  measure.