Module Detail and its Structure

Subject Name Sociology

Paper Name Social Movement

Module Name/Title Introduction to Issues and Concepts of Social Movements

Module Id SM 01
Pre-requisites Some Knowledge of Social Movement

Objectives The central objectives of this module are to introduce the students with the dynamics
of social movements in the society.

Keywords Social Movement, Ideology, Radical, Reformative, Resource, Identity

Development Team

Role in Content Name Affiliation

Development

Principal Investigator Prof. Sujata Patel Dept. of Sociology,

University of Hyderabad

Paper Coordinator Prof. Biswajit Ghosh Professor of Sociology, The University of Burdwan,
Burdwan 713104, Email: [email protected]
Ph. M +91 9002769014
Content Writer Prof. Debal Singha Roy Professor, School of Social Sciences, IGNOU, New
Delhi. Email: <[email protected]>

Content Reviewer (CR) & Prof. Biswajit Ghosh Professor of Sociology, The University of Burdwan,
Language Editor (LE) Burdwan, 713104
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Contents

1. Introduction………………………………………………………………………….....3
2. Objective………...……………………………………………………………….........3
3. Learning Outcome……………………………………………………………………...3
4. Locating Social Movement with broad Social Processes………………………..........3
5. Conceptualizing Social Movements…………………………………………………...3
6. Vital Elements of Social Movements………………………………………………….4
7. Origin of Social Movements…………………………………………………………..4
8. Transformation of Social Movements…………………………………………………5
Self-Check Exercise 1…………………………………………………………………6
9. Perspectives on Social Movements…………………………………………………...6
9.1. Resource Mobilization Perspective………………………………………………6
9.2. Identity Perspectives……………………………………………………………...7
9.3. Fluidity of identities………………………………………………………………8
10. Social Movements in Contemporary Society…………………………………………9
Self-Check Exercise 2……………………………………………………………………10
11. Summary…………………………………………………………………………….11

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1. Introduction
Social movement is a matter of every day discourse among the researchers and teachers, planners and politicians,
administrators and law enforcing machineries, social activists and common people alike. It is interchangeably
used with varieties of collective actions. However in social science social movement carries specific connotation
as it has distinctive foundation and has got specific understanding. As against this backdrop the central aim of
this module is to locate social movements within broad social processes, clarify its meaning conceptually,
describe its basic features and origins, explain basic perspectives of social movement analysis and spell out some
recent directions of social movements in the contemporary world.
2. Objective
The central objectives of this module are to introduce the students with the dynamics of social movements in the
society. Hence students are acquainted with the concepts vital elements, and origin of social movements at the
very outset. The students are also acquainted with the facets of transformation of social movements and the
various perspectives to study social movements. The emerging facets of social movement in the contemporary
society are also discussed in the module

3. Learning Outcome

After studying this module the students will be able to locate social movements within the broad social and
political processes of the society. They will be able to describe social movements in terms of their vital elements,
the reasons of their manifestations and the process of their transformation in the society. Over the years several
sophisticated theoretical perspectives have emerged in explaining social movements. Hence students would be
able to explain classical, resource mobilisation and the identity perspectives of social movements very clearly.
They will also be able to develop critic of these perspectives in view of new facets of social movements as have
emerged in the contemporary world.

4. Locating Social movements within broad social processes

Social movements are widely considered to be exceptional phenomena in society as they challenge many of the
established institutional arrangements and practices in the society and propagate for changes in the established
order. They are also considered to be short lived and episodic. However, social movements have remained
integral parts of social progression, these are manifested in diverse shape and are always there to preach for
justice, equality and fraternity in one form or the other. Hence Touraine (1981) has observed that ‘social
movements lie permanently at the heart of the social life. They are not a marginal rejection of order; they are the
central forces fighting one against the other to control the production of society by itself and the action of classes
for the shaping of historicity’ (Touraine 1981: 29). They are in fact a sign and bring messages for change as
prophets of the present (Melucci 1996: 9).
There are large varieties of collective initiatives, actions and interventions those are often described as social
movements. Usually the terms like collective mobilization, collective action, protest and that of the social
movement itself belong to everyday language and derive meaning from their diverse uses in specific contexts.
Again what all movements share in common, many of them are shared by others. Even within the same
movement we find diversity, and all movements change over time (Crossley 2002: 2). Hence there is a need to
conceptualise social movements first.

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5. Conceptualizing Social Movements

Social movements have broadly been perceived as ‘organised’ or ‘collective effort’ to bring about changes in the
thought, beliefs, values, attitudes, relationships and major institutions in society or to resist any change in the
above societal arrangements. Blumer (1951 defines social movements as ‘collective enterprises to establish a
new social order of life’. To Toch (1965) social movement is an ‘effort by a large number of people to solve
collectively a problem they feel they have in common’. According to Haberle (1972), it is ‘a collective attempt
to bring about a change in certain social institutions or to create entirely a new order’. J.R. Gusfield (1972)
perceives a social movement as a socially shared demand for change in some aspect of the social order’. To
Wilson (1973), social movements may either be for a change or resistance to change. Thus, to him, a social
movement is an organised endeavour to bring about or to resist large-scale changes in the social order by non-
institutionalized means.

6. Vital Elements of Social Movements

Ideology, collective mobilisation, organization, leadership, interest articulation and identity formation are
considered to be vital elements of social movements and are closely interrelated. Ideology provides a broad
frame of action and collective mobilisation in the social movement. It also provides legitimacy to the process of
interest articulation and organized collective action. There are different ways of formulating ideology in a social
movement. However, in the context of new social movements, role of ideology has been a subject of close
scrutiny.
Collective mobilization is again a central element of a social movement. The nature and direction of a social
movement is widely shaped by the nature of collective mobilisation. Collective mobilisation may be radical,
non-institutionalized, spontaneous, large scale or it may be non-violent, institutionalized, sporadic, restricted. It
may also undergo a process of transformation from radical to reformative or institutionalized. Routinisation of
charisma is an illustration to this point.
Leadership and organization are closely linked to the process of collective mobilisation. A leader can be
charismatic figure or a democratically elected one. The organization provides an identified structure to social
movements.
Interest articulation is an important aspect of social movement that is usually done by the leadership and the
organization. They are not only to articulate the interests and the concerns of the movement participants but also
to unite members based on these achievable interests.
Social movements form solidarity among the movement participants and bring new meaning for it by
constructing a common identity. The common identity may be diverted against the others, that is the movement
opponents, and is supported by the participants, and the sympathizers.

7. Origin of Social Movements

There are several schools of thoughts on the origin of social movements. The classical model of thought is
represented by the versions of mass society, collective behaviour, status inconsistency, raising expectations, and
relative deprivation. In general it is argued that there are sequences leading to the manifestation of social
movements. These sequences move from structural weakness due to the strain in society leading to
psychological disturbances and ultimately to the manifestations of social movements. There are, however variety
of reasons behind the structural strain. The mass society theorist, like Kornhauser (1959), is of the view that due
to the lack of an intermediate structure people in the mass society are not integrated in the society. This leads to
alienation, tension and ultimately social protest. The proponents of the theory of status inconsistency, like Broom
(1959) and Lenski (1954), are of the view that the objective discrepancy between persons ranking and status
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generate subjective tensions in the society leading to cognitive dissonance, discontent and protest. The Theory of
Collective Behaviour as propagated by Smelser, Lang and Lang, Turner and Killian suggests that any severe
structural strain can help manifest social movements. To Smelser, the more and severe the strain, the more
likelihood of social movements to occur.
Thus, the classical model has observed social movements as response to structural strain, it is concerned with the
psychological effect that stain has on individual and that collective participation in the movement is guided by
urgent psychological pressure and not by the aim to change the political structure (McAdam 1996: 135-143)
The Theory of Relative Deprivation has got a place of prominence in the social movement study. In the Marxian
analysis economic deprivation has been identified to be the prime cause of social conflict among the two
antagonistic classes i.e. the ‘haves’ and the ‘have nots’. To Aberle (1966) deprivation has also non-material base,
e.g. status, behaviour, worth etc. Relative deprivation, i.e., the discrepancy between legitimate expectations and
the reality is the central point of social movement. Gurr (1970) has perceived deprivation as a gap between
expectations and perceived capabilities involving three generalised sets of values: economic conditions, political
power and social status.
In The Theory of Cultural Revitalization, Wallace (1956) is of the view that social movements are manifested out
a deliberate, organised and conscious action of the member of the society to construct a more satisfying culture
for themselves. To him, the revitalization movements undergo four phase of progression: from cultural stability
to increased individual stress to cultural distortion and disillusionment to cultural revitalization.
It is to mention here that no element of strain and deprivation alone can produce a movement unless there is a
subjective perception about this objective condition of deprivation. Ideology, organization and leadership play
crucial role towards the manifestation and sustenance of social movements (For Further Details See, Rao 1984;
SinghaRoy 2006).

8. Transformation of Social Movements

Every social movement is having a life history and undergoes a process of transformation. The movement may
emerge to be routinised accompanying a decline in support for a movement (Clark, Grayson & Grayson 1975:
19). Such process of transformation of the movement is indeed contextual and cultures, polity and economy
specific. Zald studied transformation of social movements in the comparative frame. He finds that the process of
transformation of social movements in the United States and Western Europe has been oriented to be reformist
while in the Eastern Europe social movement transformed itself into regime challenges (Zald 1988: 19-24). It is
observed in the developed societies that in the absence of a shared culture of popular opposition to the authorities
and powerful groups, in the absence of a grass-roots organisation structure, lack of space for unconventional
tactics and likely co-option of the dissidents and critics by the state, collective mobilization are not sustained for
a larger time (Obserchall 1978; Gamson 1975; Walsh 1978). Here most of the social movements are
institutionalized in nature.
A change in the components of ideology, organisation, leadership and orientation towards change of social
movements brings tremendous change in the character of the social movements. Thus, social movements may
also be categorized as "revolutionary movement" and "quasi-movement" based on the nature and direction of
change initiated by the process of collective mobilization. To Mukherjee (1987), when a collective mobilization
aims at effecting wide ranging and far reaching changes of a system, it may be called a revolutionary movement,
and when it aims changes within a system only, it may be called a quasi-movement. Sociologists observing the
life histories of various social movements point out that sooner or later a social movement becomes subject to
the process of routinisation. Often a protest movement starts off with a radial ideology, but develops its own
establishment in turn. To Rao (1985) when a movement with a defined ideology becomes well established
political party, it ceases to be a movement (1985: 251).
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In the developing parts of the world there have been numerous episodes of proliferation of radical or non
institutionalized social movements and subsequently a process of their institutionalization. Many ‘radical
movement’, those resorted to non-institutionalized large-scale collective mobilization initiated and guided by
radical ideology for rapid structural change in the society, have got transformed into ‘reformative movement’
taking recourse to institutionalized mass mobilization initiated by recognized bodies for a gradual change in the
selected institutional arrangement of society guided by reformative/modified ideology of social change. While
the lifespan of radical movement, especially its extensive period of action and collective mobilization is short
lived, the life span of institutionalized social movements is longer; it tries to get old institutions, norms, values
and customs selectively redefined in a new context (SinghaRoy 1992: 27). The process of transformation of
social movements from ‘radical’ to ‘reformative’ and the vice-versa directly affects not only the processes of
formation and rejuvenation of new collective identity, but also articulation of new areas of collective action. In
fast transitional societies collective mobilization has emerged as integral part of social progression. Here
collective mobilization and institutionalization are not contradictory but complementary to each other that paves
the way for persistent and renewed efforts towards a just society. T. K. Oommen (1994) points out that the
processes of mobilization and institutionalization do co-exist, and that ‘institutionalization provides new
possibilities of mobilization’ and that mobilization is not displaced by institutionalization but goes hand-in-hand
to a large extent and often the later process accentuates the former’ (Oommen 1994: 251-53).

Self-Check Exercise 1

Q 1. What is meant by social movements?

Social movements are perceived as ‘organised’ or ‘collective effort’ to bring about changes in the thought,
beliefs, values, attitudes, relationships and major institutions in society or to resist any change in the above
societal arrangements.

Q 2. What are the crucial elements of a social movement?

Ideology, collective mobilisation, organization, leadership, interest articulation and identity formation are
considered to be vital elements of social movements.

9. Perspectives on Social Movements

In social science, a vast body of literature has emerged in the area of social movements with distinctive
intellectual perspectives and theoretical traditions. One is to bear in mind that social movements are
conceptualized in a given context of space and time. For decades the area of social movements’ studies was
relegated to the margin by the dominant Functionalist and Marxist schools of thoughts. The Marxist social
scientists have reduced all varieties of collective mobilizations and social movements to class conflicts as to
them social classes are the sole agents of social transformation. The functionalist on the other hand considered
social movements as the potential agency of disruptions to the social order. For example, in America, Haberle
(1951) conceptualized social movements as the potentially dangerous forms of non-institutionalized collective
political behaviour that threaten the stability of the established social order. Similarly the scholars of collective
behaviour perspective, especially Turner and Killian (1957), Parsons (1969), Smelser (1963), and others viewed
social movement as non-institutionalized collective actions, which are not guided by existing social norms,
formed to meet undefined or unstructured situations and are understood in terms of a breakdown either in the
organs of social control or normative integration, due to structural changes (Cohen 1995:71-2, cf. Jamison and
Eyreman 1991: 14). However, symbolic interactionists like Blumer (1969) have identified the desire for new life
in social movements (Blumer 1969: 99). Let me here discuss the major perspectives on social movement.
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9.1. Resource Mobilization Perspective

Social movement studies have entered into a new trajectory of theorization with the resource mobilization
theorists using the dimensions of entrepreneurship, cost and benefit in the analysis of social movements
since the early 1970s. They study social movements as a political process of institutionalized protest or
collective actions to get the share of political power by using various resources. Charles Tilly (1975)
explained the occurrences of the popular protest in terms of the emerging the ‘political opportunities’
caused by the involvement of the state with the welfare activities and the increasing importance of
parliamentary politics that accommodated collective mobilization and gave legitimacy to petitions,
demonstrations, strikes, mass meetings, and so on as democratic process. He has explained the
occurrences of collective action in terms of the pursuit of common interest and the rationality of human
action, whereby the participants in the social movement calculate the costs and benefits of their
participatory action in collective mobilization. Similar view has also been furthered to show that social
movements are manifested when the required resources are pumped into it by the rich for their benefits
(Jenkins and Perrow 1977), and that social movements generate a ‘demand’ similar to an economic
demand, to which ‘political entrepreneurs’ respond by forming a counter-movement as business
(McCarthy and Zald 1977). Hence, the social movements compete for resources within a broader
movement industry and struggle for resources against the demands of the public, private and third sectors.
In recent years a shift is marked in resource mobilization theory to describe the emergence of social
movements in terms of expanding political opportunities through indigenous organizational strength on
the one hand and cognitive liberation on the other. It states that these cognitions ‘are overwhelmingly not
based upon observation or empirical evidence available to participants, but rather upon cueing among
groups of people who jointly create the meanings’ (McAdam 1982). In this context, the dimensions of
‘framing and contentious politics’ have emerged to be important issues in social movement analysis.
According to Tarrow (1995) ‘movement organizations draw people into collective action through known
repertoires of contention and by creating innovations around their margins. The organizers exploit
political opportunities, create new collective identities, bring people together in organizations and
mobilize them against more powerful opponents…’ (Tarrow 1995: 3). Thus, social movements construct
meaning through interpretative schemata that signifies and condenses the ‘world out there’ by selectively
punctuating and encoding objects, situations, events, experiences, and sequences of actions within one’s
present and past environment’ (David Snow and Robert Benford 1992). The movement entrepreneurs are
also ‘effectively engaged in ‘naming’ grievances, connecting them to other grievances and constructing
larger frames of meaning that will resonate with population’s cultural predispositions and communicate a
uniform message to power holders and others’ (Marris and Mueller 136-7).
However, the resource mobilization theory has emerged to be very limited in its scope and analysis. Many
scholars find it is simplistic, rigid and static (Goodin and Jasper 1999; McAdam 1999; McAdam, Tarrow
and Tilly 2001). To these scholars, the resource mobilization interpretation observes social structure as
fixed entities through which political opportunities are drawn. Indeed ‘there may be no such things as
objective political opportunities before or beneath interpretation - or at least none that matter; they are all
interpreted through cultural filters’ (Goodin and Jasper 1999: 33). Hence, to overcome the structural bias
or structural determinism, McAdam (1999) suggests to combine the structuralist, culturalist and rationalist
tenets with the forms of contention to develop a complete understanding of the origins of movements
(1999: XXXVii). Thus many scholars highlight the need of developing models of analysis that recognize
identity as relational, contingent and socially constructed, as opposed to non-problematic resources to be
mobilized and affirm that identities are not durable or encompassing attributes of persons or collective
actors as such (McAdam, Tarrow and Tilly 2001: 133; Bevington and Dison 2005: 287-9).

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9.2. Identity Perspective

It is now imperative for us to look into the nuances of the identity perspective that has been widely used in
West European countries to study social movements since the early twentieth century. This intellectual
tradition has emerged against the backdrop of proliferation of preponderant labour movements,
development of industrial democracies, Fabian socialism and welfare state in the UK and other countries
on the one hand, and mobilizations of nationalist feelings in countries like Germany on the other. Indeed
institutionalization of reformist and social democratic labour movement in Western Europe affected the
way social movements were conceived by social scientists in these countries (Eyerman and Jamison 1991:
17-18)
It was widely realized that not merely the empirical and the economic class position, but rather the issue of
values, culture, subjectivity, morality, and empowerment have also played crucial roles towards the
formation of new collective identities in these movements. Touraine (1981, 1983) observed ‘new social
movement as potential bearers of new social interests’ and that social movements are characterized by the
realization of historicity, by self-conscious awareness and collective identity. Bertaux (1990) has added
the view that ‘subjectivity’ and ‘idealism’ are essential elements of social movement and that ‘subjectivity
refers to the subject in its totality…it concerns with the drastic change in the fabric of social life that takes
place when a new movement is born.’ (1990: 53).
Social movements help generate a sense of collective identity and new ideas that recognize the reality
from a new perspective. Collective identities are formed as an achieved definition of a situation,
constructed and negotiated through the constitution of social networks which then connect the members of
a group or movement through collective action to provide distinctive meaning to collective action. Thus,
social movements grow around relationship of new social identity that are voluntarily conceived ‘to
empower’ members in defence of this identity (Melucci 1992, 1996). To Melucci, ‘newness of the new
social movements is a relative concept and it had a temporary function to indicate the comparative
difference between the historical forms of class conflict and today’s emergent form of collective action.
The reality in which we live has in entirety become a cultural construct and our representations of it serve
as filters for our relationship with the whole world… Social movements too seem to shift their focus from
class, race, and other more traditional issues towards the cultural ground… (Melucci 1996: 8-9).
In the world of cultural interactivity and co-construction, social movement provides public spaces for
generating new thoughts, activating new actors, and generating new ideas. ‘Thus by producing new
knowledge, by reflecting on their own cognitive identity, by saying what they stand for, by challenging the
dominant assumptions of the social order, social movements develop new ideas that are fundamental to
the process of human creativity. Thus, social movements develop worldviews that restructure cognition,
that recognize reality itself. The cognitive praxis of social movements is an important source of new social
images and transformation of societal identities’ (Eyerman and Jamison 1991: 161-66). Hence, social
movements involve actions for ‘doing’. ‘The involvement in an action is a matter of conscience and
emotion, of responsibility and intention, of reflection and compassion, it is basically moral, global and
individual’ (Hegedus 1990: 266).
Social movements are however linked not only to the understanding of common social identity but also of
common interest (Scott 1991: 6). With the growing space for globalism and informationalism while the
notion of identity has emerged to be idealistic and hegemonic at one end, it is also tending to be diluted,
fragmented and self-oriented on the other. In view of the changes in the contemporary society, critiquing
the domination of the identity theory has also been a possibility and necessity.

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9.3. Fluidity of Identity

It is now recognised that the concept of collective identity has also become an obstacle to explore the
forms of mobilizations increasingly taking place in the networks, scapes and flows. The fluid-like
characteristics of the emerging society with increasingly unequal flows of people, information, money,
images, risks, practices and emotions, with no clear beginning or end points have become the dominant
phenomena. Within these emerging complexities social systems increasingly manifest fluid-like
characteristics and become increasingly subject to shockwaves fluidity rather than solidarity; public
experience of self rather than collective identity are the emerging paradigm of contemporary social
movements (Urry 2000 cf. McDonald 2002).
These emerging phenomena have induced a good deal of complexities in comprehending social movement
theoretically, and in understanding the nature of collectivities on which the very foundation of social
movement is laid. A social movement group is understood as a variant of social collectivities and is
usually understood within the conceptual formulation of ‘community’. Now it has also been understood as
a collectivity of informal networks which mobilizes on conflictual issues through the frequent use of
various forms of protest’ (della Porta and Diani 1999: 16). Social movement collectivities are loosely
formed, many a times independent of geographical boundary. Their collective identity is formed based on
temporarily perceived and articulated ideals and common interests, and that many participants tend to be
members of more than one collectivities simultaneously. Significantly many of these collectivities do have
contradictory interests and goals. Hence, it is possible that membership is fluid and is of varying strength.
Thus, the fluid and the fuzzy membership and the emerging fluidity of identity make the social order of
social movement communities very weak. The emergence of network society adds more odds to the
concept of community.

10. Social Movements in Contemporary Society: Globalization, Social Movement Society and Social
Anti Movements
In the changing society while most of the social movements have remained institutionalized, working class
movements are also on a decline and have emerged to be incapable of rising to the level of historicity to
challenge the overall control of the major orientations of collective life. New forms of social movements are also
in the making to articulate new forms of identity and interests. Significantly enough the end of Cold War and the
emergence of the new phase of economy characterized by globalization has marked the proliferation of ‘global
movements’ involving numerous struggles on the question of environment, human rights, vision of ‘another
world’, demand of recognition of cultural identities, and so on (Wieviorka 2005). In the changing world, conflict
is getting institutionalized and social movements becoming permanent component of political interest mediation
and other legitimate factors in contemporary societies. All these are leading to the conspicuous formation of a
‘movement society’. All these indicate the trends of potential emergence and sustenance of plurality of social
movements taking up long term and permanent positions in society on diverse issues and interests (Ruchet and
Neidhardt 2002). With the emergence of multiplicity of social movements in the movement society, social
movements are to encounter its inverted image—the social anti-movements which ‘instead of promoting a social
or a cultural identity, champion of some abstract entity, essence or symbol, and speak in the name of a purity or
homogeneity. Again instead of building relationships with other actors, agreeing on the principles of debates and
negotiations, they champion absolutes, and adopt do or die attitudes. And if they appear in an arena where social
movements also exist, they try to destroy these movements, and fight against them’ (Wieviorka 2005:18).
In the wake of globalization and the emerging interplay of several new forces, a large part of the society is
undergoing a profound process of socio-cultural de-contextualization. This has generated new varieties of social
change and mobility and has led to the articulation of diverse interests and identities; and expression of diverse
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varieties of protests, conflict, collective mobilization and social movements. Significantly many of the processes
are intertwined with each other. Societies in India are experiencing fast processes of transformation caused by
the proliferation of the service sector of the economy, penetration of information and communication
technology, increasing flow of migration, introduction of new development initiatives, increasing literacy rates
and fast economic growth rate on the one hand and sharp decline in the land-man ratio and decline of work
participation in agriculture, stagnation of vast section on abject poverty, livelihood insecurity, unemployment
and underemployment on the other. These phenomena have generated composite processes of vertical and
horizontal social mobility; new forms of social conflicts have proliferated locally and globally, and concurrent
radicalized and institutionalized social mobilizations and collective actions, and rejuvenations of several old
forces in new forms have cropped up. The relationships between the state and social movements have acquired
several new dimensions.
In the emerging scenario while, on the one hand, there have been processes of cooption of collective
mobilization by the state, and a decline of culture of collective protests, there have also been resurgence of
people’s protest at the grassroots, which are looking for new mediums of expressions and societal recognition. In
the changing context several new contradictions have emerged in shaping the essence of social movements and
in comprehending them in totality. These contradictions can’t be explained simply by contra-positing and
privileging one organizing principle of collective mobilization over the other, for example, interests vs.
identities, subjectivity vs. objectivity, morality vs. rationality, solidarity vs. fludarity, structure vs. process,
framing vs. cognition, singularity vs. plurality, social anti vs. social. Rather in view of historicity and
contemporarility, resilience and resurgence of these social conflicts and collective mobilizations and their
interface with emerging patterns of social mobility, these are required to be explained by understanding the
broad processes of socio-economic transitions of the society and by juxtapositioning and combining many of the
organizing principles of social movements together.
Though societies in India have long remained to be the breeding ground for range of tribal, Dalit (lower caste),
peasant’s, worker’s, women’s, ethnic, regional, environmental, human rights, gay, animal rights, and many other
social movements, in recent years especially in the wake of globalization, penetration of Information and
Communication Technologies (ICTs) and fast transition of society, the socio-political facets of these social
movements have under gone phenomenal changes. These have deeply impacted the organizational arrangements,
ideological positions, leadership’s structures, patterns of mobilizations, processes of alignments and
realignments with other social and political forces and framing connectivity of these movements with the other
social movements and ultimately the processes of articulation of collective identities and interests through these
movements.
While the genesis of large sections of these movements have remained embedded in the historically inherited
social and economic inequalities and traditional domination, for many these are linked to ecological degradation,
corruption in the high places of power, forceful acquisition of agricultural lands etc.
Despite being emerged as a leading economic force, the socio-economic realities in India have remained
embedded in declining land man-ratio, sustained poverty with more than two fifth of population living below
poverty line, more than four-fifth earning less than $2 per day (World Bank 2010), one-fifth population
remaining ever undernourished (Global Hunger Index 2007), protracted ignorance with one forth remaining
illiterate, environmental degradation with fast declining in forest coverage and phenomenal increase in carbon
emission, corruption in high places, increasing social divides and inequalities and lack of political commitment
for social justice. In recent years these contradictions have been accentuated and the people who have been the
victims of historical neglects and injustice have emerged to be bearers of brunt all deprivations and decadence.
All these have paved the way for the emergence of varieties of social movements both within and outside the
democratic framework of the Indian society (For Details See SinghaRoy 2012).

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Self-Check Exercise 2

Q 1. Discuss the key features of resource mobilisation perspective on social movements.

The resource mobilisation perspective explains the occurrences of collective action in terms of the pursuit of
common interest and the rationality of human action, whereby the participants in the social movement calculate
the costs and benefits of their participatory action in collective mobilization. From such a point of view, social
movements are manifested when the required resources are pumped into it by the rich for their benefits. In recent
years a shift is marked in resource mobilization theory to describe the emergence of social movements in terms
of expanding political opportunities through indigenous organizational strength on the one hand and cognitive
liberation on the other.

Q 2. What is social anti-movement?

Social anti-movement champion some abstract entity, essence or symbol, and speak in the name of a purity or
homogeneity. Again instead of building relationships with other actors, agreeing on the principles of debates and
negotiations, they champion absolutes, and adopt do or die attitudes. And if they appear in an arena where social
movements also exist, they try to destroy these movements, and fight against them.

11. Summary
Social movements are integral parts of social change and transformation. These are parts of social processes.
This module has located social movements with the broad processes of the society. For simplified understanding
it has discussed the significance of organisation, collective mobilization, leadership, ideology and identity in
social movements. There several reasons for the manifestation of social movements. Social movements are also
discussed from several perspectives across the world. This module has discussed all the perspectives al length.
The emerging facets of change and transformation in social movements and cotemporary facets of social
movements are also discussed in this module.

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Name of Paper: Social Movement
Sociology Name of Module: Introduction to Issues and Concepts of Social Movements