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Groups, interests and movements - Social movements

4 important questions on Groups, interests and movements - Social movements

What is a social movement?

Loosely organized group of people that aims to collectively achieve a social goal/social change.

How do new social movements differ from traditional social movements?

- attracted the young and better-educated
- Being more concerned with 'equality of life' issues than with social advancements.
- subscribe to a common ideology.
- they tend to have organizational structures that stress decentralization and participatory decision-making.

How have these new social movements been enhanced?

Spreading the message through internet

How are new social movements interpreted?

As rational and instrumental actors, whose use of informal and unconventional means merely reflects the resources available to them.
The emergence of new social movements is widely seen as evidence of the fact that power in postindustrial societies is increasingly dispersed and fragmented.
New movements diffuse power more effectively by resisting bureaucratization and developing more spontaneous and decentralized forms of organization.