The Pros And Cons Of Social Movement

The progressive movement is a middle class response to take on the problems that was caused by the industrialization in the rapid social change that took place during the civil war. It is a collection of reform movements. The progressive era was when reformers or activists who were working to solve the problems in the American society and the government were trying to end the laissez-faire. The root of progressive started during the glided age. This era started in 1890 and ended in 1920. A solution was needed to eliminate all the problems that was faced over the years. The fight for social justices include social reforms, women’s suffrage movement, and political reforms.

People fighting against injustices are something that happens every day it is inevitable unless the injustices cease to exist. As stated before social movements happen because of a certain injustice. This can be from people feeling oppressed from their race, sex, or sexuality. They have had many contributions to society mainly helping those and they get rid of oppression. While inspiring others who are oppressed as well to set up and speak up again their oppressors. Mainly helping other groups use the same successful tactic that other social group has done in the past or present. Some of these groups that are looked back upon on how successful their tactics were are the early Women's movement, Africa American movement, Chicano Movement, and

A social movement is defined as the gathering of people to change an element of society that they feel is not acceptable and cannot endure any longer. There are two primary types of movements: reactive and proactive. Reactive movements typically involved resistance movements and are a pushback or reaction to current social changes. Proactive social movements include reform and revolutionary social movements which are designed to bring radical social change and replace the existing structures with new ones. While these definitions remain constant, as social changes impact societies, many social movements may change labels. A proactive movement can become a reactive movement and vice-versa.

“A reform movement attempts to change limited aspects of a society but does not aim at drastically altering or replacing major social, economic, or political institutions… a revolutionary movement, in comparison, is a social movement in which participants are organized to alter drastically or replace totally an existing social, economic, or political institutions” (Defronzo 8).

Social movements are one of the primary means through which the public is able to collectively express their concerns about the rights and wellbeing of themselves and others. Under the proper conditions, social movements not only shed light on issues and open large scale public discourse, but they can also serve as a means of eliciting expedited societal change and progress. Due to their potential impact, studying the characteristics of both failed and successful social movements is important in order to ensure that issues between the public and the government are resolved to limit injustices and maintain societal progress.

Background-The Progressive Movement was an effort to cure many of the ills of American society that had developed during the great spurt of industrial growth in the last quarter of the 19th century. Progressives were mostly middle-class citizens who saw corruption and wanted change in society.

When Society does not agree with a new policy that the Government put into place, it normally results in protests near Governmental Buildings with signs criticising the work of Government. However, protests are both

A social movement is a group of individuals that focus on political or social issues. Though this explanation appears pertinent, movements are rarely that simple. In the case of racial militancy, a social movement is characterized by the need for justice, preserving the community and the emergence of the New Negro. What distinguishes racial militancy from other groups is the inclination to question society and combat relentlessly for their objectives. Frequently this movement employed empowerment, unity, and a new identity to define their movement.

At the beginning of 1900s, reformers pushed for a number of changes. Together their efforts build the progressive movement. The progressive movement was a reform movement made to return control of the government to the people, to get economic opportunities, and to correct injustices in American life. The progressive movement was useful because it improved the political, social, and economics of America. The movement is based on four major objectives, protect social welfare, promote moral improvements, create economic reform and foster efficiency.

Social movements of the 1960’s and 1970’s have been interpreted and written about in varying ways. While contemporary scholarship disagrees with past analyses and offer fresh perspectives, past research can also provide a pathway for defining important questions for future research on social movements in America.

Social movements have many different definitions. In his paper, Social Movements, James Jasper defines them as “sustained and intentional efforts to foster or retard social changes, primarily outside the normal institutional channels encouraged by authorities”. (CITE) In simpler terms, a social movement is a movement created by people who want a social or political change. A big part of social movements is resource mobilization theory. Resource mobilization theory states that social movements “succeed through the effective mobilization of resources and the development of political opportunities for members” (CITE). This means that if a social movement wants to be successful, they need to organize themselves so they can do things such as collect funds from constituents and elites, receive volunteers and members, and get their

Social movements are large groups of people who are usually without political power and influence that decide to promote or resist social change through unconventional means (Monnier, 2010). Social movements begin when there is a problem identified by a certain group of people. The group finds out who is responsible for failing to appropriately address their issues and at that point proceed to take action themselves. These movements can be violent or nonviolent when addressing the responsible parties. There are many types of social movements that include but not limited to civil rights, animal rights and environmental rights movements. The basis of these movements would derive from the conflict theory. The conflict theory

This theory has played a significant role in helping mankind in the formation of social movements especially within contemporary society. It is imperative to note that Social movements are organized and sustained collective efforts that focus on some aspect of social change, and tend to persist over time in a more aggressive way compared to other forms of collective behaviour. Social movements may include actions that protect environments, defend the rights of the minority or promote social justice. The frustration- aggression theory argues that social movements are formed when frustration results in collective aggressive behaviour.

“As they fathom injustice, organize to protest, craft a tactics, and engage in action, these bodies read what is happening and articulate their imaginative rebuttal. In so doing they demonstrate to themselves and all those watching that something can be done. Could this be why they are called political ‘movements’?”

Start by narrowing the historical literature down into three main schools of thought so you can take a closer look at how social movements are born, why some succeed, and others fail. (Clearly, using a broad brush to paint a simplified scope of the topic, but this will help to centralize the data in a more digestible context.) The main schools of thought in this paper have been grouped in the following types of action: Collective Action, Economic/Political, and Leadership Centered.