Qn 10. In what respect is the new social movement ‘new’ in nature? Discuss. (2014/II/Q.1b/10m)
Social movements are organisational structures with strategies that may empower certain sections of the population to challenge and resist other sections. Such movements have been academically studied since the 19th century. The second half of the 20th century saw a new wave of movements – ‘new’ social movements - with changed dynamics and new causes, as the context evolved.
A social movement is a particular form of collective behaviour or mass action in which the motive to act is rooted largely in the attitudes and aspirations of members, typically acting within a loose organisational framework. Being part of it requires a level of commitment and political activism.
Earliest social movements can be traced back to the 19th century and include:
- labour movements for improved conditions for the growing working class
- Nationalist movements for independence, especially from European colonialism
- Catholic movement for legal and political rights of Catholics
- 20 century fascist and right-wing authoritarian groups (sometimes considered movements rather than conventional political parties).
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New social movements are labelled to select collective actions that emerged and flourished since the 1960s, in the West, and 1970s, in the East. These were facilitated by globalisation and fuelled by information and communication technology. These mainly include:
- The women’s movement pursued gender equality and anti-patriarchy, including equal pay and opportunities etc.
- The environmental (or green) movement advocating valuing and conservation of the environment, as per recognition of its fragility and deterioration by anthropogenic factors
- Peace movement — shunning violence and promoting compassion
- Anti-capitalist or anti-globalisation movements such as ‘Occupy Wall Street’ movement, 2011 and ‘battle of Seattle’, 1999 – these involve environmental, developmental, ethnic-nationalist, anarchist and revolutionary socialist groups, inter alia.
New social movements are ‘new’ in nature, as compared to traditional social movements, in the following ways:
- Traditional movements were carried by the oppressed or disadvantaged. New social movements attract the young, more educated and relatively affluent.
- Traditional movements were focused on emancipation, freedom or social advancement. New movements typically have a post-material orientation i.e. with increasing economic advancement, concern shifted to ‘quality of life’ issues.
- Traditional movements had little in common and seldom worked in tandem. New movements subscribe to a common ideology (may not be clearly defined) – viz., New Left ideas and values (such as rejection of conventional society as oppressive; disillusionment with the working class as revolutionary agent; and preference for democracy etc.)
- New social movements tend to have organisational structures that demand decentralisation and participatory decision-making. Such traits were minimal or absent in traditional movements.
- Traditional movements, in the backdrop of totalitarianism around the World Wars, was seen as an attempt by alienated individuals to achieve security and identity (Eric Fromm; Hannah Arendt). New social movements imbibe new forms of political activism, being in an altered context. These are seen as rational and instrumental actors using informal and unconventional means (Zald; McCarthy)
- Class based politics of old movements has been replaced by a new politics – ‘democratic pluralism’ (Laclau; Mouffe).
- In comparison to traditional movements, new ones offer fresh and rival centres of power and diffuse power more effectively by resisting bureaucratisation, having spontaneity and inculcating decentralised organisation.
The emergence of a new generation of social movements practising new styles of activism has significantly shifted views about the nature and significance of movements. Their emergence is evidence that power in post-industrial societies is becoming dispersed and fragmented.