G the civil rights and womens liberation movements 2

Movements—E.g., The civil rights and women’s
liberation movements.
2) Power-Oriented Movements—E.g., The Nazi movement in
Germany and the Bolshevik Revolution in Russia.
3) Participant-Oriented Movements—E.g.,
Back-to-nature and evangelical movements.

Social Movements
 Types of Social Movements (More):
 Hate Groups in the U.S.

Social Movements
 Membership Types in Social Movements:

Social Movements
 The Development and Life Cycle of Social Movements:
 According to Blumer (1939)
 Social movements often evolve through stages:
1) Social Unrest : involves unfocused restlessness and
increasing disorder.
2) Popular Excitement : unrest is brought into the open: people
establish rapport with one another and begin to adopt a
collective identity; leaders emerge and offer a vision.
3) Formalization : a formal structure is developed and rules,
policies, and tactics are laid out; the group develops into a
disciplined organization and attempts to influence others.
4) Institutionalization : the movement is integrated into society;
it may cease to exist or it may lead to the development of new
movements. The unrest, discontent, and popular excitement
have ceased and are replaced by a formal functionality.

Social Movements
 Propaganda and the Mass Media:
 Leaders in Social Movements try and manipulate the mass
media to influence public opinion.
 Successful publicity arouses public sympathy , credibility, and
can lead to recruiting new members.
 Successful publicity can also raise money for the cause.

Social Movements
 Why People Join Social Movements:
 Mass Society Theory - Developed by William Kornhauser (1959).
Postulates that many people live isolated lives because the
society they live in is impersonal, industrialized, and
bureaucratic. Social movements fill this void by giving them a
sense of belonging.
 Relative Deprivation Theory - The
notion that people join social
movements based on their evaluation
of what they think they should have
compared with what others have.

Social Movements
 Why People Join Social Movements:
 Moral Issues & Ideological Commitment —When people get upset
about some injustice that occurs to others and they want to do
something to alleviate of fix the problem. The level of intensity
rises if the issue is postured in moral terms. E.g., Abortion,
animal rights, war, etc.
or

Social Movements
 Success or Failure of Social Movements:
 Sociologists have identified five stages of growth of
social movements:
1. Initial Unrest and Agitation : A problem-anger-leaders
2. Resource Mobilization : Resources-mailings-IT
3. Organization : Division of labor is set up
4. Institutionalization : A bureaucracy develops
5. Organizational Decline and Possible Resurgence : Busy
managing things, change of public opinion, committed people
leaving, decline.