Social Movements

Social Movements have a dramatic impact in our society. They bring out a lot of conflict, social change and inequality. When people are bothered by the way things are a social movement may occur. There are two explanations for why people mobilize. The first one is relative deprivation, which means the conscious feeling of a negative discrepancy between legitimate expectations and present actualities. (Things are not as good as you hoped they would be.) The second is resource mobilization. The ways in which a social movement utilizes resources like money, political influence, access to the media and personnel.

1. Why do people join social movements? 2. How do they interact with other members of the movement and with people who are not members once they join? 3. How does the movement interact with society-at-large?

Functionalist: Social movements are a training ground for leaders of the political establishment. Functionalists believe in the equilibrium model which means when there are changes in on part of society, adjustments must be made in other parts. If this does not happen the society's equilibrium will be threatened and strains will occur. Social movements are adjustments to help society function better and keep it stable. People who join social movements believe and are strictly connected with the people that believe the same way they do. Any social movement benefits society in some way. Social movements stabilize and balance society.

Conflict: Some people who join social movements are recruited to join. Social movements need leaders to aware the oppressed. Social movements bring change to society which corrects social injustices and inequalities. Conflicts will almost always arise in social movements. They also benefit the rich and powerful. Social movements usually need money, political influence, access to the media, and personnel.

Interactionist: Most individuals