Soc

1 Pages 326 Words

Social movements

When George Wallace took office of as the governor of Alabama, he declared “segregation now, segregation tomorrow, segregation forever”, transformed our society with social movement. Social movement is a conscious effort to bring about or prevent changes. (470) Social movement are more structured than other forms of collective behavior, although they might not be centrally matched. The civil rights movement has within it numerous organizations, recognized leaders, and sets of roles and statuses. A group of people can stand together and protest for a couple of hours, but a movement can last for years.
Most social movements try to make changes, but they get unfair changes. In chapter 15 social movement is classified into four types. The first one is Revolutionary movement, is for total major change in society. Revolutionary movements typically resorts to violence or some other illegal action. The second one is Reform movements, look for only a incomplete change in society. They support the existing social system as a whole, but they try most to improve the system by taking away its blemishes, most through legal issues. The third type is Resistance movements, which look to preserve an existing system by refuse to go along with social change. For example the Ku Klux Klan try to racial integration. The four type is Expressive movement, wants to change the individual, not the society. Most are religious, aimed at converting individuals to particular faith. (448)
The causes of social movement are that there are so many thing for people to do in the world like work, shop, hunt, etc.. According to Eric Hoofer’s frustration theory people that participate in social movements are troubled and use social movement for a scapegoat to hid away from their own problems. That many lead us to the answer to the question in chapter 15 asking (Why would people instead spend their time promoting a social movement?)...