SOCIAL MOVEMENTS 

What is Social Movement

A social movement consists of a number of people organized and coordinated to achieve some task or a collection of goals, often the participants are interested in bringing about social change. Compared to other forms of collective behavior, movements have a high degree of organization and are of longer duration.

The work-day should not exceed eight hours, that men and women should be paid equally for doing the same work, that workers are entitled to social security and pension – these and many other rights were gained through social movements.

Social movements have shaped the world we live in and continue to do so.

Features of Social Movement

Mass mobilisation of people: Requires sustained collective action over time. Such action is often directed against the state and takes the form of demanding changes in state policy or practice.

Leadership : Collective action must be marked by some degree of organisation. This organisation may include a leadership and a structure that defines how members relate to each other, make decisions and carry them out.

Objectives and ideology : Those participating in a social movement also have shared objectives and ideologies and they know why they are fighting and what they are fighting for.

Orientation : A social movement has a general orientation or way of approaching to bring about (or to prevent) change.

These defining features are not constant. They may change over the course of a social movement’s life.

Social movements cannot change society easily. Since it goes against both entrenched interests and values, there is bound to be opposition and resistance. But over a period of time changes do take place. 

1. Counter Movement

Counter movements sometimes arise in defence of the status quo. There are many instances of counter movements.

• When Raja Rammohun Roy campaigned against sati and formed the Brahmo Samaj, defenders of sati formed Dharma Sabha and petitioned the British not to legislate against sati.
• When reformers demanded education for girls, many protested that this would be disastrous for society.
• When reformers campaigned for widow remarriage, they were socially boycotted.
• When the so-called ‘lower caste’ children enrolled in schools, some so-called ‘upper caste’ children were withdrawn from the schools by their families.
• Proposals for extending reservation in educational institutions have led to counter movements opposing them.

2. Acts of Social Movement

• While protest is the most visible form of collective action, a social movement also acts in other, equally important, ways.
• Social movement activists hold meetings to mobilise people around the issues that concern them. Such activities help shared understanding, and also prepare for a feeling of agreement or consensus about how to pursue the collective agenda.
• Social movements also chart out campaigns that include lobbying with the government, media and other important makers of public opinion.
• Social movements also develop distinct modes of protest. This could be candle and torch light processions, use of black cloth, street theatres, songs, poetry.
• Mahatma Gandhi adopted novel ways such as ahimsa, satyagraha and his use of the charkha in the freedom movement. 

3. Difference between Social Change and Social Movement:

Social Change 

- Ongoing process. 

- Effects economic, social, political, Cultural and all aspects of society. 

- Goals evolve with time.

Social Movement

- Keep changing. 

- Effects a certain aspect of society. 

- Specific goals.

Sociology and Social Movement

In a country, social movements aim at changing certain aspects of society.

• -- French revolution against monarchy when people were suffering, depressed and wanted freedom and equality.
• -- Industrial Revolt (Britain) - protest by common man paid low wages and treated badly. It was marked as great social upheaval.
• -- Durkheim’s writings about the division of labour in society, forms of religious life, and even suicide, mirror his concern about how social structures enable social integration. Social movements were seen as forces that led to disorder.
• -- Scholars influenced by the ideas of Karl Marx offered a different view of violent collective action.
• -- Historians like E. P. Thompson showed that the ‘crowd’ and the ‘mob’ were not made up of anarchic hooligans out to destroy society. Instead, they too had a ‘moral economy’.

Theories of Social Movement

1. Theory of Relative Deprivation

• Social conflict arises when a social group feels that it is worse off than others around it. Such conflict is likely to result in successful collective protest. 
• This theory emphasises the role of psychological factors such as resentment and rage in inciting social movements.
• Limitations:
• - Every deprivation should not or will not lead to a social movement.
• - Deprivation is not enough for a social movement, but many other factors are involved.

2. Theory of Collective Action

• Mancur Olson’s book The Logic of Collective Action argues that a social movement is an aggregation of rational individual actors pursuing their self-interest.
• A person will join a social movement only if s/he will gain something from it. S/he will participate only if the risks are less than the gains.
• Olson’s theory is based on the notion of the rational, utility-maximising individual.

3. Theory of Resource Mobilisation

• Given by McCarthy and Zald. They rejected Olson's assumption that social movements are made up of individuals pursuing their self interest
• They said social movement is successful if one is able to mobilise resources (people, good leaders, economic resources, political support), e.g. Anna Hazare (2011), did not have self interest.
• Limitations:
• According to Sociologists people can create resources. They don't have to mobilise them. A social movement need not depend on existing resources, new identities, new resources etc are created.
• E.g. Freedom struggle - no money, political power but generated resources in man power, good leader etc.

Types of Social Movements

 There are different kinds of social movements. They can be classified as:

i). Redemptive or Transformatory,

ii). Reformist and

iii). Revolutionary 

Redemptive Social Movement: It aims to bring about a change in the personal consciousness and actions of its individual members. For instance, people in the Ezhava community in Kerala were led by Narayana Guru to change their social practices.

Reformist Social Movements: It strives to change the existing social and political arrangements through gradual, incremental steps. E.g.: The 1960s movement for the reorganisation of Indian states on the basis of language and the recentone is Right to Information campaign.

Revolutionary Social Movements: It attempts to radically transform social relations, often by capturing state power. E.g.: The Bolshevik revolution in Russia that deposed the Tsar to create a communist state and the Naxalite movement in India that seeks to remove oppressive landlords and state officials.

1. Old Movements vs New Movements

• The twentieth century social movements were class based such as working class movements and peasant movements or anti-colonial movements.
• While anti-colonial movements united entire people into national liberation struggles, class-based movements united classes to fight for their rights.
• Social movements of the last century thus have been class-based or based on national liberation struggles.
• The workers movements in Europe that gave rise to the international communist movement. Besides bringing about the formation of communist and socialist states across the world, most notably in the Soviet Union, China, and Cuba, these movements also led to the reform of capitalism.
• The creation of welfare states that protected workers’ rights and offered universal education, health care and social security in the capitalist nations of Western Europe was partly due to political pressure created by the communist and socialist movements.
• The movement against colonialism has been as influential as the movement against capitalism.
• Since capitalism and colonialism have usually been inter-linked through forms of imperialism, social movements have simultaneously targeted both these forms of exploitation.
• The civil rights movement led by Martin Luther King had been followed by the Black Power movement led by Malcolm X 
• The anti-war movement was joined by tens of thousands of students who were being compulsorily drafted by the government to go and fight in Vietnam. 
• The women’s movement and the environmental movement also gained strength during this time of social ferment. 

Old Social Movement 

1. Most of them have links with political parties. E.g.: Freedom struggle INC, Chinese revolution led by communist party of china.
2. Reorganisation of power relations as a central goal.
3. Usually to do with economic inequality. 
4. Usually concerned with the lower or depressed class like women and Dalits E.g.: Arya Samaj.

New Social Movement 

1. Do not have links to politics parties. May sometimes oppose the practices of government. E.g.: workers movement.  
2. Main aim addresses social issues, no change in power relationships. 
3. Involves economic, social, political and cultural inequality. 
4. To do with all classes and all castes. E.g.: workers movement, Tribal movement, women and even environment movement. 

Ecological Movements

• Over the decades there has been a great deal of concern about the unchecked use of natural resources and a model of development that creates new needs that further demands greater exploitation of the already depleted natural resources.
• This model of development has also been critiqued for assuming that all sections of people will be beneficiaries of development. E.g.: The Chipko Movement - is a movement which was not ordy economic aspect, it affected all aspects like ecological, economic and political. 
• Economic : When contractors from cities came to cut down the trees, the women and children went and hugged the trees. Reason being they were dependent on the forest for their livelihood (grazing, fodder, firewood, food and gathering). 
• Political: Villagers were unhappy that politicians sitting in the cities were dictating terms and they knew politicians were not concerned about their livelihood. It became popular, mass media was important in spreading the news and people started their own movements in their own states.

Class Based Movements

1. Peasant Movements

Pre-Colonial : There were movements, but they were not localised so we did not know about them as peasants were too scared to form their own movements. They were poor and could not mobilise people.

Colonial : The Bengal revolt of 1859-62 against the indigo plantation system and the ‘Deccan riots’ of 1857 against moneylenders.

• Under the leadership of “Mahatma Gandhi” became partially linked to the Independence movement. For instance, The Bardoli Satyagraha (1928, Surat District) a ‘non-tax’ campaign as part of the nationwide non-cooperation movement, a campaign of refusal to pay land revenue and The Champaran Satyagraha (1917-18) directed against indigo plantations.
• In the 1920s, protest movements against the forest policies of the British government and local rulers arose in certain regions.
• Between 1920 and 1940 peasant organisations arose. The first organisation to be founded was the Bihar Provincial Kisan Sabha (1929) and in 1936 the All India Kisan Sabha. 

After Independence: The two most classical cases of peasant movements are:

• The Tebhaga movement (1946-47) - It was a struggle of sharecroppers in Bengal in North Bihar for two thirds share of their produce instead of the customary half. It had the support of the Kisan Sabha and the Communist Party of India (CPI).
• The Telangana movement (1946-51) - It was directed against the feudal conditions in the princely state of Hyderabad and was led by the CPI.

The period after 1947 was characterised by two major social movements.

• The Naxalite struggle - The Naxalite movement started from the region of Naxalbari (1967) in Bengal. The Naxal movement is a growing force even today.
• The New farmer’s movements - It began in the 1970s in Punjab and Tamil Nadu. These movements were regionally organized, were non-party, and involved farmers rather than peasants. The basic ideology of the movement was strongly anti-state and anti-urban. The focus of demand was ‘price and related issues’. Novel methods of agitation were used: blocking of roads and railways, refusing politicians and bureaucrats entry to villages, and so on.

2. Workers Movement

• In the early stages of colonialism, labour was very cheap as the colonial government did not regulate either wages or working conditions.
• The first trade union was established in April 1918 in Madras by B.P. Wadia, a social worker and member of the Theosophical Society. During the same year, Mahatma Gandhi founded the Textile Labour Association (TLA).
• In 1920 the All India Trade Union Congress (AITUC) was formed in Bombay. The AITUC was a broad-based organisation involving diverse ideologies.
• The communists groups led by S.A. Dange and M.N. Roy.
• The moderates groups led by M. Joshi and V.V. Giri.
• The formation of the AITUC made the colonial government more cautious in dealing with labour. It attempted to grant workers some concessions in order to contain unrest.
• In 1922 the government passed Factories Act which reduced the working day to 10 hours.
• In 1926, the Trade Unions Act was passed, which provided for registration of trade unions and proposed some regulations. 
• During the last few years of British rule the communists gained considerable control over the AITUC. The Indian National Congress chose to form another union called the Indian National Trade Union Congress (INTUC) in May 1947.
• The split in the AITUC in 1947 paved the way for further splits on the line of political parties.
• In 1966-67 the economy suffered a major recession which led to a decrease in production and consequently employment.
• During the Emergency in 1975-77 the government curbed all trade union activities. This again was short lived.
• In the contemporary globalisation the changes affecting labour and trade unions are also new in nature.

Caste Based Movements

1. The Dalit Movement

• Social movements of Dalits show a particular character.
• This is a struggle for recognition as fellow human beings. It is a struggle for self-confidence and a space for self-determination. It is a struggle for abolishment of stigmatisation, that untouchability implied. It has been called a struggle to be touched.
• The word Dalit was first used in the new context in Marathi by neo-Buddhist activists, the followers of Babasaheb Ambedkar in the early 1970s. The word itself defines- inherent denial of pollution, karma and justified caste hierarchy.
• There has not been a single, unified Dalit movement in the country now or in the past.
• Different movements have highlighted different issues related to Dalits, around different ideologies.

Some of the movements are:

• - Satnami Movement of the Chamars in the Chattisgarh plains in eastern MP,
• - Adi Dharma Movement in Punjab,
• - The Mahar Movement in Maharashtra,
• - The socio-political mobilisation among the Jatavas of Agra and
• - The Anti Brahmin Movement in south India. 

Dalit  literature is squarely opposed to the Chaturvarna system and caste hierarchy. Dalit literature gives a call for social and cultural revolt. While some emphasise the cultural struggle for dignity and identity, others also bring in the structural features of society including the economic dimensions.

2. Backward Class Caste Movement

• The term ‘Backward Classes’ has been in use in different parts of the country since the late 19th Century.
• From the 1920s, a number of organisations united around the issue of caste sprang up in different parts of the country. These included the United Provinces Hindu Backward Classes League, All-India Backward Classes Federation, All India Backward Classes League.

3. The Upper Caste Response

• By and large when compared to the situation prevailing before independence, the condition of all social groups, including the lowest caste and tribes, has improved today.
• The 21st century, the variety of occupations and professions among all caste groups is much wider than it was today. However, this does not change the massive social reality that the overwhelming majority of those in the ‘highest’ or most preferred occupations are from the upper castes, while the vast majority of those in the menial and despised occupations belong to the lowest castes.

The Tribal Movement

Many of the tribal movements have been largely located in the ‘tribal belt’ in middle India, such as the Santhals, Hos, Oraons, Mundas in Chota Nagpur and the Santhal Parganas.

The specificity of the tribal movements in the North East but fail to deal comprehensively the many differences that exist between one tribal movement and another within the region.

1. Jharkhand

• The social movement for Jharkhand had a charismatic leader in Birsa Munda, an adivasi who led a major uprising against the British
• Christian missionaries working in the south Bihar were responsible for spreading literacy in the area.  
• Literate adivasis began to research and write about their history and myths. They documented and disseminated information about tribal customs and cultural practices. This helped create a unified ethnic consciousness and a shared identity as Jharkhandis.
• Adivasi experiences of marginalisation and their sense of injustice were mobilised to create a shared Jharkhandi identity and inspire collective action that eventually led to the formation of a separate state.
• The issues against which the leaders of the movement in Jharkhand agitated were:
• -- Acquisition of land for large irrigation projects and firing ranges;
• -- Survey and settlement operations, which were held up, camps closed down, etc.
• -- Collection of loans, rent and cooperative dues, which were resisted;
• -- Nationalisation of forest produce which they boycotted

2. The North-East

• The process of state formation initiated by the Indian government following the attainment of independence generated disquieting trends in all the major hill districts in the region.
• Distinct identity and traditional autonomy, the tribes were unsure of being incorporated within the administrative machinery of Assam.
• One of the key issues that bind tribal movements from different parts of the country is the alienation of tribals from forest lands - Ecological issues are central to tribal movements.

The Women Movement

1. Social Reform Movement and Women’s Organisation

• The 19th century social reform movements that raised various issues concerning women.
• The early 20th century saw the growth of women’s organisations at a national and local level.
• The Women’s India Association (WIA) (1917), All India Women’s Conference (AIWC) (1926), National Council for Women in India (NCWI) (1925)
• While many of them began with a limited focus, their scope extended over time.
• It can be argued that this period of activity did not constitute any social movement, but they have organisations, ideology, leadership, a shared understanding and the aim of bringing about changes on a public issue. 
• Agrarian Struggles and Revolts: Women participated along with men in struggles and revolts originating in tribal and rural areas in the colonial period. The Tebhaga movement in Bengal, the Telangana armed struggle from the erstwhile Nizam’s rule, and the Warli tribal revolt against bondage in Maharashtra are some examples.

2. After Independence

• Many of the women activists who were also involved in the nationalist movement got involved in the nation building task.
• In the mid 1970s there was a renewal of the women’s movement in India. Some call it the second phase of the Indian women’s movement. While many of the concerns remained the same there were changes both in terms of organisational strategy as well as ideologies.
• There was the growth of which is termed as the autonomous women’s movements. The term ‘autonomy’ referred to the fact that they were ‘autonomous’ or independent from political parties as distinct from those women’s organisations that had links with political parties.
• It was felt that political parties tended to marginalise issues of women.
• Apart from organisational changes, there were new issues that were focussed upon. For instance, violence against women.
• Issues of land rights, employment have been fought alongside rights against sexual harassment and dowry.
• A gender - society would allow both men and women to be free. This of course rests on the idea that for true freedom to grow and develop injustices of all kinds have to end. 

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