Changing Social Movements
Della Porta and Diana talk about different types of social movements stating mass protest movements and grassroots organizations as two types. In mass protest organizations the movements are meant to bring attention to the group; while grassroots groups are less concerned about drawing attention to themselves and are more concerned with gaining members and longevity. In order to be a successful social movement it is important to gain membership; however this becomes difficult in certain movements because some people are afraid to get involved due to labels.
Stewart, Settles, and Winter's article shows how people are labeled due to their involvement in certain social movements. This "label" may discourage involvement in many movements. For example many Americans may want to be involved in the anti-war protest, however, they may be labeled as un-American so may not become involved (this definitely was more prevalent after 9/11 when everything that went against the government was seen as unpatriotic).
Another article we read was the Edelman article which talked about changing paradigms in social movements. The article mentioned how old social movements wanted top down action, which means that they wanted to government to intervene and pass some kind of law. Now new social movements want to mobilize as many people as possible to fight their cause. This is a shift away from asking the government for help, and instead it focuses on people acting. There has also been a shift from how we view social movements. Instead of seeing them as a single movement with a single goal, social movements are now seen as periods or waves. For example we do not view women's right to vote, to fair pay, or for equal rights as singular movements but we view these goals as a period, calling it the women's movement.
A problem with studying social movements in periods or waves is that smaller social movements are sometimes ignored. Another issue with studying social movements is that people generally only study movements in which they are interested in or that they agree with. This is problematic because it is important to know how all social movements work so we can prevent negative ones. This goes back to what Burke said in his article that it is important to know (symbols) for social movements so we can counter them and prevent them in the future.
Stewart, Settles, and Winter's article shows how people are labeled due to their involvement in certain social movements. This "label" may discourage involvement in many movements. For example many Americans may want to be involved in the anti-war protest, however, they may be labeled as un-American so may not become involved (this definitely was more prevalent after 9/11 when everything that went against the government was seen as unpatriotic).
Another article we read was the Edelman article which talked about changing paradigms in social movements. The article mentioned how old social movements wanted top down action, which means that they wanted to government to intervene and pass some kind of law. Now new social movements want to mobilize as many people as possible to fight their cause. This is a shift away from asking the government for help, and instead it focuses on people acting. There has also been a shift from how we view social movements. Instead of seeing them as a single movement with a single goal, social movements are now seen as periods or waves. For example we do not view women's right to vote, to fair pay, or for equal rights as singular movements but we view these goals as a period, calling it the women's movement.
A problem with studying social movements in periods or waves is that smaller social movements are sometimes ignored. Another issue with studying social movements is that people generally only study movements in which they are interested in or that they agree with. This is problematic because it is important to know how all social movements work so we can prevent negative ones. This goes back to what Burke said in his article that it is important to know (symbols) for social movements so we can counter them and prevent them in the future.
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