Social Movements

Scott defines a social movement as, ‘[…] a collective actor constituted by individuals who understand themselves to have common interests and, for at least some significant part of their social existence, a common identity. Social movements are distinguished from other collectives actors, such as political parties and pressure groups, in that they have mass mobilization, or the threat of mobilization, as their primary sources of social sanction, and hence of power. They are further distinguished from other collectivities, such as voluntary associations of clubs, in being chiefly concerned with defining or changing society, or the relative position of the group in society (Scott, 1990). In a similar vein Anthony Giddens contents that a social movement is “[…] a collective attempt to further a common interest, or secure a common goal through [structurally informal] collective action outside the sphere of established institutions” (Giddens 2006).

This view that social movements are associated with change outside the system is also taken by Della Porta & Diani, perhaps the two most cited authors on the subject. They argue that social movement ‘[…] are engaged in political and/or cultural conflicts meant to promote or oppose social change. By conflict we mean an oppositional relationship between actors who seek control of the same stake – be it political, economic, or cultural power – and in the process make negative claims on each other – i.e., demands which, if realized, would damage the interests of the other actors” (Della Porta and Diani 2006).

Klaus Eder brings links social movements to the modern state and capitalism, and the realisation these might be failing. He defines social movements as: ‘[…] a phenomena, situated between systems and the life-word and fostered by the capacity to reclaim the normative standards betrayed by the systemic decoupling of politics and economic exchange as executed in the modern state and capitalism. Such normative standards of equal recognition and standards of cognitive knowledge made available by modern science (Eder 2015).

Tilly and Tarrow, two of the most cited scholars on the topic, define social movements as “[…] a sustained campaign of claim making, using repeated performances that advertise the claim, based on organizations, networks, traditions, and solidarities that sustain these activities. But most forms of contentious politics are not social movements” (Tilly & Tarrow 2015).

For Pizzorno, social movements are more than mere campaigns. “Social movements are not merely the sum of protest events on certain issues, or even of specific campaigns. On the contrary, a social movement process is in place only when collective identities develop, which go beyond specific events and initiatives. Collective identity is strongly associated with recognition and the creation of connectedness” (Pizzorno 1996).

The requirement that social movements go beyond a single event is also reflected by the feminist activist Srilatha Batliwala. She writes that: “For any collective change process to be considered a movement, it must have ALL these six core characteristics: a set of people with a shared sense of injustice, an organized membership base, leadership from within at multiple levels, a shared political agenda, collective action, and continuity over time” (Batliwala 2001).