Introduction to Sociology/Social Movements/bokyung Kim

1.     summary

This writing talks about social movements. Social movements work formally and individually with social alliances of people linked to common interests. Social movements and social movement organizations are different. The social movements include democratic movements that work for political rights, labor movements that work for control of the workplace, and ecological movements that involve the environment. Social movements can cause opposition movements. Sociologist Aberle divides social movements into four types. The criterion is ‘who is the movement attempting to change?' And how much change is being advocated?' The stages of social movements are divided for various reasons. There are various theories about social movements. It includes Deprivation Theory, Mass-Society Theory, Structural-Strain Theory, Resource-Mobilization Theory, Political Process Theory, and Culture Theory. And, There are many new theories. Examples of social movements include civil rights movement in the United States, environmental movement, green movement, gay rights movement and so on.

 

2.     Interesting point

As we live in modern society, we can see various social movements. I find it interesting that it can happen individually. It means that individuals can move society. It is also surprising that social movements can be divided into different stages. Through this writing, I can see that there are many theories and examples of social movements. I think it means that people have long ago changed society for their rights and desires. I think it is a very good phenomenon. Of course there are exceptions,  I think the more social movements happen, the more society develops. I would like to see more social movements to develop our society better. Among the various social movement theories, I was most interested in culture theory. Among the various examples, the gay rights movement was the most interesting I want to learn more about the new examples of social movements.

 

3.     Discussion point

According to this writing, you are a person who can change society by causing social movements. Have you ever had the desire to make social movements in your life? What's that? I wonder what your opinion is.