Social movements Flashcards
Rise of social movements
- Increase since the 70s
- important for the role of cleavages in society and in party system
- many new parties have emerged from social movements
Contentious politics
- Term to describe that politics does not always work top-down, but often bottom-up.
Example = rosa parks deciding not to sit in the back of the bus - Actors make collective claims on other actors
- if these claims (protests, civil disobedience, terrorism) are realised, they would affect the interests of parties involved
- These claims touch the government in the broades possible sense
What is a social movement?
it is an organized form of contentious politics, but less organized than an interest group or political party
Most important characteristics of social movement
- there is collective action
- There is orientation towards opponent
- there is recurrence/ repetition, not just one statement
- there is some degree of organisation
old (proven false) theory on why some grievances are mobilsed into social movements, and why some are succesful and others not
- social movements as a reaction to high transformation where there is deprivation
- this means there are grievances against that imbalance in the system
3 contemporary theoreis on why some grievances are mbilised into social movements, and why some are succesful and others not
- political process model
- resource mobilisation theory
- framing theory
Political process model
- Based on the idea of political opportunity structures
- opportunity structures limit or empower actors
- these structures can be electoral/ party systems, cleavages, institutions, or states
- they can give actors tools or restrict their actions
- looks at how open or closed these structures are
Resource mobilisation theory
- says that resources decide whether social movements are succesful:
can be about:
* material resources: money, time, computers, transporation
* moral resources: position in society seen as pure, becasue they havent dabbled into politics
* Cultural resources: cultural capital, comfartability with institutions and different kind of people
* skill resources:: knowledge, experience, skills to speak…
Framing theory
Suggest that whether or not a social movement is succesful depends on the way in which they can frame the issue the movement is concerned about in order to mobilise people.
3 important things
1. diagnosis: what is problem? Who to blame? causes?
2. Prognosis: What is to be done? how to solve issue?
3. motivation: consequence of prognosis: why will individuals act?
Helps to explain the success or failure of social movements, why a grievance is mobilised
From social movement to movement party
- When social movements move into the electoral arena
- seen as irrational and dangerous for survival of social movement
- when becoming a party: you may be releasing some of your social movement ideas in order for the party to survive.
Why social movements turn to electoral politics
- Due ot political learning. They have goals that they see needs to reorganise society through politcs, and thus needs to form alliances with other parties. The ideology turns vague due of this, but has to be clear enough about the issues of social movement
- they overestimate how well they will do in politics because there is lack of information due to institutional barriers or opportunity structures
- they see an opportunity to act. Partly because the salience of that issue is high
Party structure/ characteristiscs movement parties
- invest little in institutional organisation
- spend little time in aggregating interests
- attempt to engage in street action + electoral politics
- do decide later to enter more electoral politics
What happens when social movements turn into movement parties
They often lose their movement nature + turn into political party for 2 reasons:
1. they are forced by trying to get voters through spatial competition to expand their issue
2. they have to deal with the iron rule of oligarchy which says then when you enter electoral politics, you have to centralise leadership and become more organised.
