During lecture this past week, we discussed social change and social movements. It is important to understand the differences between these two concepts. Social change occurs when there is a transformation of society over time. Social movements are an intentional, organized effort to promote or prevent social change. Many people may assume that social movements are only to impose an idea or action but they also include efforts to prevent any kind of social change from happening.
Social moments can consist of collective behavior and resource mobilization. Collective behavior tends to be erratic, spontaneous, and unstructured. Resource mobilization is very different from that. It is organized, planned, and structured. Examples of collective behavior would be the initial reaction to Rosa Parks and violent civil rights reactions. A good example of resource mobilization is Martin Luther King Jr. His acts were always very structured and organized, following all legal rules.
Social movements can be split into four different categories:
Alternative social movements
Reformative social movements
Redemptive social movements
Revolutionary social movements
What makes these categories different is who is being affected by the change and how much change is occurring. Alternative means there are only select individuals being affected and that the change is limited. Reformative is when everyone is affected but the change is still limited. Radical and revolutionary occur when the change is radical but redemptive only affects specific individuals while revolutionary affects everyone.
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