A person is a social being that can not exist absolutely apart and be outside of society. That is why throughout the entire historical process of our development and to the present day there is a phenomenon such as - mass social movements.
Before turning to the consideration of their features, let's expand on the content of the term in more detail. Modern social movements - a special type of collective associations or actions, whose focus is on the topic that is relevant to them. This can be both a political kind of problem, and some social phenomena.
Social organizations and social movements
New social movements are capable of directing collective efforts in a certain direction, which can lead to significant changes in the established structure of life, up to changes in the social structure of society.
Causes of social movements
Today, many sociologists believe that an increase in the number of social movements is associated with the development of the importance of education in people's lives. Personality and social movements are in continuous interaction. A person engaged in self-education and the development of a "free personality" in himself begins to expand the boundaries of his horizons, as a result, this leads to the fact that people who have several higher educations consider obsolete or unacceptable the norms that exist in society today. They are eager to transform, to enter a newer and higher quality of life.
Types of social movements
Specialists distinguish several classifications of types of social movements, the most frequently pronounced of which is the scale of the alleged changes.
1. Reformist - public efforts are aimed at changing only certain norms of society, and usually by legal methods. An example of such social movements can serve as:
- Trade unions fighting for workers' rights;
- Green, fighting for the conservation of clean living conditions, etc.
2. Radical - advocate for a change in the system as a whole. The aim of their efforts is to change the fundamental principles and principles
- the civil rights movement in the United States.
The diversity of social movements can be attributed to the peculiarities of social movements, because in our society there are: feminist, political, youth, religious movements etc.
Expressive, utopian, revolutionary and reformist social movements played an important role in the development of society. Practice shows that by achieving its goal, social movements cease to exist as unofficial organizations and are transformed into institutions.