Democratic System That the Majority

¶ … democratic system that the majority of countries now possess, the frequency and intensity of social movements have become even more evident than in previous centuries. In general social movements can be defined as any broad social alliances of people who are connected through there shared interest in blocking or affecting social change. The majority of social movements are not completely organized nor do they have a centralized infrastructure, rather they are a melting pot of individuals who have shared interests. There are many theories developed by sociologists on why individuals join social movements, the following analysis will examine these prevalent theories to develop a greater understanding of why individuals join in social movements.

One of the most prominent theories within this arena is the Deprivation theory; this theory argues that social movements are initiated when individuals feel that they have been deprived of a good or resource that they should possess. Dr. Morrison, one of the prominent advocates of this theory, argues that social movements organized around deprivation are most likely to succeed because all individuals have a shared cause, these individuals all feel deprived of a good, service or comfort and as a result will rally around a movement to allow them regain their losses. Although this theory is persuasive on many levels many critics have discredited it because individuals face deprivation on a daily basis but do not consistently form social movements. Therefore, it can be argued that while deprivation is one of the core reasons that a social movement is formed it is the not "lynchpin" issue that causes individuals to join social movements in and of themselves.

Another final cited theory that forms the impetus for why individuals join social movement is the mass society theory. This theory argues that individuals are motivated by the feeling of communal cohesion to join social movements. Society at its current level is too large for individuals and thus in order to make they feel like they have significant as well as attached to society's underpinnings, they form social movements. Thus, social movements provide both a sense of empowerment and belonging that individuals crave within our current society. On a conceptual level this theory is very articulate because it specifically addresses how individuals will act given the circumstances proposed above, however the reality of the situation is that few if any individuals truly join such causes with the explicit reason of seeking social cohesion. Studies conducted upon recent social movements showed that the most likely scenario of individuals joining a social group involves having a friend or associate who is also a member of the group.

Given that none of the two above theories completely explain the picture of why individuals join social movements, sociologists have proposed a combination of many different factors based upon empirical analysis to understand the motivations of each individual. This collectivist theory is termed the Structural Strain theory. Dr. Smelser proposed it in 1962. This theory basically combines the above two theories together by arguing that social movements are initiated through the combination of many factors. It starts when individuals within a society realizes that there is a problem and that they are experiencing deprivation as a result of this problem. It continues through the propagation of solutions to this problem at a grassroots level, individuals are thus motivated by the proposed solutions to act for greater change on a regional and national level. This mixes in elements from the mass society theory, where individuals feel that they have found a solution that could be applicable to a broad spectrum of society. The essential difference within this theory is that individuals are motivated by a specific event that serves as a catalyst for their social movement. For the Civil Rights movement this catalyst was Martin Luther King Jr. And most specifically the organization of the million man march upon Washington D.C. It was this event and the "I have a dream" speech that ignited an entire nation to take notice of civil rights and eventually lead to major changes within the national conscience. Another notable factor is that individuals must feel that they are empowered to change. In essence the social institution or control must be susceptible to the changes demanded by the social movement. Through the process of enfranchisement individuals feel that they have the collective ability to influence national level policy. Only after all of these steps are resolves will actual mobilization of a social movement occur.