Why Do Social Movements Form, and How Do They Organize to Achieve Their Aims - Coursework Example

Why do social movements form, and how do they organize to achieve their aims? Introduction Social movement is a result of shared activity among individuals who are looking forward to the establishment of better things associated with living (Lyman, 1995). In this argument, it is obvious that one of the reasons why there is an existence of social movement is the presence of shared activity among individuals. Furthermore, any shared activities are considered a form of social movement that definitely must have substantial impact on every person’s life. One could therefore presume that in this line of reasoning, an individual is looking forward to elemental benefits in coming together in a group or social networks. Perhaps, this is one of the most important reasons why do social movements form. Regarding this, it is also important to know how they organize to achieve their objectives. Facebook for instance as a social network depicts these specific characteristics. In this social website, everyone has the opportunity to be heard. On the other hand, people also have the chance to create their own networks or groups and they have substantial reasons why they want to form these aside from becoming integral parts with the network as a whole. One probable reason is connection. In today’s modern society, connection is important because it leads to trust and transparency which in the long run would have become integral components in making the best out of having contact with different people. This might sound too personal in detail and as it may sound, but in general sense, people would want to come in a group because when everyone unites, there is a great chance that each voice will come in unison and there is a huge opportunity for it to be taken into account. So these are just some remarkable insights about people coming in social groups which eventually have noteworthy implications on the emancipation of social movements at any sort. However, in this paper, the proponent focuses in detail on feminism as a social movement and how it particularly achieved its aims and environmentalism. Regarding this, the proponent tries to investigate some reasons why do social movements form. In addition, the discussion contains some information how do these social movements organize to achieve their aims. So here are the following discussions pertaining to these objectives. Presence of democratic value One important reason why do social movements form is due to the fact that humans are social beings who tend to be part of a social group. In order to determine this, there are some manifestations that one could observe. Personally, there is a significant point to consider that people indeed want to be heard. For example, people in Great Britain are active in protest and in joining political parties (Byrne, 1997). Tantamount to their ability to be heard is the actual situation of their freedom. In a way, one could say that they have indeed high democratic value. At this point, each one has democratic freedom and this has important impact because it makes people to freely express themselves. As stated, the very manifestation of this is the active participation of people in politics in Great Britain. In doing so, almost everyone has the ability to come up with a powerful force to represent the voice of the people. In order to prove this, let us take a closer look at the case of ongoing competitive authoritarianism in Russia. One important factor that political analysts viewed to be elemental reasons why democracy failed in Russia is the lack of democratic value of its people. The main argument is that there is influence of Soviet era among the people in Russia making them more dependent on their leaders and which make them pass on their responsibility to them instead of they themselves should represent the voice of the majority (O’Neil, 2009). In other words, democratic value is substantially one important factor that could maximize the ability of people to involve themselves in social movements in Britain. After all, people in this country remarkably developed a culture that would substantially give them the freedom to voice out themselves. In fact, women who happened to be fighting for their basic and ultimate social rights in other cultures have actually made it to a point in Britain to successfully come up with varying social movements. The very proof is the institution of renowned feminist groups which eventually are fighting for a cause. As stated earlier, people are widely involved in Politics in Great Britain (Byrne, 1997). This does not exempt women in general. Therefore, women have substantially exercised their democratic freedom and with this, they have witnessed the potential of exercising their basic social rights. Without question, this must have eventually given them the opportunity to achieve the basic foundation of instituting a social movement. In fact, their ability to participate in various organizations and tie up with various individuals could remarkably prove the point that it is not only on economic reasons women are advancing their status in the society (Rowbotham, 1992). They basically have something to contribute in the society and this eventually leads to the achievement of their objectives and reaching the point of environmentalism. As a result, women realized that they have something to contribute in the society aside from their ultimate quest to be as equal counterpart of men (Rowbotham, 1992). This remarkably has become the source of mindset towards environmentalism as women must have understood among themselves that they could do something far more greater impact in the society. When they would unite themselves in a social movement, they could actually engage themselves with a certain cause especially for the preservation of life, promoting sustainability by exploring their chance to take care of the environment and other relevant issues. Experience Another important reason why social movements especially among the group of women could form in Britain is vivid and clear in the presence of liberal values of toleration and responsible government. According to John Locke, these factors must have become the fundamental components of the success of the enlightenment in Europe (Dunn, 2003). In the achievement of these Locke would want to point out that people might have substantial experiences in life that they could integrate with their daily living while challenges from the past and the future continuously face them. Locke added that these experiences could be much more effective if people integrate them with their senses, which the vital point of learning would come into realization. From this point of view, the liberal value of toleration and responsible government must have been acquired. Locke simply talks in here about transformation. He definitely does not argue that this transformation could substantially be in a form of social movements. After all, people are substantially using their experiences in order to transform their lives into something better, and so any form of social movement must not be an exemption. As a result, from Locke’s perspective, the achievement of liberal value of toleration and responsible government are just the results of people’s experiences. In Britain, the reason why these substantially exist is an indication that people could attest from their experiences that these could give them greater chance to be more dynamic in their contribution to enhance further the government’s performance in serving its people. Applying this in the context of feminism, women therefore could substantially acquire the knowledge of any sort of social movement from their experiences. Prior to the period of enlightenment women witnessed how would it feel to be discriminated and treated as less in social worth compared with their male counterparts, which reflects the prevailing trend at present, in public office, and even in UK’s judicial system (Fredman, 2011). Thus, the appeal to substantially wipe out this kind of thinking against women has become so dynamic. Even in the context of women’s potential as humans has become one of the most heated discussions and debates. Martin (1992) strongly emphasizes this point by describing women as machines which have great role for the preservation of life. This argument is substantially based experience of women’s stages of conception and delivery of new life forms. From what actually observed as experience, Martin points out that women indeed have greater value because of their help in the preservation of life. At this point, it is clear that Martin would want to emphasize that women must have substantial drive in obtaining power to promote social movements because of their great role for the survival of human race. This way of thinking prevails in Britain as enlightenment of thought prevails due to various experiences (Midgley, 2007). On the other hand, the point of Martin substantially leads to the conclusion that women after all must have been successful in their quest to be equal with men as they have the ability to contribute for the preservation of life, which vividly an integral component of environmentalism issue. Conclusion There could be other relevant factors that could help point out the presence of social movements, but in this article, the proponent believes that the presence of democratic values and experiences in Great Britain actually paved the way for the rise of feminism. Understanding these factors will eventually prove the point that women are indeed integral components in the preservation of life which would bring them the opportunity for political, economic and social power. References Byrne, P. (1997). Social Movements in Britain. London: Routledge. Dunn, J. (2003). Locke: A Very Short Introduction. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Fredman, S. (2011). Discrimination Law (2nd ed.). Oxford: Oxford University Press. Lyman, S. M. (1995). Social movements: critiques, concepts, case-studies. Macmillan. Martin, E. (1992). The woman in the body: a cultural analysis of reproduction (2nd ed.). Boston, MA: Beacon Press. Midgley, C. (2007). Feminism and Empire: Women Activists in Imperial Britain, 1790-1865. Oxon: Routledge. O’Neil, P. H. (2009). Essentials of Comparative Politics (3rd ed.). New York, NY: W.W. Norton. Rowbotham, S. (1992). Women in movement: feminism and social action. London: Routledge. Read More