Social Activism Today - Essay Example

Social Activism Today Social activism is an intentional action with the aim to bring about changes in social or political issues. These actions could be in support of, or opposition to, one side of a contentious dispute. The word 'activism' is often used synonymously with protest or dissent, but activism can stem from any number of political orientations and take a wide range of forms, from writing letters to newspapers or politicians, simply shopping ethically, rallies and street marches, direct action, or even guerilla tactics (Activism). In the more provoking cases, an activist may be called a freedom fighter by some and a terrorist by others, depending on which side of the political fence is observing (Activism). Sociologist's definitions of social activism stress the qualities for collective and innovative behavior, extra-institutionality, their network character and multi-centeredness, the changing and liquid boundaries of movement membership, and the willingness of members to disrupt order in a great or lesser degree (Gerlach and Hine 1970). Social activists are people who act as the conscience and voice of many individuals within a society. They address and challenge their nation on ethical and moral, human rights, animal rights, and environmental issues, to name a few (Social Activist). Morality, in the strictest sense of the word, deals with that which is innately regarded as right or wrong. The term is often used to refer to a system of main beliefs and judgments shared by cultural, religious, and philosophical concepts and beliefs, by which humans subjectively determine whether given actions are right or wrong (Morality). These concepts and beliefs are often generalized and codified by a culture or group, and thus serve to control the behavior of its members. Traditional values to such codification may also be called morality, and the group may depend on common conformity to such codes for its continued existence. A "moral" may refer to a particular principle, usually as an informal and general summary with respect to a moral principle, as it is applied in a given human situation (Morality). It is the common understanding of natural environment that underlies Environmentalism, a broad political, social, and philosophical movement that advocates various actions and policies in the interest of protecting what nature remains in the natural environment, or restoring or expanding the role of nature in this environment (Natural Environment). Environmentalist groups are usually concerned with issues such as; reducing fuel consumption of society, development of alternative low carbon or renewable energy sources, conservation and responsible use of water resources, pollution of land and air, protection of the fragile ecosystems, preservation and propagation of endangered species or ecosystems, the establishment of nature and biosphere reserves under various types of protection, most generally, the protection of biodiversity and ecosystems upon which all human and other life on earth depends (Natural Environment). Greenpeace International is one example of these environmental-oriented groups. Greenpeace is a non-profit organization, with a presence in 40 countries across Europe, the Americas, Asia and the Pacific (About us). Greenpeace has been campaigning against environmental degradation since 1971 when a small boat of volunteers and journalists sailed into Amchitka, an area north of Alaska where the US Government was conducting underground nuclear tests. This tradition of 'bearing witness' in a non-violent manner continues today, and our ships are an important part of all our campaign work (About us). The best-known histories of the human rights movement tend to begin with the ancient religions, societies, and show the evolution of concepts and institutions of human rights across civilizations. The Human Rights concept can be traced far back as the Ancients (the role of the individual in the state) but the idea of civil and political rights stems from liberal freedoms advocated by John Stuart Mill in On Liberty (qtd. from Human Rights). Additionally, the concepts of economic, social and cultural Rights can be traced back to Hegel's Elements of the Philosophy of Right. The origin of modern positive rights in international law may be traced to the formation of the International Labor Organization in 1919 as a Western response to the socialist ideology of the Russian Revolution of 1917 (qtd. from Human Rights). Sociologists have tried to define and redefine "social movement" in relation to the kind of protests that occur in the society. American sociologists in the early- to mid-twentieth century characterized social movements as being on a continuum of ingenious collective behavior, as the organized end of a spectrum whose opposite pole was crowds and riots (Blumer 1939; see also Turner and Killian 1987). For these scholars, known as collective behaviorists, social movements were highly organized but non-routine entities where people interacted to establish new meanings about politics (and other subjects), and where they challenged power based on the making of these new meanings. Some variations on collective behavior theory emphasized the disorderly side of movement activism, seeing actors in movements as problematic for democracy. Kornhauser's (1959) "mass society" theory, for example, painted protesters as alienated and atomistic, the product of structurally abnormal nation-states; hence the mass movements of fascism and communism were both pathological manifestations of ill-channeled popular discontent (qtd. from Roth and Horan). In 1950s and 1960s, American social movements were at odds and atomistic. The largely middle class social base of those movements--the Black Civil Rights movement, the student movement, the peace and anti-Vietnam war movement, other racial/ethnic liberation movements, the environmental movement, the gay and lesbian liberation movement, and remobilized feminist movements--precluded scholars from seeing protestors as only malcontents (qtd. from Roth and Horan). In the late 1960s, the Vietnam War took the people's attention especially the younger generation from across the United States (Protest and Social Activism). There was a strong sense of social accountability and Americans took to the streets to protest the Vietnam War. The Milwaukee 14, a group of priests and college professors burned 10,000 draft notices in downtown. The Milwaukee Peace Action Center organized peace demonstrations and spread information on anti-war activism throughout the city (Protest and Social Activism). United States also has a compelling history of civil rights activism. The Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) worked tirelessly to end school segregation by setting up "Freedom Schools (Protest and Social Activism)." The Milwaukee chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), led by their Youth Commando squad, took part in a series of theatrical marches throughout the summer of 1967 to bring attention to the need for an equal housing law. Leaders such as Lloyd Barbee, Vel Phillips and Father Groppi played pivotal roles in the communication of civil rights issues (Protest and Social Activism). The Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr. was one of the great civil activists during the 60's. Martin Luther King, Jr. was an American Nobel Laureate, Baptist minister and Negro. He is one of the most significant leaders in U.S. history and in the modern history of non-violence and many people around the world considers him a martyr. A decade and a half after his 1968 assassination, Martin Luther King Day, a U.S. holiday, was established in his honor. He was also awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom (qtd. from Martin Luther King Jr.). In the 70's women's rights, groups used protest and activism throughout the U.S. One such group was the NOW (National Organization of Women) (Protest and Social Activism). The National Organization of Women (NOW) touched on almost every women's rights issue, including abortion rights, divorce reform, equal pay and credit legislation, consciousness raising, gender equity in education, poverty, childcare, sex segregation in public places, political campaigns, sexual assault, and marital property reform. Moreover, another women-oriented group 'The Women's Coalition' was founded in 1972 that enjoyed the support of many women's group that developed in Milwaukee during the feminist movement of the 1970s (Protest and Social Activism). By the beginning of the 1990s, there was renewed emphasis among scholars of American social movements on the interaction processes involved in making social movements. This move was fueled in part by European "new social movement" theory, developed by those attempting to make sense of social activism in the increasingly post-industrial, prosperous societies of Europe (qtd. from Roth and Horan). In the U.S., scholars began to take more "social constructionist" views of movement politics, seeking to comprehend how the accessibility of resources and opportunities dovetailed with the use of cultural meanings by groups, and the creation of new collective identities (Morris and Mueller 1992). Most recently, some sociologists have argued for a much broader "contention" model of movements, which sees struggle as endemic to both institutional and extra-institutional settings, and just as likely to be about cultural issues as about classically political or economic matters (McAdam, Tarrow and Tilly 2001). Social activism will not go away, modern communication technologies such as the internet, satellite television increases man's knowledge and awareness on social and political issues. SMS, as well as other new instant messaging services such as cell phones have made real-time communication a major tool in any protest gatherings. New communication technologies allowed the mass assembly of millions of people in a very short period. One example of this is the recent peaceful 'People Power' revolution in the Philippines that overthrew the Estrada presidency in a bloodless manner. Social movements are generally seen as phenomena of the modern era and industrialized society, whether located in the "First" world or not (Hobsbawm 1959; Tilly 1986). Industrialization and urbanization, technological advancements, and ongoing democraticization allowed people to push for change collectively from the margins of the polity, from outside of less-than-open institutions (qtd. from Roth and Horan). Works Cited "About us." 2005. Greenpeace International. 07 Nov. 2005. . "Activism." Wikipedia. 2 November 2005. Wikimedia. 7 Nov. 2005. . Blumer, Herbert. "Collective Behavior." In Robert E. Park ed. An Outline of the Principles of Sociology. New York: Barnes and Noble, 1939, pp. 219-80. Gerlach, Luther P. and Virginia H. Hine. People, Power, Change: Movements of Social Transformation. Indianapolis: Bobbs-Merrill, 1970. Hobsbawm, Eric. J. Primitive Rebels: Studies in Archaic Forms of Social Movement in the 19th and 20th Centuries. Manchester: Manchester University Press, 1959. "Human Rights." Wikipedia. 7 November 2005. Wikimedia. 7 Nov. 2005. . Kornhauser, William. The Politics of Mass Society. New York: The Free Press, 1959. "Martin Luther King, Jr." Wikipedia. 7 November 2005. Wikimedia. . McAdam, Doug, Sidney G. Tarrow, and Charles Tilly. Dynamics of Contention (Cambridge Studies in Contentious Politics). New York: Cambridge University Press, 2001. "Morality." Wikipedia. 7 November 2005. Wikimedia. 7 Nov. 2005. . Morris, Aldon D. and Carol McClurg Mueller, eds. Frontiers in Social Movement Theory. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1992. "Natural Environment." Wikipedia. 7 November 2005. Wikimedia. 7 Nov. 2005. . "Protest and Social Activism." 21 Sept. 2004. University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee. 07 Nov. 2005. . Roth,Benita and Marian Horan. "What Are Social Movements and What Is Gendered About Women's Participation in Social Movements A Sociological Perspective" University of New York. 07 Nov. 2005. . "Social Activist." Wikipedia. 29 October 2005. Wikimedia. 7 Nov. 2005. . Tilly, Charles. The Contentious French. Cambridge, M.A.: Belknap Press, 1986. Turner, Ralph H. and Lewis M. Killian. Collective Behavior. Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice Hall, 1987. Read More