Social Movement Theory: New Social Movement Theory

This article focuses on new social movement theory. It provides an analysis of the history, applications, and strengths and weaknesses of the theory. An overview of the origins and main principles of new social movement theory is included as well as a discussion of new social movement theory as applied to social movement formation. In particular, the article analyzes the environmental movement from the perspective of new social movement theory. The main criticisms of new social movement theory are also explored.

Keywords Collective Action; Mass Society Theory; New Middle Class; New Social Movement Theory; New Social Movements; Postindustrial Society; Relative Deprivation Theory; Resource Mobilization Theory; Social Movement Theory; Society; Sociology; Structural-Strain Theory; Value-Added Theory

New Social Movement Theory

Overview

The following is an analysis of new social movement theory. New social movement theory argues that contemporary social movements are performing collective action in markedly different ways than traditional social movements. Sociologists use new social movement theory to analyze the role of new social movements in contemporary, postindustrial society. Understanding the history, applications, and strengths and weaknesses of new social movement theory is vital background for all those interested in the sociology of social movements and collective action. This article explains new social movement theory in three parts:

• An overview of the main principles and history of new social movement theory.

• A description of how new social movement theory is applied to analyze and understand social movements such as the environmental movement.

• A discussion of the main criticisms of new social movement theory.

The Main Principles of New Social Movement Theory

Sociologists use new social movement theory to explain the role of social movements in postindustrial societies. Social movements refer to a voluntary organization of individuals who act in concert to make or block changes. Social movements are power-oriented groups rather than participation-oriented movements, meaning that the group actions of social movements are not necessarily of primary benefit to individual members but instead serve the groups' larger goals. Coordinated group actions are undertaken to make changes in the larger sociopolitical context. Social movements tend to be most successful in open, democratic societies in which social mobility and social change are accepted concepts. Norm-oriented social movements are more common than value-oriented social movements. Norm-oriented movements refer to groups that attempt changes within the system whereas value-oriented movements refer to groups that attempt to change the basic goals of a system (Morrison, 1971).

New social movement theory refers to a new paradigm of social movement activity and collective action. Contemporary social movements are characterized by strategies, goals, and membership distinct from tradition social movements. New social movement theorists and scholars explain new social movements as arising from numerous channels in society. For example, new social movements are seen as expressions of civil society's desire for structural change and arise from the growing importance and ubiquity of information in our increasingly knowledge-based society. New social movements are also seen as an inevitable outcome of changing social, economic, and political relationships in the postindustrial society. New social movements are movements for change based on the desire for structural reform rather than revolution, do not attempt to dismantle the existing political and economic systems and are characterized by their self-limiting radicalism. New social movement helps to explain the changing forms of political organization and the shifting relations between public and private spheres in postindustrial societies (Lentin, 1999).

New social movement theory dominates current social movement research and allows for the study of macro external elements and micro internal elements (Fuchs, 2006). New social movements, which began to emerge in the 1950s, include social movements that arise from the conflicts in postindustrial revolution society and economy. New social movements are a loosely connected group of collective actions that have displaced the traditional social movement of proletarian revolution (Buechler, 1993).

New social movement theory argues that new social movements, such as antiwar, environmental, civil rights and feminist movements, are distinct from other traditional social movements such as labor movements. Traditional social movements tend to be engaged in class conflict while new social movements are engaged in political and social conflict. Traditional social movements tend to focus on economic concerns and inequalities. Members of new social movements are most often from a segment of society referred to as the new middle class. New social movements encourage members to engage in lifestyle changes, tend to have supporters rather than members and are characterized as loosely organized networks. These movements differ from protest groups or movements as they often desire to see change on a global scale as opposed to the single issues taken on by protest groups.

The History of New Social Movement Theory

New social movement theory belongs to the larger body of interdisciplinary theory called social movement theory. Social movement theory, which began in the late nineteenth century, refers to the study of social mobilization including its social, cultural, and political manifestations and consequences. Social movement theory proposes that social movements are, in many instances, created through the use and manipulation of frames and information. Social movement scholarship is often motivated by a desire for social change and may integrate scholarship and activism. In the case of new social movement theory, social movement theorists study how groups manipulate information, identity, and structure to achieve goals. The interdisciplinary history of social movement theory includes six main areas of study:

• New social movement theory;

• Value-added theory;

• Structural-strain theory;

• Relative deprivation theory;

• Resource mobilization theory;

• Mass society theory (Benford & Snow, 2000).

New social movements, such as antiwar, environmental, civil rights, and feminist movements, began to emerge in the 1950s and 1960s. In the 1970s and 1980s, social movement theorists began to recognize the relationship between new social movements, structural transformation, and identity politics. New social movements were found to be promoting and facilitating new forms of collective action and behavior. Beginning in the 1960s, two new areas of social movement theory developed. New social movement theory developed in Europe and resource mobilization theory developed in North America. New social movement theory developed in the 1960s in response to traditional social movement theory that considered social movements to be irrational and the result of personal grievances and discontent (Fuchs, 2006). During this time and into the 1990s, social scientific studies of collective action experienced a paradigm shift from a focus on mass behavior in the early twentieth century to political process and new social movements (Edelman, 2001).

New social movement theory developed in response to traditional analysis of social movements with its theorists abandoning the traditional social-psychological analysis of social movements typical of relative deprivation theory and mass society theory. Traditional social-psychological theories of social movements focused on what attracted individuals to social movements including factors like personality traits, grievances, disillusionment, and ideology. These traditional social-psychological theories of social movements also considered participation in social movements to be irrational and unconventional behavior.

In the 1960s and 1970s, new social movement theorists used the example of the many social movements happening at the time to challenge the assumptions of the traditional theories of social movements. For example, new social movement theorists, through their studies of the anti-war, environmental, civil rights and feminist movements, found that social movements focus on identity-construction, structural change, and information control to effect change. In the 1960s, new social movement theory eclipsed the traditional theories of social movements, namely relative deprivation theory and mass society theory, as the main European social theory explaining the workings of social movements. New social movement theory broke with traditional theories of social movements and radically challenged perceived truths about how social movements operate (Klandermans, 1984).

Important contributors to new social movement theory include Claus Offe, Alberto Melucci, Alain Touraine, and Jurgen Habermas. These prominent European new social movement theorists use examples of social movements from their European nations of origin, Germany, Italian, and France, to build and support their theories about new social movements and collective action. Claus Offe focuses on comparison of traditional and new paradigms of collective action. Alain Touraine examines the emergence of new social movements in postindustrial societies. Alberto Melucci analyzes how the movement of information affects contemporary conflicts and collective actions. Jurgen Habermas argues that new social movements develop from a tension between systems integration and social integration. Despite the very specific and local European examples used by these theorists, new social movement theory has been applied to collective action around the globe (Lentin, 1999).

Claus Offe

Claus Offe, born in 1940, is a political sociologists committed to analyzing political relationships through a Marxist lens. Offe focuses his study of new social movements on the structural issues associated with collective action and is committed to analyzing the shifting power relations in all social phenomena and social and political conflict. Offe argues that contemporary social movements are doing something fundamentally different from old or traditional social movements. Using examples from Germany, he argues that social movements should be divided into two prototypes of collective action: the old paradigm social movements and the new paradigm social movements (Offe, 1985). Offe considers new social movements to be non-institutional in nature and recognizes that new social movements and traditional social movements continue to compete for membership and notice. He predicts that the ability of new social movements to completely replace traditional social movements is based on new social movements' success with alliances. According to Offe, members of the new middle class and members of decommodified groups, such as students, the unemployed, and stay at home parents, often join forces in alliances to further the goals of new social movements.

Offe believes that new social movements emerged from the changes in class structure that occurred in the mid-twentieth century. The rise of a new middle class, comprised of highly educated, economically secure individuals, is associated with the development of new social movements. The new middle class is thought to be particularly sympathetic to the issues advanced by issue-based movements including the peace movement, environmental movement, women's movement, and civil-rights movement. Ultimately, Offe argues that the new middle class will further the goals of new social movements by pushing for structural transformation of existing political and economic structures (Lentin, 1999). Offe's best known works include Institutional Design in Post-Communist Societies (1998), The Varieties of Transition: the East European and East German Experience (1996), and Modernity and the State: East, West (1996).

Alberto Melucci

Alberto Melucci, an Italian sociologist, was one of the first to describe contemporary social movements as new social movements. Melucci argues that the issue of identity separates traditional social movements from new social movements. His theory is based on the assumption that individual and group identity in new social movements is linked to important social processes. According to Melucci, new social movements reach out and appeal to supporters with offers of identity and belonging. This occurs for three reasons:

• The transition in the West from industrial to postindustrial society;

• The rise of the new middle class;

• The transformation of social identities from latent to visible.

Melucci's critics argue that his work is mired in traditional social movement theory and a limited view of the changing political identities in new social movements.

Melucci's study of new social movements focuses on the acquisition of information by new social movements. Melucci connects the evolution of social movements with new modes of information sharing and deployment. Melucci considers information to be the key resource of new social movements and postindustrial societies in general. Melucci argues that new social movements differ from traditional social movements in their ability manipulate information and their capacity to change institutional and political structures in direct and indirect ways (Vahabzadeh, 2001).

Alain Touraine

Alain Touraine, a French sociologist born in 1925, studies the relationship between the subject, or the individual, and social movements. He considers the subject to be the fundamental agent of social movements and studies the ways in which structural and cultural dimensions intersect in new social movements and collective actions. Touraine developed an action-theoretical analysis of the identity formation process that actors go through as members of social movements (Cohen, 1985). According to Touraine, social movements refer to collective actions aimed at the implementation of central cultural values. Touraine believes that new social movements combine social conflict and cultural participation (Lentin, 1999). Touraine's best known works include The Workers’ Movement (1987), Return of the Actor (1988), and Critique of Modernity (1995).

Jurgen Habermas

Jurgen Habermas, born in 1929, is a sociologist and philosopher who developed the concept of communicative action to explain the situations in which the actions of the agents involved are coordinated not through goal-directed activity but through acts of reaching cooperative understanding and interpretation. According to Habermas, the theory of communicative action allows theorists to reconceptualize rationality and the organization of the social world (Camic & Gross, 1998). Habermas argues that new social movements develop as a result of the intrusion by the state and the market into areas of private life. New social movements develop from the tension between system integration (i.e. the steering mechanisms of a society) and social integration (i.e. forces of socialization, meaning-production, and value-formation) and are, according to Habermas, defensive reactions of individuals and groups hoping to protect, defend, or recreate endangered lifestyles. New social movements form at the intersection of the larger social and political system and people's lived experiences (Canel, 2004).

In the final analysis, new social movement theory, which focuses on the connections between social movements, information, identity, and structure, redefines how contemporary social movements are studied and conceptualized. New social movement theory developed in the 1960s from the growing body of interest in and data collected about social movements. It marks a departure from the traditional understanding of social movements and collective action. New social movement theory takes a new perspective on the old problem of the individual and society.

Applications

New social movements, including the antiwar, environmental, civil rights, and feminist movements, first emerged in the 1950s in response to political, economic, and social changes in postwar society. Many early new social movements were classified as conflictual movements that used protests and strikes to achieve their goals. Sociologists use new social movement theory to analyze how new social movements form and achieve their objectives for change (Paletz, 2002). In the case of the environmental movement, sociologists can apply new social movement theory to analyze and understand how it builds identity, solicits and builds support, manipulates and deploys information, and works to change structural elements in society to achieve goals.

Sociologists and social movement theorists in general are increasingly studying environmental organizations to understand the mechanisms and strategies employed by new social movements in general. Environmentalism refers to the study of the connections between the natural habitat of the earth's flora and fauna, changes in human social systems, and perceptions of justice concerning human-natural environment interactions. The modern environmental movement, which began in the 1960s and 1970s, was brought into public consciousness through three events including the publication of Rachel Carson's Silent Spring (1962); the founding of the US Environmental Protection Agency in 1970; and the creation of green political parties. Green political parties refer to political groups that value and promote the issues of conservation of natural resources, environmental protection, and sustainable development.

The environmental movement in the United States has become deeply associated with environmental organizations such as the Sierra Club and Greenpeace. These and other environmental organizations create and promote the environmental movement's identity. Environmental organizations manipulate and deploy information in strategic ways to convey their message and further identity-formation. In addition, environmental organizations serve as the voice and the muscle that works to bring about political, pro-environmentalism changes.

Sociologists study the multiple discourses present in the U.S. environmental movement. The most common types of environmental discourse include conservationism, preservationism, ecocentrism, political ecology, deep ecology, and ecofeminism. Sociologists studying the environmental movements follow two areas of inquiry: qualitative examination and comparison of movement organizations and aggregate patterns of organizational behavior. Qualitative examinations of movement organizations tend to yield information about the discourse and practices of specific environmental organizations. Study of aggregate patterns of organizational behavior yield information about patterns of environmental collective action (Brulle, 1996).

The environmental movement works to change structures in society as a means of furthering the environmental agenda. The environmental movement builds identity through publications, events, and targeted positive media exposures. Identity-building is intentional and strategic. Environmental groups, such as the Sierra Club, have become proficient in reaching members through the mass media and direct contact campaigns. The Sierra Club issues online alerts to members informing their constituents about environmental issues. For example, in 2008, the Sierra Club issued an alert urging members to petition Congress to strengthen the global warming bill. The Sierra Club informed members that strong global warming legislation must set science-based targets for reducing global warming emissions and drive investment in our clean energy economy (Latest Alerts, 2008).

Issues

New social movement theory was based on the developments in the environmental, peace and women's organizations that originated in the 1950s through the 1970s. New social movement theory fell out of favor in the early 1980s. In the 1980s, once vocal supporters of new social movement theory, in the field of sociology and social theory in general, began to argue that that the post-materialist movements of the 1970s and 1980s, such as those concerning the environment, peace and feminism, no longer challenged contemporary Western values and politics in any meaningful way.

Some sociologists criticize the new social movement theory's claim that new social movements replaced traditional social movements. Critics argue that social movements with the characteristics of new social movements existed during industrial times and traditional social movements continue to exist side-by-side with new social movements. Critics find that there is little research to support a true differentiation between new social movements and traditional social movements. In addition, critics of new social movement theory find fault with new social movement theory's concern with and focus on liberal politics and near disregard for conservative politics and social movements. Critics of new social movement theory argue that the mission and goals of new social movements have been eclipsed by transnational agencies and agendas. Critics question whether new social movements have any relevance in the new millennium —a time characterized by globalization and the intersection of public and private interests (Lentin, 1999).

Terms & Concepts

Collective Action: Spontaneous social actions that occur outside of prevailing social structures and institutions.

Mass Society Theory: An interdisciplinary critique of mass media's effect on society.

New Middle Class: A segment of society comprised of highly educated, economically secure individuals.

New Social Movement Theory: A new paradigm of social movement activity and collective action.

New Social Movements: Social movements that arise from the conflicts in postindustrial revolution society and economy.

Postindustrial Society: A society characterized by the transition from an economy based on manufacturing to an economy based on service and privatization of capital.

Relative Deprivation Theory: The idea that feelings of deprivation and discontent are related to a desired point of reference (i.e., reference groups).

Resource Mobilization Theory: The idea that social movements arise from long-term changes in a group's organization, available resources, and opportunities for group action.

Social Movement Theory: The study of social mobilization including its social, cultural, and political manifestations and consequences.

Society: A group of individuals united by values, norms, culture, or organizational affiliation.

Sociology: The scientific study of human social behavior, human association, and the results of social activities.

Structural-Strain Theory: A theory which asserts that structures in society may promote deviance and crime.

Value-Added Theory: A social movement theory which argues that certain social conditions are necessary for the development of social movements.

Bibliography

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Canel, E. (2004). New social movement theory and resource mobilization theory: The need for integration. The International Development Research Center. Retrieved May 24, 2008, from http://www.idrc.ca/en/ev-54446-201-1-DO_TOPIC.html

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Suggested Reading

Barnard, A. V. (2011). ‘Waving the banana’ at capitalism: Political theater and social movement strategy among New York’s ‘freegan’ dumpster divers. Ethnography, 12, 419-444. Retrieved October 27, 2013 from EBSCO Online Database SocINDEX with Full Text. http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=sih&AN=67513751

Klandermans, B. (1984). Mobilization and participation: Social-psychological expansions of resource mobilization theory. American Sociological Review, 49 , 583-600. Retrieved May 24, 2008, from EBSCO Online Database Academic Search Premier. http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=aph&AN=14858682&site=ehost-live

Mees, L. (2004). Politics, economy, or culture? The rise and development of Basque nationalism in the light of social movement theory. Theory & Society, 33 (3/4), 311-331. Retrieved May 24, 2008, from EBSCO Online Database Academic Search Complete. http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=a9h&AN=14205233&site=ehost-live

Panagiotidis, E., MacDougall, C., & Erdem, E. (2013). Passionate undertakings: New collectives, indeterminate spaces of mobility, and the politics of affect. Rethinking Marxism, 25, 404-420. Retrieved October 27, 2013 from EBSCO Online Database SocINDEX with Full Text. http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=sih&AN=88395620

Rose, F. (1997). Toward a class-cultural theory of social movements: Reinterpreting new social movements. Sociological Forum, 12 , 461-494. Retrieved May 24, 2008, from EBSCO Online Database Academic Search Premier. http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=aph&AN=11302496&site=ehost-live