New Social Movements

1
New Social Movements

• www.educationforum.co.uk

2
What is a New Social Movement

• Share many similarities with outsider pressure
  groups, and may be movements made up of
  pressure groups, BUT
• Tend to be concerned with non economic non
  material issues morality feminism, peace,
  poverty, equality, environment.
• Tend to be international or global in their
  outlook
• Less structure and formally organised than
  pressure groups no leaders or hierarchies or
  memberships

3
Classifying NSMs

• Simon Hallsworth identifies 2 types of NSM based
  the types of issue they promote
• 1. NSMs which are focussed on defending aspects
  of the natural and social environment e.g.
  environmentalism, the peace movement, animal
  rights
• 2. NSMs which are focussed on gaining equal
  rights for minority and marginalised groups
  feminism, civil rights, gay rights, disability
  rights

4
Organisation

• NSMs tend to be informal and fragmented compared
  to OSMs
• NSMs are movements often made up of groups of
  well established pressure groups
  environmentalism is made up of Greenpeace,
  Friends of the Earth etc.
• NSMs tend to be wary and suspicious of elected
  politicians and civil servants rather than
  directly seeking their support
• NSMs tend not to have formal structures or
  memberships supporters form informal networks
  often joined together by internet technology
  e.g. anti capitalist demonstrations 1999 in over
  80 countries simultaneously organised via
  internet
• The pressure groups which can make up NSMs can
  often act very like traditional pressure groups
  but are also far more likely to engage in direct
  action
• NSMs aim to change CULTURE (the values of
  everyone) not just the decisions of government

5
How have NSMs been Explained

• Giddens claims NSMs are a response to
  globalisation globalisation has resulted in
  risks/issues which transcend national boundaries
  many of which are caused by the decisions of the
  rich and powerful pollution, rising oceans, oil
  spills, nuclear accidents
• Faced with these global risks Gidens claims
  people have lost faith with national governments
  and turned to NSMs as the most effective form of
  political participation
• Note membership of environmental groups is FAR
  greater than membership of political parties in
  the UK today

6
Postmodernity

• Pakulski and Waters claim that the rise of NSMs
  is a sign of a postmodern society
• They claim that in such a society a process of
  class decomposition is occurring class is
  becoming less and less important
• Politics is therefore becoming less concerned
  with issues surrounding class and more concerned
  with issues around lifestyle and identity. NSMs
  reflect these fundamental changes
• Mass media is seen as an important agent of
  postmodernisation media treats issues on a
  global scale not a national scale and people
  become more global in their outlook

7
Post Industrial Society

• Post modernists such as Crook suggest that
  Britain has become a post industrial society
• People no longer work in manufacturing (primary
  and secondary industry), instead they work in
  leisure, education and services (the tertiary
  sectors)
• Because of this values have changed form
  materialist values (class, money, advancement) to
  post-materialist values (self expression,
  freedom, identity, lifestyle)
• Post materialist values are reflected in NSMs
  gay rights, disability rights

8
Marxist Interpretation

• Marxists reject the idea of post modern and post
  industrial society
• NSMs instead are seen as a global and conscious
  response to the global nature of capitalism
• Alex Callinicos suggests that the only NSMs of
  any lasting significance will be the anti global
  capitalist movement which draws protestor to an
  understanding of the true cause of world
  problems i.e. capitalism, and raises
  consciousness about the world wide exploitation
  of the working class

9
How significant are NSMs?

• Giddens claims that NSMs have revitalised
  politics at a time when OSMs are in decline
• Rise of NSMs seen as evidence against political
  apathy
• Global nature of NSMs has changed the nature of
  political protest some engage in netwars
  using the internet to attack the powerful some
  concern at the revolutionary and radical nature
  of such campaigns a threat to nation states?
• NSMs might be becoming important players on the
  global political stage

10
Questioning the Significance of NSMs

• Paul Hirst suggests that the influence of NSMs is
  still quite limited
• OSMs parties, pressure groups, trade unions day
  to day still wield the most power
• NSMs only achieve influence on single issue level