NEW SOCIAL
MOVEMENTS
www.educationforum.co.uk
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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