Sociology 1020 Lecture Notes - Lecture 14: New Social Movements

• School: Western University
• Department: Sociology
• Course: Sociology 1020
• Professor: Agata Piekosz

Document Summary

Collective action: occurs when people act in unison to bring about or resist social, political, and economic change. Social movements: collection attempts to change all or part of political or social order by means of the following: Establishing, pressure groups, unions, and political parties. Routine collective action tends to be nonviolence, and leads to a more established sense of a new order. Non-routine collective action is often short lived, and there is greater potential for violence. Non-routine collective action, usually takes places when usual conventions fail to guide social action. Breakdown theory: suggests that social movements emerge when traditional norms and patterns of social organization are disrupted. Until about 1970, non-routine collective action was explained by breakdown theory. People under economic and social strain will push for recognition and will protest. People who follow protests will develop unpredictable, violence, and erce behaviour because they are following the crowd, forgoing their individuality.