Movement Dynamics and Outcomes

Social movements come about for various reasons and are driven by various means. People are motivated for movement by things that affect them personally. Social movements can be defined simply as an organized effort of a group to promote or resist change either within the group, or society as a whole. For change to be sought, people must see something as troublesome. Varying political environments may also support or hinder social movements and activist factions. Activists and social movement organizations may have increased access to sway the ideas of politicians, opportunities to take advantage of political instability, or exploit the political system’s ability to inhibit their actions, based upon the political environment. This understanding of social movements can be applied to social activism in the 60’s and 70’s surrounding the war in Vietnam and the consequent political disbelief of the general population.

Students for a Democratic Society are an example of a radical student organization of the 1960s. The growth of the anti–Vietnam War movement and the troublesome political environment allowed the organization to become well known. SDS demonstrated peaceful protest tactics against the Vietnam War and drew thousands of activists to the cause. In 1968, SDS protested at Columbia University because of the university’s ties to the war and segregation. The peaceful sit-in of university buildings let to the violent arrests of hundreds of protesters. Peaceful activism tactics leave your organizations actors at the mercy of their opposition. When peaceful activism is employed it is probable that the opposition of the movement will be so enraged that it will act out against the activists. This is also typical of the pea...

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... resolved through political change; future political decisions will be influenced by the memory of that organization’s actions. In effect the legacy lives on to influence future political and social decisions so that they will not potentially cause such upheaval again. William Gamson, a sociologist, analyzed the use of violence and its influence on a movement’s ability to succeed and gain acceptance. In his study he found that typically violence correlates with a movement’s success rate, and that it also allowed the movement to move into a position of power over its opposition, especially for large groups or movements. If you are a small movement you would not be very effective by using acts of violence, instead your movement will be squelched by the opposition. Effective use of framing both movement ideas and actions will allow for the success of a movement.