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Civil Rights Movement Essay

analytical Essay
1207 words
1207 words
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Social movement is a key driver of social change. Social movement can be defined as groups of individuals or organizations that have a main focus on political or social issues. The movements build off of a collective behavior to promote a particular idea that is to be implemented on a society wide scale. The Civil Rights movement is perhaps the most well-known social movement occurring in the 1960s. Its success led to the creation of many more social movements that used similar tactics to push their ideas.
To understand a definition, there needs to be a breakdown of the words used to describe the term. The first phrase used is “groupings of individuals”. To put this in context of a social movement, this occurs when members of society come together …show more content…

In this essay, the author

  • Defines social movement as groups of individuals or organizations that have a main focus on political or social issues. the civil rights movement was one of the most well-known social movements in the 1960s.
  • Explains the term groupings of individuals, which is used to describe a social movement.
  • Explains that organizations refer to a more structured and well-recognized collection of individuals with an understood and ubiquitous platform.
  • Explains that social movements are created to resolve political or social issues. political issues are generally desired to be resolved via new legislation or regulations.
  • Explains that collective behavior is a part of social movements, but not all directly lead to one.
  • Explains that the civil rights movement was a social movement that took place during the 1960s to improve racial equality in the united states. it was successful because of its differences from previous movements.
  • Analyzes how the civil rights movement was structured and politically integrated drawing upon pre-existing structures and resources to create new and visible methods of voicing their opinions. staggenborg emphasizes the importance of movement infrastructure.
  • Compares the civil rights movement and those prior to it. the movement targeted vulnerable economic entities such as downtown businesses and other consumer related industries.
  • Explains that the civil rights movement's global platform allowed it to gain international support and recognition.
  • Explains that the 1960s were a time when families were supposed to be an "ideal" family. they never talked about sexual behaviors or acted in sexual manner until it was time to have family of their own.
  • Describes the black student sit-ins in the 1960s, which led to a social movement, where black people could be intermingled with the white people.
  • Analyzes how social movements bring forth an understanding of social movement because they carry out how people were feeling that the normal lifestyle was no longer the way that everyone wanted to live.
  • Explains that social movements are a necessity for any culturally evolving nation. they bring forth social and political issues to be discussed and resolved, and their cumulative effects and outcomes can define the nation and the world for generations to come.

As seen today, this movement was wildly successful with outcomes that have had a direct action on the country’s progress. The movement was so successful because of its differences from previous movements. The strategies, structures, and messages employed led to the creation of many movements after.
Organizationally, the Civil Rights movement was very structured and politically integrated drawing upon pre-existing structures and resources to create new and visible methods of voicing their opinions. Staggenborg emphasizes the importance of movement infrastructure “consisting of leadership, indigenous resources, and local organizations” (Staggenborg, p. 64). Movement leaders were able to construct a very efficient organization that proved the method could work.
Another difference between the Civil Rights movement and those prior to it were the tactics used. The Civil Rights movement targeted “vulnerable economic entities such as downtown businesses and other consumer related industries”. (Staggenborg, p. 63). Targets were chosen based on their vulnerability and their ability to be exploited to produce opportunities for the movement. The movement also used new peaceful protest methods such as sit-ins, marches, and simple space occupation. This targeting strategy proved to be effective and showed that correctly identifying targets of a movement had a great impact on the movement

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