The Importance Of Social Movements On The Quality Of Life

When looking at new social movements of today, there is not a newness to them, just a different set of claims, making it more so an evolution with a focus on quality of life. Structurally speaking, social movements are the same, there are claim receivers and claim makers that are attempting to change some part of society. Logically, claim receivers and claim makers will change as the times and needs of claim makers change, especially when social movements are successful. Fundamentally, there has been no change in social movements. All social movements, new and old have to deal with the quality of life and the perception to make it greater, this can be done economically or through the availability of rights. It seems as though social movements

All though the authors state that they are motivated by values rather than by material concerns or professional norms (Keck & Sikkink 1998), these networks are motivated by material concerns that are just articulated as values. Quality of life is inherent in all forms of values, and in order to increase quality of life there has to be material concerns. The absence of professional norms only dictates the repertoire the networks can pull from since they are not confounded by those norms. From human rights, to international law, and women’s rights, all of these different issues focus on quality of life which material concern is inherant. Human rights effect the quality of life which means more material provided to an individual. Women’s focus on equality which is both tangible and intangible, from equal pay which translates into material things to the ability to compete in the job market. Arguably the inherent material concern is inherent in all the issues mentioned but in order to be transnational they had to be pushed as value. Equal pay is more palatable when surrounded by the value of women’s rights as just an example. Even international law surrounding war, in order to treat war prisoners humanly you have to provide them with material such as food and shelter. Quality of life is something that transcends social and ethnic boundaries, and that is why the collective action problem is usually overcame. International networking is costly, that is why a campaign seeks broad procedural change involving dispersed actors, and why strategies are more diffused. (Keck & Sikkinik 1998) The inclusivity in ideologies where at its core is quality of life allows for a broader audience of participants, and this evolution is due to the times, not and fundamental change in social movements. Stolle and Micheletti argue that consumers emerge as a force in global affairs, and are effective mechanism of global