Social Movements in India: Meaning, Features and Other Details!
A social movement is a mass movement and a collective attempt of people to bring about a change, or to resist any change. The concept central to any social movement is that people intervene in the process of social change, rather than remaining mere spectators or passive participants in the ebb and flow of life.
People seek to become proactive actors in altering the course of history. In order to achieve their aim of making a difference to the world they live in, they either initiate or become a part of collective action. Individuals consciously act together with a sense of engagement in a common enterprise.
Social movements possess a considerable measure of internal order and purposeful orientation. It is, in fact, this organization that strengthens the movement to challenge the established institutions. A social movement can be described more or less as a persis¬tent and organized effort on the part of a relatively large group of people to bring about or resist change. However, the number of persons participating is not the criteria for describing any movement as a collective action.
The movement must have a leader to guide and execute the plan of action and possess the power to sustain the movement. Social movements, however, are different from pressure groups or institutional movements. Institutional movements are highly organized, permanent, and primarily occupation-based. Social movements are spontaneous and need not be issue-specific.
Meaning and Definitions of Social Movements:
Social movements can be viewed as collective enterprises to establish a new order of life. They have their inception in the condition of unrest, and derive their motive power on one hand from dissatisfaction with the current form of life, and on the other hand, from wishes and hopes for a new scheme or system of