Occupy Wall Street and Social Movements



Occupy Wall Street and Social Movements

Social Movements and Why They Occur

Social movements are a type of group action. They are large informal groupings of individuals or organizations focused on specific political or social issues, in other words, on carrying out, resisting or undoing a social change. The concept of social movement is defined differently in different disciplines. In history, it's all events in which certain groups (such as social class) are trying to change the organization of society according to their ideals: distribution of wealth and political power, social progress. In politics, a social movement is a sum of actions that are intended to realize this commitment to social progress. For sociologists, a social movement is a set of informal networks (organizations and individual actors) built on shared values ??and solidarity and takes action on issues of conflict, using various forms of protest.

Examples of Social Movements and their Impact on History

Abolitionists Movement

The fundamental goal of the abolitionist movement was to liberate the enslaved Black people. There are many diversified factors that led to the success of the abolitionist movement. It was during the 1830s that abolitionists got themselves politically organized and voiced their concerns over the brutal colonial legislatures, which had given a stronghold to the supporters of slavery. The religious revivalism in Black communities of the North was also a major factor that contributed to the cause of anti-slavery movement. The abolitionist movement gained a favorable response in the Northern States, while in the South, the slavery sustained till the revolutionary civil war. The promulgation of Fugitive Slave Law in 1850; the Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854; the continuity of Mexican American border dispute, all fuelled the cause of anti-slavery movement. The proponents of slavery did everything to suppress abolitionists' efforts but all their efforts went in vain. The leaders of the abolitionist movement were determined in their cause.

Women's Suffrage

Women's suffrage refers to the right of women to participate in democratic processes through voting on the same basis as men. In the medieval and early modern periods in Europe, the right to vote was typically severely limited for all people by factors such as age, ownership of property, and gender. The second women's movement in the United States began in the 1960s. At that time women were discriminated against in employment opportunities and in admission to professional and graduate schools. The second women's movement had two goals: first, to increase women's understanding of the causes of discriminatory treatment in American society; and second, to motivate women to work for policy changes.

Disputes over the strategy and tactics divided the woman suffrage movement from 1869 up to the ratification in 1920 of the Nineteenth Amendment that established universal woman suffrage in the United States. NWSA supported both suffrage amendments to state constitutions and, less enthusiastically at first, a suffrage amendment to the federal Constitution. It also did not admit men and endorsed radical social policies, such as attacking marriage and the church as sexist ...