Alternative ideologies and social movements

Question 1

What is a social movement?

Answer 1

• subset of civil society
• organised, largely non-institutionalised movements that ais at changing a specific aspect of the status quo
• can opererate within or outside the legal frame of the state

Question 2

Why are social movements considered political?

Answer 2

Because they aim at political priority, polici-making and problem defining

Question 3

How can social movements be analysed despite being influenced by a lot of different ideologies?

Answer 3

According to the left-right political spectrum

Question 4

What are the seven key elements of social movements?

Answer 4

• Activists/ cause/conflict/contestation strategy/ collective identity/ will to influence social and political relations/organisations

Question 5

What are activists in a social movement?

Answer 5

spearhead the movement/ aim to increase turnout/voluntary or funded position/ involved in mobilisation of movement

Question 6

What is the cause in a social movement?

Answer 6

-the meaning of the existence of the movement
- evolves with the times eg. different waves of feminism growing/adapting and evolving

Question 7

What is the conflict in a social movement?

Answer 7

• there must be a struggle/injustice that must be resolved (social or political)

Question 8

What are the organisations in a social movement?

Answer 8

• planned and detailed groups that are involved with the cause of social movement
• different organisations can collaborate for the same common goal
• different types of associations can be made eg. news outlets, unions

Question 9

What are the contestation strategies in a social movement?

Answer 9

• political stategies implemented to achieve the goal of the movement
• extremity/intensity depends on movement and can be recived as legitimate or not by citizens

Question 10

What is the collective identity in a social movement?

Answer 10

• a community needs to defend its rights and ideas
• focus on the common good and bringing about positive change

Question 11

What is the will to influence social and political relations in a social movement?

Answer 11

• social movements are an intervention into the status quo
• aim to change system (one aspect of it)

Question 12

What are the main characteristics of first wave feminism?

Answer 12

• started late 19th early 20th
• due to lack of representation of women in the public sphere
• men dominated public sphere and held all positions of power
  critical politcal theory excluded women’s POV
• aimed to give women the same rights as men (voting, home ownership, legal status as a citizen)

Question 13

what did first wave feminism not adress?

Answer 13

• mother hood
• inequalities within institutions

Question 14

What are the main characteristics of second wave feminism?

Answer 14

• 1960s
• ineqaulities within institutions not just the public sphere
• see patriarchy as systemic and needing to be dismantled
• not just equality for women but liberation from patriarchy

Question 15

What are the main characteristics of third wave feminism?

Answer 15

• 1990s
• BIPOC and queer women criticised first and second wave dismissing them
• discussion of inequalities between women

Question 16

What are the main characteristics of fourth wave feminism?

Answer 16

• early 2000s
• use pf technology to further the movement (social media, etc.)
• intersectional approach: taking into account all social factors that affect women differently
• non homogenous group but consensu on the lack of diversity in first and second waves
• focus on other socia issues (class, etc)