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UPSC SOCIOLOGY Syllabus :
Paper 1 – Chapter 6 – Politics and Society:
(a) Sociological theories of power
(b) Power elite, bureaucracy, pressure groups, and political parties.
(c) Nation, state, citizenship, democracy, civil society, ideology.
(d) Protest, agitation, social movements, collective action, revolution.
- Social movement may be differentiated on the basis of the ideology as – liberal, Marxist, fundamentalist, Gandhian and so on.
- On the basis of methods employed, it can be peaceful or violent.
- On the basis of goals also they can have
different classifications.
According to Turner and Kilhan, social
movements can be classified on the basis of
their orientation which can be either –
I. Value Orientation
II. Power Orientation
III. Participation Orientation - Horton and Hunt has classified social movement into six types –
I. Migratory
II. Expressive
III. Reform
IV. Revolutionary
V. Reactionary or Regressive Movement – These aims to reverse the social change. They strongly criticize the fast moving changes of the present.
VI. Utopian Movement – These are attempts to take the society or a section of it towards a state of perfection. The Hare Krishna Movement of the 1970s, the movement towards the establishment of Ram Rajya of the Sangh Parivar, the Communists and Socialists pronouncement of a movement towards the classless, casteless society free from all kinds of exploitation etc. - Aberle’s Four Types of Social Movements: Based on who a movement is trying to change and how much change a movement is advocating, Aberle identified four types of social movements: redemptive, reformative, revolutionary and alternative.
- New Social Movements – Since late 1960s or so there has been a spurt of social movements across the world and they include a diversity of movements – students movements of 1960s, feminist movements of 1970s, anti-nuclear movements of 1980s, gay right movements of 1990s and so on.
They collectively fall under the category of New Social Movements (NSM). - Modern Social Movements – Modern social movements became possible through the wide dissemination of literature and the increased mobility of labor, both of which have been caused by the industrialization of societies. Anthony Giddens, a renowned sociologist, has identified four areas in which social movements operate in modern societies:
democratic movements that work for political rights.
labor movements that work for control of the workplace.
ecological movements that are concerned with the environment.
peace movements that work toward peace.