• Many students and office-workers work five or six days a week and rest on weekends, a right gained through long struggles by workers.

• Rights achieved through social movements include:

  • Eight-hour workday

  • Equal pay for men and women

  • Social security and pension

• Social movements have shaped societies and continue to do so; rights are not automatic but outcomes of past struggles.

• Examples of significant social movements globally and in India:

  • 19th century social reform movements in India

  • Struggles against caste and gender discrimination

  • Indian nationalist movement achieving independence in 1947

  • Nationalist movements in Asia, Africa, and the Americas ending colonial rule

  • Socialist movements worldwide

  • Civil rights movement in the USA (1950s–60s) fighting for equal rights for Blacks

  • Anti-apartheid struggle in South Africa

• Social movements inspire other movements and have fundamental societal impact.

• The Indian national movement influenced the making of the Indian Constitution, which in turn promoted social change.

Features of a Social Movement

• A social movement requires sustained collective action over time, often directed against the state to demand changes in policy or practice.

• Spontaneous or disorganised protest is not considered a social movement.

• Collective action must involve some degree of organisation, which may include:

  • Leadership

  • Structure defining member relations, decision-making, and execution of actions

• Participants share objectives and ideologies.

• Social movements have a general orientation towards bringing about or preventing change, which can evolve over time.

• Social movements often address public issues, e.g.:

  • Tribal rights to forests

  • Rights of displaced people to settlement and compensation

• Counter movements may arise to defend the status quo, e.g.:

  • Dharma Sabha opposing Raja Rammohun Roy’s campaign against sati

  • Opposition to girls’ education and widow remarriage

  • Withdrawal of ‘upper caste’ children when ‘lower caste’ children enrolled in schools

  • Brutal suppression of peasant movements

  • Resistance to Dalit movements and proposals for reservations in education

• Social movements face opposition and resistance but can effect change over time.

• Protest is the most visible form, but social movements also engage in:

  • Meetings to mobilise people and build shared understanding and consensus

  • Campaigns, including lobbying with government, media, and opinion makers

• Social movements develop distinct modes of protest, such as:

  • Candle and torchlight processions

  • Use of black cloth

  • Street theatres, songs, poetry

  • Gandhi’s methods: ahimsa, satyagraha, use of the charkha

  • Innovative acts like picketing and defying colonial salt laws