Social movements are one of the important tools for bringing better outcomes in social, economic, political and other aspects. Indeed, social movements played important roles in making political, social, cultural, policy based and other changes in the world. Social movements, which are carried out on many problems, bring out some immediate effects as they can generate immediate focus of the concerned authorities to the problem and can compel the concerned authorities to address the causes of concerns or make the needed changes. For example, social movements against the 2010 BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico led to changes in offshore oil drilling policies. But the impacts of social movements are enduring because social movements change long established behaviors, cultures or traditions that are harmful and/or unacceptable.
It is notable that social movements are purposeful and organized movements that strive to realize common goals. Such movements are indicative of the networks of informal interactions between a plurality of individuals, groups and/or organizations that are engaged in economic, political, cultural or other conflicts especially on the basis of shared collective identities. Of course, such movements are carried out at the local, national and global levels and can be reform oriented or radical. Moreover, such movements, which can be violent and non -violent, can be innovative and conservative. But, mostly, social movements are reform oriented, evade violence and are peaceful in nature. In terms of the target, some social movements are group focused and others are individually focused depending on the focal problem of social movements.
But social movements that create change, resist change or give a political voice for any desired political change are not always successful. There is a range of challenges to social movements such as the use of violent demonstrations and questionable leadership integrity that make social movements less successful. Of course, the use of violence is effective on some occasions especially on major problems but violence is responded with force and does not result in the desired outcomes always. Moreover, the inability to communicate clear information about the issues of concern, a lack of interest among the relevant group of people, or insufficient collective community and social support can lead to the failure of social movements. Indeed, many social movements fail to generate collective support or acting crowds needed for successful outcomes.
No doubt, there are many economic, social and other problems at the local, national and global levels that can be well-addressed with social movements, especially in a peaceful manner. Some notable global problems are war and civil war, racism, climate change and its effects and rising inequality (especially due to governments’ flawed economic, political and other policies and plans). Even if there are social movements, there is room to carry out social movements on such problems. Moreover, there is a wide range of country- and locality-specific social, economic, political, cultural and other problems that can be addressed with peaceful social movements, instead of the use of violent demonstrations. For example, in some countries, there are violations of the voting rights of a portion of people.
To bring the desired changes in social, economic, political, cultural and other conditions, peaceful social movements need to be carried out in different countries. But to bring the expected outcomes with social movements, different loopholes need to be well-addressed. In this respect, violent means of social movements need to be avoided as much as possible since peaceful means can also bring the desired outcomes on many occasions. As there are many problems at the community, national and global levels, it is important to identify the problems that deserve social movements at a specific level. Of course, the successful communication of clear messages about the issue/concern of social movements is important for the increase in the participation of acting crowds in peaceful social movements.
Moreover, the concerned authorities need to heed reasonable concerns raised by peaceful social movements. The concerned authorities need to understand that they are also affected by many problems that social movements raise. It is relevant to further note that the concerned authorities repress and torture the participants in peaceful social movements on some occasions. Thus, the concerned authorities need to refrain from torture and repression of peaceful social movements, including social movements in the form of mass demonstrations.
