Table of Contents
Abstract Keywords
Overview
What is a Social Movement?
Four Stages of Social Movements
Stage 1: Emergence Stage 2: Coalescence Stage 3: Bureaucratization Stage 4: Decline
Repression
Co-optation
Success
Failure
Establishment with Mainstream
Applications Viewpoints
Conclusion
Terms & Concepts Bibliography Suggested Reading
Abstract
An explanation of what defines a social movement is followed by a description of the development and theory of the model of
the four stages of social movements. The four stages of social movement development are emergence, coalescence, bureaucra- tization, and decline. The Decline stage can result from several different causes, such as repression, co-optation, success, failure, and mainstream. The four stages of development model can be applied to understand how movements form, grow, and dissi- pate. It has limitations, however, in its application to new social movements and movements that are not rooted in political action. Despite these limitations, the four stages model is still highly useful in understanding collective action and provides a useful frame of analysis for sociologists considering social movements and their effects in the past and present.
Overview
There have been many social movements throughout history that have dramatically changed the societies in which they occurred. There have been many failed social movements as well. Throughout the history of the United States alone there have been a number of important and notable social movements. These movements have varied widely in their ideologies; some movements have been revolutionary in their aims, some have advocated reforms to the existing system, and others still have been conservative in their orientation and have worked to oppose changes in society. Social movements have varied in scope as well. For example, many movements are limited to local policies while others have been international in their focus. Despite all of the differences in social movements though, there are important analytic similarities that sociologists have distinguished, espe- cially with regard to the life cycle of a social movement.
Because social movements have led to so many dramatic changes in societies around the globe, scholars have spent a great deal of time trying to understand where they come from, who participates in them, how they succeed, and how they fail. Much of what they have discovered is that social movements do not just happen; they require many resources and have many stages through which they develop. In other words, people do not simply suddenly become upset with a policy or even a ruling system and then instantly form a social movement with a coherent ideology that is capable of holding mass demonstrations or overthrowing an existing power structure. Instead, social movements grow through four stages.
