Telangana Movement and State Formation

Class 30: What is Mobilisation and why it is

necessary?

- Sairam Sampatirao
Mobilisation
Important Terms
1. Collective Action
2. Protest
3. Agitation
4. Social Movements
5. Revolution
 Collective Action
- Actions by a group of people with specific goal or
objective

- They involve either of cooperation, conflict, competition

or accommodation in general.

- They can either be organized or unorganized,

institutionalized or non-institutionalized.

- Protests, agitations, revolutions, social movements,

NGOs, mass production etc are some form of collective
actions.
 Protest
- It is a social process of opposition against any person, group or even wider society.

- It may occur at individual or collective level, manifest or latent level and may involve action or
inaction as a tool of protest.

- Opposition is central in protest, while a purpose is central in an agitation.

- For example – fast unto death by Mahatma Gandhi against British policies is an instance of
individual level protest, opposition of India to terms of WTO which are unfavorable to developing
countries is example of collective protests.

- Protests can also be distinguished on the basis of mode of protest. This could be candle and
torch light processions, use of black cloth, street theatres, songs, poetry, violence, vandalism and
so on.

- In general, agitation and protest have only subtle differences. While protest is a reaction to an
event which has already occurred, an agitation can also be a future course which is seen as
desirable or undesirable.

- Protests also depend on factors like – competition for limited resources, discrimination on basis
of gender, caste, religions etc, autocratic behavior and so on.
 Agitation
- It is a social process which involves ‘intense activity’ undertaken by an individual or group in
order to fulfill a purpose.

- Purpose is central to agitation, unlike ‘opposition’ which is central in protest.

- Further, dissatisfaction is also central to agitations, while dissent is central to protests.

- While protest is a reaction to an event which has already occurred, an agitation can also be a
future course which is seen as desirable or undesirable.

- Agitation is manifested through activities like strikes, mass leave, raasta roko, rail roko, rioting,
picketing etc.

- Both protests and agitations can be due to actual as well as relative deprivation of agitators/
protestor or their affiliate groups. Agitations may also aim to acquire power.

- Further, unlike social movements which are marked by a degree of organization as well as
sustenance, agitations are generally spontaneous and ephemeral.

- However, both protests and agitations can be institutionalized and become social movements.
 Social Movement

- A social movement is defined as a sustained

collective action aimed at bringing or resisting social
change outside the sphere of established institutions.

- A social movement requires sustained collective

action over time and hence totally spontaneous and
ephemeral collective actions cannot be termed as
social movements.
 Why Mobilisation is necessary?

- To escalate ordinary protests or agitations to a

Social Movement

- Optimum use of various resources

- Set platform for a larger scale action

- Take the ideology of the movement to masses