Lesson 7: SOCIAL MOVEMENTS

Social Movements are instrumental in changing the path of a society. When a group of
people come together with a shared idea, they can create lasting effects by encouraging change
in their society or by resisting it. Both will shape the future of their society. But a social movement
is not just a group of people with an idea. If that were the case, every little group with a novel
idea would be a starting a social movement. There are things that they need to possess like
influence, resources and such in hope to gain momentum and make an impact (Khan Academy,
2014.)

LESSON OBJECTIVES:

By the end of the lesson the students must be able:

• To demonstrate awareness of social movements on the state and identify the stages of
social movements;
• To distinguish between different types of social movements
• To expound the idea of resource mobilization theory of social movement; and
• To assert the impact of social movements on the society and the essence of youth
participation on this.
LESSON MATERIALS:

Social Movements

Social movements are broad alliances of people who are connected through their shared
interest in social change. Social movements can advocate for a particular social change, but they
can also organize to oppose a social change that is being advocated by another entity. These
movements do not have to be formally organized to be considered social movements. Different
alliances can work separately for common causes and still be considered a social movement.

Sociologists draw distinctions between social movements and social movement

organizations (SMOs). A social movement organization is a formally organized component of a
social movement. Therefore, it may represent only one part of a particular social movement. For
instance, PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) advocates for vegan lifestyles along
with its other aims. However, PETA is not the only group that advocates for vegan diets and
lifestyles; there are numerous other groups actively engaged toward this end. Thus, promoting
veganism would be considered the social movement, while PETA would be
considered a particular SMO (social movement organization) working within the broader social
movement.

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
It is interesting to note that social movements can spawn counter movements. For
instance, the women’s movement of the 1960s and 1970s resulted in a number of counter
movements that attempted to block the goals of the women’s movement. In large part, these
oppositional groups formed because the women’s movement advocated for reform in
conservative religions.

Types of Social Movements

Social movements occur when large groups of individuals or organizations work for or
against change in social and/or political matters. There are specific types of group action in which
large informal groups of individuals or organizations work for or against change in specific
political or social issues.

Cultural Anthropologist David F. Aberle described four types of social movements based
upon two fundamental questions: (1) who is the movement attempting to change? (2) how much
change is being advocated?

The diagram below illustrates how a social movement may either be alternative,
redemptive, reformative or revolutionary based on who the movement strives to change and how
much change the movement desires to bring about.
 1. Revolutionary movement is a specific type of social movement dedicated to carrying out
revolutionary reforms and gain some control of the state. If they do not aim for an
exclusive control, they are not revolutionary.
2. A reformative social movement advocates for minor changes instead of radical changes.
For example revolutionary movements can scale down their demands and agree to share
powers with others, becoming a political party.
3. A redemptive social movement is radical in scope but focused on the individual.
4. Alternative social movements are at the individual level and advocate for minor change.
Social movements can be aimed at change on an individual level, e.g. Alcoholics
Anonymous, which is a support group for recovering alcoholics or change on a broader group or
even societal level, e.g. anti-globalization). Social movements can also advocate for minor
changes such as tougher restrictions on drunk driving or radical changes like prohibition.

Other categories have been used to distinguish between types of social movements.

• Scope: A movement can be either reform or radical. A reform movement advocates

changing some norms or laws while a radical movement is dedicated to changing value
systems in some fundamental way.
• Type of Change: A movement might seek change that is either innovative or conservative.
An innovative movement wants to introduce or change norms and values while a
conservative movement seeks to preserve existing norms and values.
• Targets: Group-focused movements focus on influencing groups or society in general; for
example, attempting to change the political system from a monarchy to a democracy. An
individual-focused movement seeks to affect individuals.
• Methods of Work: Peaceful movements utilize techniques such as nonviolent resistance
and civil disobedience. Violent movements resort to violence when seeking social change.
 • Range: Global movements, such as Communism in the early 20th century, have
transnational objectives. Local movements are focused on local or regional objectives
such as preserving an historic building or protecting a natural habitat.
The Stages of Social Movements

Social movements are not eternal. They have a life cycle: they are created, they grow, they
achieve successes or failures and, eventually, they dissolve and cease to exist. Social movements
typically follow a process by which they emerge, coalesce, and bureaucratize, leading to their
success or failure.

Blumer, Mauss, and Tilly have described the different stages that social movements often
pass through. Firstly, movements emerge for a variety of reasons (and there are a number of
different sociological theories that address these reasons). They then coalesce and develop a
sense of coherence in terms of membership, goals and ideals. In the next stage, movements
generally become bureaucratized by establishing their own set of rules and procedures. At this
point, social movements can then take any number of paths, ranging from success to failure, the
cooptation of leaders, repression by larger groups (e.g., government), or even the establishment
of a movement within the mainstream.

Resource Mobilization Approach

The resource-mobilization approach is a theory that seeks to explain the emergence of

social movements. It emphasizes the importance of resources in social movement development
and success. Resources are understood here to include: knowledge, money, media, labor,
solidarity, legitimacy, and internal and external support from a power elite. The theory argues
that social movements develop when individuals with grievances are able to mobilize sufficient
resources to take action. The emphasis on resources explains why some discontented/deprived
individuals are able to organize while others are not. Resource mobilization theory also divides
social movements according to their position among other social movements. This helps
sociologists understand them in relation to other social movements.

Critics of this theory argue that there is too much of an emphasis on resources, especially
financial resources. Some movements are effective without an influx of money and are more
dependent upon the movement of members for time and labor (e.g., the civil rights movement
in the US).

RESOURCES:

• Khan Academy (2014), Social Movement Retrieved from: https://youtu.be/y7YPTD7QwR4

• Lumen Learning, , Social Movement Retrieved last May 2020 from:
https://courses.lumenlearning.com/boundless-sociology/chapter/social-movements/
 Lesson 8: PHILIPPINE DEMOCRACY AND ELECTIONS

Being the first independent democratic country in Asia, the Philippines became one of the
pioneers of democracy among its Asian neighbors. Although the concept of democracy has been
introduced first by the American colonizers, the iconic 1986 People Power Revolution is still the
first thing that the majority of Filipinos would remember whenever the word democracy is
mentioned. This fight against the authoritarian leader that oppressed the freedom of his own
countrymen had left a deep impression on how significant that power should be given to the
people, by the people and for the people. Through this revolution, the 1987 Philippine
Constitution was born, which until now, is the source of power of the Filipino citizens against
tyranny.

LESSON OBJECTIVES:

By the end of the lesson the students must be able:

• To understand the meaning and roots of Philippine Democracy and Elections;

• To explain the relevance of the electoral system on the country’s democratic status; and
• To reflect on the various threats and challenges to democracy in the country.

LESSON MATERIALS:

Democracy and Election

According to Hook (2011), democracy can be defined as a government in which citizens

govern themselves. It is a political system in which absolute power resides with the people, who
have the right either to vote individually or to elect people to represent them and vote on their
behalf in fair, competitive elections. It literally means rule by the people. The term is derived from
the Greek dēmokratiā, which was coined from dēmos (“people”) and kratos (“rule”) in the middle
of the 5th century BCE to denote the political systems then existing in some Greek city-states,
notably Athens.

In a pure, or direct, democracy, the power to govern lies directly in the hands of the
people, who vote individually on each issue. James Madison, the fourth president of the United
States, wrote in The Federalist in 1787 that a pure democracy is “a society consisting of a small
number of citizens, who assemble and administer the government in person.” Most democracies,
however, are a representative form of democracy. In the representative form of democracy,
people elect representatives to act and vote on their behalf and in their interests. It is commonly
agreed that a democracy includes two basic principles: freedom and equality.
 In the fourth century BCE, ancient Greek philosopher Aristotle wrote in his book Politics,
“For if liberty and equality . . . are chiefly to be found in democracy, they will be best attained
when all people alike share in the government to the utmost.” Thousands of years later, the
American Declaration of Independence, written by Thomas Jefferson in 1776, included the same
basic principles of liberty and equality to describe democracy.

On the other hand, Election is the formal process of selecting a person for public office or
of accepting or rejecting a political proposition by voting. Elections are the central institution of
democratic representative governments. It is because, in a democracy, the authority of the
government derives solely from the consent of the governed. The principal mechanism for
translating that consent into governmental authority is the holding of free and fair elections.

All modern democracies hold elections, but not all elections are democratic. Right-wing
dictatorships, Marxist regimes, and single-party governments also stage elections to give their
rule the aura of legitimacy. In such elections, there may be only one candidate or a list of
candidates, with no alternative choices. Such elections may offer several candidates for each
office, but ensure through intimidation or rigging that only the government-approved candidate
is chosen. Other elections may offer genuine choices--but only within the incumbent party. These
are not democratic elections.

What Are Democratic Elections?

Jeane Kirkpatrick, scholar and former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, has offered
this definition: "Democratic elections are not merely symbolic....They are competitive, periodic,
inclusive, definitive elections in which the chief decision-makers in a government are selected by
citizens who enjoy broad freedom to criticize government, to publish their criticism and to
present alternatives."

Kirkpatrick's Criteria of Democratic Election

1. Democratic elections are competitive. Opposition parties and candidates must enjoy the
freedom of speech, assembly, and movement necessary to voice their criticisms of the
government openly and to bring alternative policies and candidates to the voters. Simply
permitting the opposition access to the ballot is not enough. Elections in which the
opposition is barred from the airwaves, has its rallies harassed or its newspapers
censored, are not democratic. The party in power may enjoy the advantages of
incumbency, but the rules and conduct of the election contest must be fair.
2. Democratic elections are periodic. Democracies do not elect dictators or presidents-for-
life. Elected officials are accountable to the people, and they must return to the voters at
prescribed intervals to seek their mandate to continue in office. This means that officials
in a democracy must accept the risk of being voted out of office. The one
 exception is judges who, to insulate them against popular pressure and help ensure their
impartiality, may be appointed for life and removed only for serious improprieties.
3. Democratic elections are inclusive. The definition of citizen and voter must be large
enough to include a large proportion of the adult population. A government chosen by a
small, exclusive group is not a democracy--no matter how democratic its internal workings
may appear. One of the great dramas of democracy throughout history has been the
struggle of excluded groups--whether racial, ethnic, or religious minorities, or women--to
win full citizenship, and with it the right to vote and hold office.
4. Democratic elections are definitive. They determine the leadership of the government.
Subject to the laws and constitution of the country, popularly elected representatives hold
the reins of power. They are not simply figureheads or symbolic leaders.
5. Finally, democratic elections are not limited to selecting candidates. In the Philippines,
anyone can file a Certificate of Candidacy as long as they are qualified based on what is
stated in the constitution. Although there are still an institution that screens the
candidates, it can still be considered that the citizens have freedom to present themselves
as political candidates (USEmbassy).

Status of Democracy According to EIU Democracy Index

The Philippines slid down one spot to the 54th place in the world on the Economist
Intelligence Unit's (EIU) Democracy Index for 2019. The country previously ranked 53rd (6.71
points) in 2018 and 51st (6.71 points) in 2017. The Philippines is among 68 countries that
experienced a decline in their total score compared with 2018.

The London-based think tank labelled the country's regime type as a "flawed democracy”
that was defined to "have free and fair elections, even if there are problems (such as
infringements on media freedom), basic civil liberties are respected" with an overall score of
6.64 points.

The democracy index was based on the ratings for 60 indicators, which were grouped into
five categories — electoral process and pluralism, civil liberties, the functioning of government,
political participation and political culture.

The Philippines registered its highest score in electoral process and pluralism with 9.17.
The country also scored 7.22 in political participation and 7.06 in civil liberties. The country scored
the lowest in political culture with 4.38 and functioning of government with 5.36.

The Philippines, however, ranked 9th in the Asia and Australasia region, which has an
average score of 5.67.
RESOURCES:

• Democracy: Definition and Explanation Retrieved Last June 2020 From

https://www.politicalsciencenotes.com/democracy/democracy-definition-and-explanation/831
• Britannica, Democracy Retrieved Last June 2020 From https://www.britannica.com/topic/democracy
• US Embassy, Democratic Elections Retrieved Last June 2020 From
https://usa.usembassy.de/etexts/gov/democracy-elections.htm
• Britannica, Elections, Retrieved Last June 2020 From https://www.britannica.com/topic/election-political-
science