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Dictionary definition: social movements
- Article from:
- A Dictionary of Sociology
- Author:
Copyright© A Dictionary of Sociology 1998, originally published by Oxford University Press 1998. (Hide copyright information)
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social movements
An organized effort by a significant number of people to change (or resist change in) some major aspect or aspects of society. The term was first used by
Saint-Simon
in France at the turn of the eighteenth century, to characterize the movements of social protest that emerged there and later elsewhere, and was applied to new political forces opposed to the status quo. Nowadays, it is used most commonly with reference to groups and organizations outside the mainstream of the political system. These movements, often now abbreviated to NSMs (New Social Movements), have in the latter decades of the twentieth century become an increasingly important source of political change. ...