Social Movements Table of contents Introduction 1. Theoretical Perspectives 2. Concepts and definitions, characterizing social movements 3.

Social movements and changes 4. Conclusion 5. Literature

Introduction This essay aims at analyzing and synthesizing the given literature from Donatella della Porta and Mario Diani, some introductory chapters of the book Social Movements: An Introduction. 1. Theoretical Perspectives In the first chapter of Della Porta and Diani, there are some theoretical perspectives in relation to social movements. Before 1968 there were two main models of interpretation of social movements: the Marxist model and structural-funcionalist model. The movements of 1968, however, could not be explained by these approaches, and then the American and European approaches emerged. The American school had as base the perspectives of interactionist version of collective behavior, the resource mobilization and political process, as explained Della Porta and Diani. It is important to know how collective action occurs. The European school turned to interpretation of the structural basis of conflict, why social movements occur, and then developed the perspective of "new social movements". According to Della Porta and Diani, there are four approaches for analyzing collective movements, that would be: collective behaviour, resource mobilization, political process and new social movements.1 According to Smelser2, the social movement would mean both the inability of institutions and mechanisms of social control to create social cohesion and the reaction of the society towards a crisis. The structural-funcionalist approach would interpret the social movement as a crisis behaviour in form of collective action that attempts producing value systems. Collective behaviour, according to Della Porta and Diani, was already defined as a behaviour with concern in change. Social movement, as a collective action, has also this concern.

DELLA PORTA, Donatella; DIANI, Mario. Social Movements: An introduction. Blackwell Publishers, 1999, p. 3. 2 DELLA PORTA, Donatella; DIANI, Mario. Social Movements: An introduction. Blackwell Publishers, 1999, p. 4.
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The attempt is to achieve new norms and new solidarities. That means, that the attempt is to change the existing norms and solidarities to new ones. According to Della Porta and Diani, for the first time collective actions were raised as meaningful acts, which led to the students of collective action to classify many types of phenomenon under social movements, in addition to just describing many phenomena that really had to do with social movements but without analyzing them structurally. The approach considering the resource mobilization is the interactionist version of collective behaviour school. This approach emphasize the importance of rational and strategic elements of phenomena that seem irrational at first. The difference to the first approach that was presented is that this one did not see the collective action as irrational, bat as rational3, and the social movements therefore are rational, organized and with an objective, being also and therefore part of political process. Criticism arose in relation to the indifference of the approach on the analysis of the structural causes of the social movement and the related interests, besides that the rationality of collective action would be overdone and therefore role of emotion would be neglected.4 In the approach related to the political process, social movements are seen as political process, as a part of the political process and as a political process itself. The social movements would be then an political actor and this approach analyses this phenomenon: the social movement as an political actor. Therefore, this approach emphasizes the political institutions and context, in order to analyze the role of the social movement in it, being new protagonists in the representation of interests. The problem emerges when one wants to measure this phenomenon, to measure how and to what extend the social movements are part of the political processes and acts like an actor in it. The critics about this approach were around the operationalization of the relation between the social movements and the political processes and also that this approach tended to
Being rational means to make rational choises, measuring costs and benefits of an action. DELLA PORTA, Donatella; DIANI, Mario. Social Movements: An introduction. Blackwell Publishers, 1999, p. 9
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consider every social movement as a political phenomenon, neglecting the cultural phenomena that also made emerge or were also part of origins of certain social movements. Besides, this approach also didn't take into account the structural origins of the conflict. New movements, such as movements of youth, women, homosexuals, environmentalists, etc. did not fit the marginal nature and the class struggle nature that was emphasized by the approaches so far. So this new approach was called "new movements". The approach of the "new movements" rejects the Marxist element of the other approaches - the class struggle as the major reason social movements - and observes the social movements as a much more complex phenomenon, not necessarily a result of class struggle, not necessarily political and not necessarily marginal. In the new movements approach, what matters is the individual, his action and integration, the social movement as an actor, the changes in the structural bases of conflict and the mechanisms that lead from the conflict to the action. 2. Concepts and definitions, characterizing social movements According to Della Porta and Diani, since the beginning of the studies on social movements, with descriptions of the phenomena in the 1940s, till now, there was e big expansion of theories, concepts and studies on social movements. There are, however, at least four characteristics that social movements share5: Informal interaction networks; shared beliefs and solidarity; collective action focusing on conflicts; and use of protest. Informal interaction networks means that there is not a formal organization. Shared beliefs with a sense of belonging would result in this solidarity. A collective action is necessary with a focus on the conflict, that would be oppositional relationship between actors who seek control of the same stake6. And the use of protest means adoption of 'unusual' patterns of political behaviour (a protest is not necessarily violent)7.

DELLA PORTA, Donatella; DIANI, Mario. Social Movements: An introduction. Blackwell Publishers, 1999, p. 14. 6 DELLA PORTA, Donatella; DIANI, Mario. Social Movements: An introduction. Blackwell Publishers, 1999, p. 15. 7 DELLA PORTA, Donatella; DIANI, Mario. Social Movements: An introduction. Blackwell Publishers, 1999, p. 15.
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Della Porta and Diani consider then, for the purpose of the book, social movements as informal networks, based on shared beliefs and solidarity, which mobilize about conflictual issues, through the frequent use of various forms of protest.8 Social movements are not organizations nor political parties, but these may be part of a given movement. Social movements are different from protest events, because single events of a social movement shall be interpret as a part of a longer-lasting action and the protagonist of analogous movements share solidarity and an ideal. There is a presence of identities and the feeling of development of new solidarities. 3. Social movements and changes Della Porta and Diani explain the relationship between changes in the social structure and collective action.9 They explain what would be the structure changes that would cause social movements. These structure changes are economical, related to the emergence of the market, and political changes, related to the creation of the nation state and of modern citizenship.10 Economic changes lead to social movements. For example, workers that were found in the same situation, doing the same thing under the same conditions, identify themselves in this situation and create an intern cohesion. Today there is not a workers mass that identify with each other as a cohesive group, but there is a middle class that is very differentiated: liberal professionals like doctors and lawyers, workers of the government, specialized professionals, informal sector, etc. This heterogeneity leads to a lack of identification. The production became decentralized, there has been the entry of women in the market, migration, ethnic questions; it is more and more difficult to identify social categories and that phenomena helped the factor solidarity to disappear.

DELLA PORTA, Donatella; DIANI, Mario. Social Movements: An introduction. Blackwell Publishers, 1999, p. 16. 9 DELLA PORTA, Donatella; DIANI, Mario. Social Movements: An introduction. Blackwell Publishers, 1999, p. 26. 10 DELLA PORTA, Donatella; DIANI, Mario. Social Movements: An introduction. Blackwell Publishers, 1999, p. 26.
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In the political context, the changes Della Porta and Diane point out that back then the social relations and social conflicts were within the nation state. Today there is such interdependence between the states that there is a global public space11. The emergence of civil society and the tendency to supranational institutions, so as these transformations in the economic sphere, like the territorial, administrative and industrial decentralization, lead to a change in the structure of social movements. The state didn't lose the central position, but social movements are increasingly fluid, having an international effect and they may also have international origins. So, the economic context had a great role on changing the nature of the social movement. The political context is also a very important aspect that shall be taken in consideration when we analyze a social movement. According to Della Porta and Diane, there are specific group of political variables that play a big role when we analyze a social movement. And they would be the political institutions, the political culture, the behaviour of opponents of social movements and the behaviour of their allies.12 4. Conclusion With the evolution of society in the economic, political and social aspects, social movements also grew. Politic scientists then went on to study social movements and create theories to explain how they occur and why they occur. The last theory presented by Della Porta and Diane, the new movements approach, starts studying the structural causes of social movements. The economic context has changed a lot, because of the emergence of a very heterogeneous middle class, the entry of women into the labor market, migration, ethnic questions, etc. Social movements do not arise in specific social strata or with specific goal tied to it anymore. There are several new types of movements, such as of youth, homosexuals, women, environmentalists, etc. The environmental movement is a great example of social movement that does not fit the parameters back then used for the analysis of social movements.
DELLA PORTA, Donatella; DIANI, Mario. Social Movements: An introduction. Blackwell Publishers, 1999, p. 34. 12 DELLA PORTA, Donatella; DIANI, Mario. Social Movements: An introduction. Blackwell Publishers, 1999, p. 224.
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In addition there was a growing administrative and territorial decentralization, as well as the increasing interdependence among states, which meant that the social problems that arise within the state permeate these barriers, having then either origins or international effects. Social movements today have, by many scholars, the status of legitimate political actor and are increasingly gaining importance in the international politics. It is important to analyze the social movements themselves, but also their actors and their relations with other political actors, so as the social, economic and political structural causes of them and their effects in the society. 5. Literature DELLA PORTA, Donatella; DIANI, Mario. Social Movements: An introduction. Blackwell Publers, 1999.