Social movements 2
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Social movements have historically impacted human rights, women's rights, and workers' rights. While some argue social movements have become institutionalized and frequent, others see contemporary movements like GetUp!, unions, and social media as generators of power that can both empower protesters and be repressed by the state. References discuss the history and impacts of social movements as well as contemporary examples.
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Social movements 2
- 2. Historical Impacts • Human Rights • Women’s rights • Workers Rights
- 3. Have Social Movements become mundane? • Institutionalisation • Frequency • Radicalism
- 4. Contemporary Movements • GetUp! • Union Movement • Social Media
- 5. Social Movements and Power • Protesters-Empowered • State- Repressed • Generators of Power-Protesters
- 6. References • ACTU. (2009) . About Trade Unions . Retrieved 18nd May 2014, from http://www.actu.org.au/About/Tradeunions/default.aspx • Anderson, A. (2012) . Timeline: The Women’s Movement. Retrieved 10th May 2014, from http://www.abc.net.au/news/2012-03-08/timeline3a-the-women27s- movement/3873294 • Carrasco, M. (2014). University of Western Sydney riot squad meets students protesting for refugees. Retrieved 3rd May, 2014, from http://cruwsible.com.au/university-of- western-sydney-riot-squad-meets-students-protesting-for-refugees/ • Grayling, A. C. (2010). Ideas that Matter: The Concepts that Shape the 21st Century. Basic Books. • Merriam-Webster (2014). Power. Retrieved 14th May, 2014, from < http://www.merriam- webster.com/dictionary/power >. • Meyer, D. S., & Tarrow, S. G. (Eds.). (1998). The social movement society: Contentious politics for a new century. Rowman & Littlefield.
Editor's Notes
- During the unit Repression, Power, Politics we looked at the role that social movements play in politics. In this blog I will discuss some of Social Movements in history and then move onto the relevance of social movements in contemporary Australia.
- Social movements certainly have shaped history. From the social movement that was the French Revolution lead not just to extreme violence but also to the genesis of universal human rights. The Womens movement, starting from the suffragettes in 1903 protested and won the entitlement for women to vote, in 1963 women won the right to enter pubs without being supervised by a male. The union movement, starting from 1788 has won many rights for modern Australians, including the raising of the female workers wage, from 54% of the males wage in 1930, to 75% in 1950 and through the ACTU’s equal pay case, the way for women’s equal pay to men was set by 1975. In 2007 the union movement backed the Australian Labor Party in the federal election against the Workplace Relations Act of the Howard government. http://www.actu.org.au/About/Tradeunions/default.aspx
- However there are the arguments that social movements have lost their power. The primary argument being that social movements no longer have the impact they once had, as they have become too institutionalised, too frequent, and professional and thus no longer a factor of political change. Social movements have become increasingly organised, and are accepted norms in Australian society. Typically before protests, participants are expected to arrange the time and venue with the police, to declare what actions will be taken-be they illegal or merely disruptive, to which the police must be fully informed and have the power to decline. The police in return for being informed of the full behaviour of the protesters, provide protection to the protesters against counter groups. Police patrol and regulate these protests ensuring that no one breaks these arrangements. However, whilst this shift in social movements has taken place, rather than leading to less chaotic and sporadic protests, it apparently leaves the number relatively unchanged. Whilst peaceful protests have risen in number, the more chaotic protests have been undazzed by regulation quite possibly due to the need to be more radical than other contemporary movements in order to make their points.
- While the consensus is that social movements have become part of everyday politics, they are certainly not without power. Organisations such as GetUp! use social movements to spread awareness for issues such as human rights violations against refugees and draw huge numbers to their cause. The union movement has recently achieved the raising of wages for those aged between 18 and 21 to full adult wages via petitions, and the utilisation of social media allows for instant snap protests. Within a night through social media, refugee advocates arrived at the Villawood detention centre to protest against the transportation of held asylum seekers, and within 24 hours of its Facebook page creation, 19.4 thousand people joined the page in preparation for a protest calling for a no confidence vote against the current prime minister of Australia in July. These are just some examples that clearly show that social movements are still very much relevant in contemporary Australia.
- Applying the Meriam-Webster Dictionary’s definition of power to social movements, one can analyse that in social movements power is given to the protesters, against the State, and the distribution of power is itself generated by the protesters themselves.