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Social Movements – Class 12 Sociology notes, important questions and MCQs

NCERT Class 12 Sociology, chapter 14. Notes, key terms, important questions with answers and MCQs.

Chapter overview

A social movement is a sustained, collective effort by people with shared goals to bring about or resist social change. Movements have organisation, leadership, ideology and forms of protest. Sociologists classify them as reformist, redemptive or revolutionary, and distinguish 'old' movements focused on class from 'new' movements focused on identity, environment and rights. India has had peasant, workers', Dalit, tribal, women's and environmental movements.

Features and theories

Social movements involve sustained collective action over time, a shared ideology, organisation and leadership; isolated protests or riots are not movements.
Theories include relative deprivation (people feel deprived compared with others), the logic of collective action (Mancur Olson: individuals join only if they gain) and resource mobilisation (McCarthy and Zald: movements need resources, leadership and organisation).
Types: reformist (change some aspects of society), redemptive (change individuals' consciousness) and revolutionary (transform the whole social order).

Movements in India

Peasant movements include the Champaran Satyagraha (1917), the Bardoli Satyagraha (1928), the Tebhaga movement (1946–47) and the Telangana struggle (1946–51); new farmers' movements arose in the 1970s–80s.
Workers' movements formed trade unions such as AITUC (1920); Dalit movements fought for dignity and against untouchability; tribal movements such as the Jharkhand movement sought autonomy and land rights.
Women's movements and environmental movements, such as the Chipko movement (1973) to save forests and the Narmada Bachao Andolan against displacement by dams, are examples of new social movements.

Key terms

Social movement: sustained collective action to bring about or resist change
Relative deprivation: a feeling of being deprived compared with others
Resource mobilisation: the theory that movements depend on organisation, leaders and resources
Counter-movement: a movement that arises to oppose another movement
New social movements: movements focusing on identity, environment and quality of life rather than only class

Important questions with answers

What is relative deprivation?2 marks

Relative deprivation is the feeling of being deprived compared with others or with one's expectations. According to this theory, social movements arise when people feel that they are worse off than they should be, which creates discontent.

Distinguish between reformist, redemptive and revolutionary movements.3 marks

Reformist movements seek to change some aspects of the existing social and political order gradually, such as the right to information movement. Redemptive movements seek to change the personal consciousness and actions of members, such as reform movements among particular communities. Revolutionary movements seek to transform the whole social order, often by capturing state power, such as the Bolshevik revolution.

Explain the differences between old and new social movements with Indian examples.5 marks

Social movements are sustained collective efforts to bring about or resist change. Sociologists distinguish between 'old' and 'new' social movements. Old social movements, prominent in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, were organised mainly around class and the redistribution of economic resources and power. They usually worked through political parties and trade unions, and aimed at capturing state power. Examples in India include workers' movements led by trade unions such as AITUC, and peasant movements such as Tebhaga in Bengal and the Telangana struggle, often linked to communist parties, which fought against landlords for land and a fair share of crops. New social movements, which became prominent from the 1960s and 1970s, focus on issues of identity, quality of life, rights and the environment. They often cut across class lines, are decentralised, and work outside political parties through networks and civil society organisations. Examples include the women's movement against dowry, sexual violence and for equal rights; the Chipko movement in the Himalayas, in which villagers, especially women, protected trees from commercial felling; the Narmada Bachao Andolan, which opposed displacement by large dams; and Dalit and tribal movements that combine identity with economic demands. However, the distinction is not rigid in India, since many new movements, like the environmental movements, also involve livelihood and class issues.

Quick revision

Features of social movements.
Relative deprivation, collective action, resource mobilisation.
Reformist, redemptive, revolutionary.
Peasant, worker, Dalit, tribal, women's and environmental movements.

Exam tips

Classify each movement: reformist, redemptive or revolutionary.
Learn dates: Champaran 1917, Bardoli 1928, Tebhaga 1946–47, Chipko 1973.

Practice MCQs

Sustained collective action to bring about change is a
1. social movement
2. riot
3. festival
4. market
Show answer
Answer: (a) social movement. It has organisation and ideology.
The Chipko movement was mainly about
1. wages
2. saving forests
3. land reform only
4. language
Show answer
Answer: (b) saving forests. People hugged trees.
The Champaran Satyagraha took place in
1. 1905
2. 1917
3. 1930
4. 1942
Show answer
Answer: (b) 1917. It concerned indigo cultivators.
A movement that aims to transform the whole social order is
1. reformist
2. revolutionary
3. redemptive
4. religious only
Show answer
Answer: (b) revolutionary. It seeks radical change.
The resource mobilisation theory was proposed by
1. Marx and Engels
2. McCarthy and Zald
3. Durkheim
4. Srinivas
Show answer
Answer: (b) McCarthy and Zald. Movements need resources.
The Tebhaga movement was a struggle of sharecroppers in
1. Punjab
2. Kerala
3. Bengal
4. Gujarat
Show answer
Answer: (c) Bengal. They demanded two-thirds of the crop.
Why is a single protest not a social movement
1. a movement requires sustained collective action with organisation and ideology over time
2. it has no people
3. protests are illegal
4. movements are always violent
Show answer
Answer: (a) a movement requires sustained collective action with organisation and ideology over time. Continuity is essential.
New social movements differ from old ones mainly because they focus on
1. only class and wages
2. identity, environment and rights cutting across classes
3. only political parties
4. only religion
Show answer
Answer: (b) identity, environment and rights cutting across classes. They include women's and environmental movements.

All chapters of Class 12 Sociology

Written by Kundali IQ from standard, well-established facts to help with revision. This is not an official NCERT publication; always read your textbook too.