The Political Strategies of Social Movements

The women's and environmental movements illustrate how these two social movements initially took advantage of favorable social and political conditions and later adjusted to unfavorable circumstances to become influential actors in American politics. The cases suggest that movements achieve success largely because their loose organization and membership allow them to adapt quickly to certain types of political environments. In periods of social and political flux, movements have the potential to respond to changing conditions more quickly and frequently more effectively than structured groups such as political parties.Movements are also significantly limited as durable instruments for representing their previously under-represented interests. The initial emergence of a new movement requires an infrequent coincidence of favorable societal and political conditions. Even after movements institutionalize as interest groups, they need hospitable political events to keep their issue agendas before the public. Institutionalization combined with a periodic mobilization of large numbers of supporters give movements a degree of political influence that is greater than the sum of their separate interest groups, but less than the sum of their sympathizers. By examining social movements as partially-organized political actors, we are better able to interpret the relationship between movements and political institutions

Institutionalisation · Political economy · Political science · Politics · Social movement · Sociology · Electoral Systems and Political Participation · Gender Politics and Representation · Law · Political Influence and Corporate Strategies

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