Discuss the types of social movements and the stages of social movements

Social movements are one type of collective behavior because people who participate in intentional change may share the traits of collectivities. For example, people who consider themselves part of the Occupy movement have limited interaction with most others in the movement, Occupy has unclear social boundaries, and the movement’s norms are weakly defined and sometimes unconventional. At the same time, some social movements are much more like formal organization. The Amethyst Initiative, for example, is a movement on the part of college presidents to encourage reconsideration of the current drinking age. This movement has a leader and membership is fairly well defined with regular communication and meetings.

Social movements may be characterized in terms of the breadth and depth of the change they are seeking. Combining these variables results in four types of social movements:

1.   Alternative social movements, which pursue limited change in certain individuals.
2.   Redemptive social movements, which promote radical change in certain individuals.
3.   Reformative social movements, which seek moderate changes in the whole society.
4.   Revolutionary social movements, which promote sweeping transformation of an entire society.