Social Movements

A social movement is a lasting and organized effort to promote or discourage change. According to Aberle (1966), there are fourmain types of social movements. They are classified based on two variables. First, is the desired degree of change; second, is the target of change. (Durkin& Carrothers, 2015). Revolutionary movements seek to change a society completely. It is the most extreme type of social movement. Reformative social movements are based off limited change in the whole society. Often is involved in seeking to get full rights for a certain class of citizens. Reactionary movements are the type of social movements that oppose change and happen in response to the effect of another social movement. This movement seeks to undo the effects if a previous movement. The final type of movement is the redemptive movement which is focused on radical changes in certain individuals, over seeking to change society. In my opinion the Black Lives Matter movement could potentially transform the future of the world. I say this because the Black Lives Matter movement address a lot of aspects of systemic racism. Also because of the violent nature that the movement has taken since the start of it.

Social change involves the transformation of the social structure and culture over time. Social change has a profound impact on the broader social structure and it impacts the experiences of individuals. Technological innovations have transformed social life drastically. Every culture has their own way of thinking and doing things. The four leading sociological perspectives on social change are functionalism, evolutionary perspectives, cyclical perspectives, conflict perspectives. The digital divide- inequalities in the access to and use of the medium, with lower levels of connectivity among women, racial and ethnic minorities, people with lower incomes, rural residents and less educated people. Per Robert Merton (1973) the Matthew Effect states that those having more experience with technologies and more exposure to different communication media will benefit better from the web (Eszter Hargittai, “The Digital Divide and What to Do About It,” para.8). For peace and prosperity to result everyone must have the same access to the technology and every should have the mean to learn how to use the available technology