The Temperance Movement: The Four Stages Of Social Movements

Social movements can be identified as protest rallies, they are large, can be informal, groupings of people or organizations which focus on specific political or social issues. In other words, they carry out, resist, or undo a social change. Social movements can also be related to special interest groups, which can be a group of people or organization seeking or receiving special advantages. An analysis of previous social movements in the last three centuries, how a social movement functions , and how they have their political opportunities.
One of the biggest social movements in the 1800s was the Temperance Movement. The Temperance movement had begun on 1851 and ended 1933. The Temperance Movement had not been in just one state but was happening …show more content…
Instead, this stage can be thought of as widespread discontent. Potential movement participants may be unhappy with some policy or some social condition, but they have not taken any action to redress their grievances. This early stage can also be considered within a specific social movement organization (SMO). In the second stage, coalescence, social unrest, or discontent passes without any organizing or widespread mobilization. Stage two, known as popularity stage, is characterized by a more clearly defined sense of restlessness. At this point, leadership emerges and strategies for success are worked out. At this stage, big displays demonstrating can occur to display the social movement’s power and to make clear demands of the social movement. Most importantly this is the stage at which the movement becomes more than just random upset people; at this point, they are now organized and strategic in their outlook. In the third stage, Bureaucratization is the as the formalization stage. In this stage, social movements have had some success in that they have raised awareness to a degree that a coordinated strategy is necessary across all the SMOs. Social movements in this stage can no longer just rely on mass rallies or inspirational leaders to progress towards their goals and build constituencies; they must rely on trained staff to carry out the functions of organizations. In this phase, their political power is greater than in the earlier stages in that they may have more regular access to political elites. Many social movements fail to bureaucratic in a way and end up burning out because it is difficult for members to continue to have their followers willing to continue the social