THEORETICAL FRAMEWORKS USED IN SOCIAL MOVEMENTS
Social movements play an important role in terms of bringing about change in an environment of
inequality. In this case, the element of social movements has been applied in different countries
with some looking to create revolutions intended to revolutionize an oppressive government,
making reforms to a constitution and countering inequality by bridging the gap between the elite
and the poor in the society. The most notable of these social movements over the past years have
been in Brazil, South Africa, Kenya and Malaysia. In this case, even though there are different
not only in terms of social classes and ethnicities, there have been instances where the civilians
have worked together to overcome these barriers and form working social movements with a
similar goal. As such, this paper will discuss the theoretical frameworks regarding social
movements and how they have been applied in different parts of the world.
One of the theoretical frameworks used in different parts of the world is that of collective
behavior. Collective behavior is undoubtedly the most common theoretical framework used to
form social movements. In this case, it was applied in countries where people were divided by
ethnicities and social classes such as Kenya and actually worked. This led to the formation of a
new constitution in 2010 after the 2008 post election violence. The reason this was a success was
because, despite there being a lot of social movements that sought to disrupt the power of the
government to allow for reforms to the constitution as early as the 1980s, the movements kept
failing due to the significant division of ideas based on ethnicities. However, after the events that
occurred after the 2007 election in Kenya, everyone felt the need to bring changes and as such,
employed the theory of collective behavior which went above all the differences that the citizens
had to get a new constitution.
Furthermore, the same theory of collective behavior applied to Malaysia in 2008 whereby the
opposition managed to win the election against the ruling Barisan Nasional and caused what
would be dubbed as a political tsunami. Looking at the structure of the country, one can tell that
winning the election was not easy considering the fractures in the society which involved
different personalities and social identities that were hindering change. However, to break down
this structure, the opposition had to generate ideas that were issue based rather than personalistic
or identity-based ideas. Moreover, the opposition boosted expectation of accountability by
bringing new leaders while ignoring the established ones by offering cross communal campaigns
Social movements play an important role in terms of bringing about change in an environment of
inequality. In this case, the element of social movements has been applied in different countries
with some looking to create revolutions intended to revolutionize an oppressive government,
making reforms to a constitution and countering inequality by bridging the gap between the elite
and the poor in the society. The most notable of these social movements over the past years have
been in Brazil, South Africa, Kenya and Malaysia. In this case, even though there are different
not only in terms of social classes and ethnicities, there have been instances where the civilians
have worked together to overcome these barriers and form working social movements with a
similar goal. As such, this paper will discuss the theoretical frameworks regarding social
movements and how they have been applied in different parts of the world.
One of the theoretical frameworks used in different parts of the world is that of collective
behavior. Collective behavior is undoubtedly the most common theoretical framework used to
form social movements. In this case, it was applied in countries where people were divided by
ethnicities and social classes such as Kenya and actually worked. This led to the formation of a
new constitution in 2010 after the 2008 post election violence. The reason this was a success was
because, despite there being a lot of social movements that sought to disrupt the power of the
government to allow for reforms to the constitution as early as the 1980s, the movements kept
failing due to the significant division of ideas based on ethnicities. However, after the events that
occurred after the 2007 election in Kenya, everyone felt the need to bring changes and as such,
employed the theory of collective behavior which went above all the differences that the citizens
had to get a new constitution.
Furthermore, the same theory of collective behavior applied to Malaysia in 2008 whereby the
opposition managed to win the election against the ruling Barisan Nasional and caused what
would be dubbed as a political tsunami. Looking at the structure of the country, one can tell that
winning the election was not easy considering the fractures in the society which involved
different personalities and social identities that were hindering change. However, to break down
this structure, the opposition had to generate ideas that were issue based rather than personalistic
or identity-based ideas. Moreover, the opposition boosted expectation of accountability by
bringing new leaders while ignoring the established ones by offering cross communal campaigns
