counter movements

(noun)

Counter-hegemony refers to attempts to critique or dismantle hegemonic power. In other words, it is a confrontation and/or opposition to the existing status quo and the legitimacy of that status quo in politics. This can also be observed in various other spheres of life, such as history, media, music, etc.

Related Terms

Examples of counter movements in the following topics:

  • Introduction

    • Social movements do not have to be formally organized.
    • A distinction is drawn between social movements and social movement organizations (SMOs).
    • A social movement organization is a formally organized component of a social movement.
    • It is also interesting to note that social movements can spawn counter movements.
    • For instance, the women's movement of the 1960s and 1970s resulted in a number of counter movements that attempted to block the goals of the women's movement, many of which were reform movements within conservative religions.

  • Social Movements

    • These movements do not have to be formally organized to be considered social movements.
    • A social movement organization is a formally organized component of a social movement.
    • It is interesting to note that social movements can spawn counter movements.
    • For instance, the women's movement of the 1960s and 1970s resulted in a number of counter movements that attempted to block the goals of the women's movement.
    • Discover the difference between social movements and social movement organizations, as well as the four areas social movements operate within

  • Cult

    • Cult refers to a religious movement or group whose beliefs or practices are considered abnormal or bizarre.
    • The Christian counter-cult movement is a social movement of Christian ministries and individual Christian counter-cult activists who oppose religious sects thought to either partially or entirely fail to abide by the teachings of the Bible.
    • The word "cult" in current popular usage usually refers to a new religious movement or other group whose beliefs or practices are considered abnormal or bizarre.
    • Secular cult opponents like those belonging to the anti-cult movement tend to define a cult as a group that tends to manipulate, exploit, and control its members.
    • Their motivations, the roles they play in the anti-cult movement, the validity of their testimony, and the narratives they construct, are controversial.

  • Relative Deprivation Approach

    • Social scientists have cited 'relative deprivation' as a potential cause of social movements and deviance.
    • Some scholars explain the rise of social movements by citing the grievances of people who feel that they have been deprived of values to which they are entitled.
    • Critics of this theory have pointed out that this theory fails to explain why some people who feel discontent fail to take action and join social movements.
    • Counter-arguments include that some people are prone to conflict-avoidance, are short-term-oriented, or that imminent life difficulties may arise since there is no guarantee that life-improvement will result from social action.
    • Discuss the concepts of relative and absolute deprivation as they relate to social movements

  • Shrinking Cities and Counter-Urbanization

    • Counterurbanization is movement away from cities, including suburbanization, exurbanization, or movement to rural areas.
    • Recently, in developed countries, sociologists have observed suburbanization and counterurbanization, or movement away from cities, which may be driven by transportation infrastructure or social factors like racism.
    • In developing countries, urbanization is characterized by large-scale movements of people from the countryside into cities.

  • Countercultures

    • Counterculture is a term describing the values and norms of a cultural group that run counter to those of the social mainstream of the day.
    • Counterculture is a sociological term used to describe the values and norms of behavior of a cultural group, or subculture, that run counter to those of the social mainstream of the day, the cultural equivalent of political opposition.
    • The counterculture in the United States lasted from roughly 1964 to 1973 — coinciding with America's involvement in Vietnam — and reached its peak in 1967, the "Summer of Love. " The movement divided the country: to some Americans, these attributes reflected American ideals of free speech, equality, world peace, and the pursuit of happiness; to others, the same attributes reflected a self-indulgent, pointlessly rebellious, unpatriotic, and destructive assault on America's traditional moral order.
    • Apply the concept of counterculture to the rise and collapse of the US Hippie movement

  • Examples of Social Movements

  • Educational Reform in the U.S.

    • Critics counter that even within a country, districts with the highest levels of funding do not always have the highest achievement levels.
    • Critics counter that even within a country, districts with the highest levels of funding do not always have the highest achievement levels.
    • From the 1950s to the 1970s, many of the proposed and implemented reforms in U.S. education stemmed from the Civil Rights Movement and related trends; examples include ending racial segregation and busing for the purpose of desegregation, affirmative action, and banning of school prayer.
    • The standards-based reform movement culminated in the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001.

  • Stages in Social Movements

    • Blumer, Mauss, and Tilly, have described different stages social movements often pass through.
    • Movements emerge for a variety of reasons (see the theories below), coalesce, and generally bureaucratize.
    • Whether these paths will result in movement decline or not varies from movement to movement.
    • In fact, one of the difficulties in studying social movements is that movement success is often ill-defined because movement goals can change.
    • This makes the actual stages the movement has passed through difficult to discern.

  • Minority Groups

    • While in most societies the numbers of men and women are roughly equal, the status of women as a oppressed group has led some, such as feminists and other participants in women's rights movements, to identify them as a minority group.
    • The disability rights movement has contributed to an understanding of people with disabilities as a minority or a coalition of minorities who are disadvantaged by society, not just as people who are disadvantaged by their impairments.
    • This is usually justified as countering the effects of a history of discrimination .