Communications in Humanities Research
- The Open Access Proceedings Series for Conferences
Communications in Humanities Research
Vol. 25, 03 January 2024
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Categorizing Social Movements as “Successful” or “Failed”: Exploring the Essence Contributing to Social Dynamic Balance
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Abstract
Research on social movements has been continuously robust and of significant theoretical importance in the field of social studies. This paper argues that there is no definitive criterion for categorizing social movements into a binary standard of either “success” or “failure”. Social movements emerge to instigate societal or ideological transformations. By analysing various historical movements worldwide, the study finds that when social movements reach extreme positions and unleash devastating forces upon society, they often provoke counter-movements that seek to restore social equilibrium. Societal trends oscillate back and forth, much like a pendulum, and social movements function as agents that pull the pendulum towards the centre when it reaches its peak on one side. Therefore, social movements act as regulators contributing to the constant dynamic balance in society. This nuanced perspective can inform policymakers, activists, and researchers in their efforts to engage with and respond to social movements, fostering more informed and effective strategies for societal change and progress.
Keywords
Social movement, social change, Germany, the United States
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Data Availability
The datasets used and/or analyzed during the current study will be available from the authors upon reasonable request.
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- Volume Title
- Proceedings of the 2nd International Conference on Interdisciplinary Humanities and Communication Studies
- ISBN (Print)
- 978-1-83558-253-4
- ISBN (Online)
- 978-1-83558-254-1
- Published Date
- 03 January 2024
- Series
- Communications in Humanities Research
- ISSN (Print)
- 2753-7064
- ISSN (Online)
- 2753-7072
- DOI
- 10.54254/2753-7064/25/20231862
- Copyright
- 03 January 2024
- Open Access
- This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited