What are the characteristics of a social movement?

Social
movements are varied, but they do have a few shared characteristics. Generally speaking, social
movements are geared toward creating, perpetuating, or stopping social or political change. The
civil rights movement of the 1950s and 1960s in the United States is one example of this. It
was, at least in its early stages, devoted to ending Jim Crow society in the South and to
advancing social progress for African Americans. Social movements also tend to promote their
cause through mass action. Today, one way this is achieved is through digital means, like online
activism, but large, very public events and especially demonstrations are common to most social
movements. As some sociologists have observed, social movements typically have "clearly
defined opponents." Most social movements that achieve any kind of staying power are
protesting somethingJim Crow, abortion, and so on. Finally, social movements tend to have some
kind of organizational structure, even if this is very loose and decentralized. The civil rights
movement (to use it as an example again) involved hundreds of organizations, including national
ones like SNCC and the SCLC, and local ones like churches and other
groups.

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