Social movements are collective behaviors that are organized, purposeful, institutionalized, but their actions cannot be repeated. They seek some limited social change and tend to focus on a narrow group of people but advocate for radical changes. They also advocate for limited social change but tend to affect the changes across the entire society. The past analyses of social movements and social movement organizations have often been assumed to have a link with the frustrations and grievances of a collectivity of actors. The theoretical centrality of the analyses directs the socials movements away from its intense emphasis on the social psychology of the social movement participants (McAdam 7). It can be integrated more easily with structural theories of a social process.
There are several social movements’ models that include the classical, the political process, resource mobilization, professional movement organizations and social movement organizations among others. The film She’s Beautiful When She’s Angry is about a women's movement in the 1960s and early 1970s (Howlett n.p). The women in the movie make the viewers understand that they surely had some grievances that they wanted to articulate (Minkoff, 19), show the energy. It appears as if the universe was being discovered because all the things seemed possible when the rights were being fought for without turning back.
The film follows the awakening of women to the issues that always hinder their participation in the policies and duties of the American society. As they come out to air their grievances, they stand against the social and economic norms that have come of age. Their eyes were quick to open on the issues that were immediately close to them. They advocate for what they term as the Second Wave Feminism that struggles to achieve the objectives that the movements of the previous centuries did not attain. Ms. Dore led the movement called National Organization for Women in the years between 1966 and 1971. In the movement, the women articulated rights, freedoms, and the issues that have affected them over time that included childcare, abortion, sex, work, and motherhood. They also did not forget matters like class, sexual orientation, and race.
In the film, issues of women ensued when they had little access to some requirements such as family planning or birth control pills and abortion was illegal. Their career options also were too limited, and young women were expected to raise their families and set up households rather than pursuing their professions. With mixed reception, women forged ahead and come up with another movement called the Student Non-violent Coordination Committee that later created the Black Women's Liberation Committee. The film further shows some significant aspects of new women's movements that skillfully weave together the actors, actions, and aspects of the Second Wave Feminism's interests.
Shay’s Rebellion, on the other hand, was an armed rebellion in western Massachusetts that was against the state government in 1986 and 1987. According to Leonard Richards, the rebellion ensued following the revolutionary war, Boston and other New England merchants who imported much of British goods that deteriorated the farmers’ markets and substantial merchant indebtedness. The wholesalers consequently sold their goods on credit to merchants in the interior who in turn sold the goods on credit to backcountry farmers. The whole process led to a chain of debts (Minkoff 23). The rebellion was also fuelled by the injustices in the regressive taxation system and conservative state government that seemed no better than the British colonial rule. Other historians have not bought shay’s idea of rebellion because they see the protesters as just mere peasant farmers who were against the local authority. Richards opposed Shay's rebellion terming it as misleading although the protestors represented the entire Massachusetts communities (A political process model 33). The poor, the wealthy, and even the weak members of the Massachusetts are also influential. After careful assessment of the existing past records including the ignored but important lists of some followers, Richards creates a picture of how the policies would affect the entire society. The reason for the Shay’s rebellion was to have a long-term influence on the participants the whole nation.
Doug McAdam’s political process presents a political process model that explains the rise and decline of the black protest movement in the United States. He moved from the theoretical concerns to empirical analysis and focused on the significant role of three institutions that foster protests that include black colleges, black churches, and the southern chapters of NAACP.
Further, he holds that political opportunities that are heightened by a sense of political efficacy and the development of the said institutions play a significant role in the civil rights movements. Political movement model asserts that the members of a political movement are not interested in the rational, self-interest political actions. They tend to have motives behind their actions that are distinct from those of the ones leading them.
In a political process and black insurgency's development of 1930 to 1970, Doug argues that the errors in resource mobilization model and classical model are the explanation of social movements. The political process model argues that the power in the United States is concentrated. The constitution provides guidelines on how such powers can be practiced. Therefore, it is expected that there will be the conflict between the elite and the challenges. The political process model explains that it takes an ideal social and political environment and some organization minority group to create a successful social movement. It claims that the rise and fall of a social movement rest on the organizational strength of movement (Shay's Rebellion 17). It also rests on the political opportunities available, the optimism of the challengers towards the achievement of the aims, as well as the responses towards the challengers.
The validity and the usefulness of Mcadam's political process are to enlighten those leading the social movements that the participants’ grievances are to be put on the forefront rather than their self-interest motives. It also advocates for engaging all those who are affected by the issues at hand to come on board and fight for some common interests (McAdam 39). He claims that a movement is formed with a purpose that addresses some particular problems that affect some groups.
Conclusively, Mcadam’s model made better history because much what he explains and how he relates the doctrines with the actual aspects of the social movements. He links people's motives and expectations in a social movement and conjoins them with the political doctrines. The historians are enlightened by Mcadam's doctrine of the political process model that they should put in the paper something that is realistic, not favoring any side but mostly look deep into the participant's discrepancies.
Works Cited
"A political process model." Understanding Habermas : Communicative Action and Deliberative Democracy (n.d.): n. pag. Web. <10.5040/9781474213219.ch-008>.
"Shay's Rebellion: the American Revolution's final battle." Choice Reviews Online 40.06 (2003): 40-3612-40-3612. Web. <10.5860/choice.40-3612>.
Howlett, James. "She's Beautiful When She's Angry 2014 VOSTFR Part 01." YouTube. N.p., n.d. Web. 23 May 2016. <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vFFYTPC68ME>.
McAdam, D. "Political Process and the Development of Black Insurgency, 1930-1970." (1999): Web. <10.7208/chicago/9780226555553.001.0001>.
Minkoff, D. "Documenting Dissent: American Revolutionary, The Hand That Feeds and She's Beautiful When She's Angry." New Labor Forum 24.3 (2015): 99-102. Web. <10.1177/1095796015597003>.
