Explain and discuss how we define and view social movements. Include in your discussion the historical significance of social movements to social work practice.

Question

What will be an ideal response?

Answer 1

Social movements are involved in conflictual relations with clearly identified opponents, linked by dense informal networks, and share a distinct collective identity. It is protest that distinguishes social movements from other types of social networks, but a single episode of protest is not a social movement unless it is connected to a longer-lasting network of public action. Both the charity organization society movement and the settlement house movement emerged out of concern during the late 1800s about the ill effects of industrialization, including urban overcrowding and economic instability among low-paid workers. The charity organization society (COS) movement developed because private charity organizations became overtaxed by the needs of poor people. The settlement house movement was stimulated by the same social circumstances but was based on very different values and goals. Whereas COS leaders focused on individual pathology, leaders of the settlement house movement focused on environmental hazards. Social reform-the creation of more just social institutions-was the primary agenda of the settlement house movement. Although social work emerged from social movements, it is now a profession, not a social movement. Some social workers work for social movement organizations, however, and the social work profession struggles with its relationship to a variety of social movements.