Social movements, globalization, urbanization

Social movements

Relative deprivation refers to the perception that one or one’s group is unfairly disadvantaged compared to others. Rather than focusing solely on objective measures of wealth or resources, it is a subjective feeling that arises when individuals compare their circumstances with those of a reference group. This sense of inequality can lead to feelings of frustration and discontent, often motivating individuals or communities to seek social change or protest against perceived injustices.

Organization of social movements

Social movements are structured collections of individuals and organizations that come together around a shared grievance or goal to instigate social or political change.

• Proactive social movements promote change
• Reactive social movements resist change.

Movement strategies and tactics

Social movements can have decentralized leadership, where roles emerge organically, or a formal hierarchy with designated leaders. A shared ideology helps frame issues and rally supporters, while effective resource mobilization—such as raising funds, recruiting volunteers, and garnering media attention—supports their efforts. Robust communication channels, including traditional media and digital platforms, allow them to coordinate activities like protests, rallies, boycotts, sit-ins, and online campaigns. Additionally, these movements remain dynamic, adapting their strategies in response to political shifts and public opinion.

Globalization

Factors contributing to globalization and perspectives on globalization

• Globalization is the integration of governments, cultures, and financial markets through trade. While it offers benefits, such as economic growth, countries reliant on selling natural resources may suffer. Critics argue it gives multinational corporations too much power, influencing political decisions.
• Technology has been a key driver of globalization, with different periods marked by military expansion, industrial power, and now, the Internet. Technology also reshapes societal factors, like extending life expectancy through advances in medicine and altering agriculture for better yields, but often with environmental impacts.
• Globalization can also create inequalities—benefiting some while harming others, causing job loss, pollution, or diminished civil rights through surveillance. The digital divide highlights the gap between those individuals and countries with and without access to technology.

Social changes in globalization

• Critics contend that globalization, which promotes cultural assimilation and the slow erosion of minority cultures, perpetuates colonial practices, and exacerbates inequality, can lead to social unrest and terrorism.

Urbanization

Industrialization and urban growth

• During the Industrial Era, rapid urban growth was driven by factory development, prompting people to move from rural areas to cities. New technology improved transportation, food production, and preservation. As cities became overcrowded and expensive, many migrated to surrounding suburbs for more space, while still needing to commute to urban jobs.

Suburbanization and urban decline

• In the 1850s, as urban populations swelled and transportation improved (trolleys), suburbs began to form—communities close enough for daily commutes yet offering more living space than cities. Over time, with the development of the automobile, suburban sprawl continued and led to traffic congestion, longer commute times, and increased resource consumption, including petroleum, contributing to pollution. As suburbs became crowded and lost their appeal, wealthier individuals moved to exurbs—communities further out from cities, offering more space at the cost of an even longer commute. These suburbs, exurbs, and metropolitan areas constitute a metropolis.

Gentrification and urban renewal

• When cities built on manufacturing-based industries gradually shift into service and information economies, gentrification typically results. Gentrification involves middle and upper-class residents moving into and upgrading historically poorer neighborhoods. The resulting rise in property values and rents forces the lower-income urban population (often long-time locals) to relocate to more deteriorated areas. Gentrification is driven by individuals or investment firms seeking opportunities for high returns on investment.

Urban renewal, on the other hand, is an effort by government or sometimes nonprofit organizations to revitalize dilapidated urban areas for the intended use of the existing residents. The goal is increasing the quality of life, but when urban renewal happens very late in the deterioration phase, values and rents have often fallen so low due to not simply aesthetics but issues and inconveniences, that a sudden improvement in infrastructure and appearance can have the unintended effect of pricing some residents out over time.