Politics Of Social Movements: A Theoretical Understanding

Abstract

Ever since German sociologist Lorenz Von Stein formulated the concept of social movements, they have been transformed in dimensional phenomena. While old social movements centre on the larger political domain, new ones essentially focus on social or cultural dimensions. German sociologist Jurgen Habermas strongly believes that the old social movement have been hijacked and one major cause is the ‘colonization of the lifeworld by the system.’ In the blur between the domains of state and public sphere, social movements lose their potency. In the context of India, social movements have been evolving taking various facets in different phases and one such profound movement is the Dalit movements. Plethora of literatures, intellectuals are afloat to underpin the movements. This paper attempts to analyse the conceptual fluidity inherent in understanding social movements. This also examines certain anomalies in contextualising the western notion of social movement in non-western societies.