From the French revolution to the Feminist movement, real power lies in the hands of the unity and oneness of the people. If a group feels that their rights are being threatened they tend to unite and protest for the cause. With the development of rational thought various social groups identify and choose to what identity they belong to, this is mainly the result of their upbringing and social construct.
Based on their needs, groups are no longer fighting just to satisfy them economically but rather they protest against a force that controls what they want; be in the form of speech, art, personal choice, lifestyle. Economic equality is not the only idea they agitate, people are also concerned about their rights and freedom.
According to Jan Robert, “Any collective behavior which is directed towards a social change or to resist it is called Social Movement”.Unlike the typical social movement, whose ideology is affiliated in one way or the other to the Marxist credo of ‘economic equality and ‘economic exploitation’ like the peasant movement,non-cooperation movement, Salt March. New-social movements (NSMs) are concern with the quality of lifestyle rather than economic redistribution. They focus on Individualism and Self-reflexivity. Suitable examples are the LGBTQ movement, Me too Movement,anti-body shaming, fast food versus slow food, Black is beauty environmental movements, animal rights, global peace movement.
Giddens, a famous sociologist claims that NSMs are a response to globalization where boundaries are no longer barriers but integration. With easy access and democratization of social media; pollution, oil spills, nuclear accidents, human rights violations, climate change are being exposed and this results in the loss of faith in the national governments. People use hashtags, poetry, dramas, tweet to symbolically protest against the cause. Usually, they are leaderless, informal, and widely spreading. According to Pakulski and Waters, the rise of NSMs is a sign of a post-modern society. Some of the recent New-Social Movements are the #Me too Movement, Chile Protest, Yellow-vest Movement. The success of the new social movement is seen in them.
In this epoch, a single tweet can shake the system of administration of a state or an organization. The closeness of the cause is territorially divided but digitally connected to a personal experience and lifestyle. Wonder why you empathize a person when his or her rights are violated. Using your rationale, you start reasoning the feeling that if their rights can be violated, mine will be next. Just a single tweet by #Metoo by Alyssa Milano, an American actress, and producer, the voice of the voiceless is heard, the culprit is caught and social reforms took place. The power of one person can be felt and can never be underestimated in this age.
Apart from the famous and well-known New-Social Movements like #Me too Movement, Yellow-vest Movement. Smaller and unheard New-Social movements usually remain silent without action, as the real matter remains unresolved and its importance is lost in sharing and tweeting. The New-Social movements continue to be a celeb club where only their voice is heard and not the ordinary ones. Everybody’s responsibility is somehow nobody’s responsibility; sharing, tweeting, Instagram stories will only make people acknowledge an issue without actually finding an alternative. We live in a world where personal rights and choice have resulted in subjective truth, People could not help but feel pity for the sufferings of others just by relating that I too experience it.