Social movements in industrialized and developing countries

• Intro: Social movements involve collective struggle aimed at bringing social transformation questioning prevailing order , power relations, struggle for justice etc.

• Developed countries-
• Old left- against exploitative nature of capitalism, inequalities(monochromatic)
• These were working class movements in the developed world.
• In the developing world these were peasant movements against feudalism, anti colonialism movements.

• New left- started in 1960s .
• Herbert Marcuse is known as father of new left .
• Based on the ideas of Young Marx, hence the aim of these movements is “human emancipation.”
• Unlike the old social movements that talked of basic necessities of life, the new social movements focus on the “quality of life.”
• These movements exhibit plural ideas and values and hence difficult to compartmentalise as socialist, capitalist,right or left.
• Post materialist movements and focus more on developmental issues like sustainable development, disarmament, LGBT, social media movements like metoo, change.org 
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• Developing countries

1. Distinction between old and new is not distinct 
2. Huge overlap between old and new as they are societies in transition. In India we see movements against corruption along with working class movements

• New social move:
• Give theory of legitimation crisis that gives rise to pressure groups and new social movements .
• These erupt when citizens think that the govt has violated terms of social contract.
• The new social movements offer an alternative social imaginary to both capitalism and socialism as they were both the systems to be retaining the elements of domination and unfairness
• Taking a cue from Foucault and Laski, they argue that social power can no longer be seen a centrally located in the state or the economy but instead it is exercised as well as resisted at the societal level.
• The new social movements are indicators of the pulse of the people that they are no longer ready to accept the developmental paradigms that keep them out and preclude their participation.
• Ex-
• occupy wall-street mov in USA
• yellow vest mov in France
• recent protests in Hong Kong, Algeria, sudan
• India against corruption, #metoo, pathalgai, env movement like Tuticorin
• Recent protests in Kazakhstan due to high inflation
• Critical Marxists like Habermas 
  
   call politics of movement an example of radical democracy where people engage in communicative action in ideal speech situation, thus enlarging “public sphere.”
• there is a rising deinstitutionsalisation of democracy and political parties and a growing disconnect between the leaders and the people . This has given importance to pressure groups.
• New social movements are welcomed so long they represent democratic upsurge
• these movements are primarily socio-cultural as elaborated by habermas who called it “new politics” concerned with human emancipation and individual self realisation, as opposed to old politics focus on economic and political security.
• acc to melluci, the concern has shifted from sole production of economic resources to cultural production of social relations,symbols and identities.
• The organising mechanisms, collective activism and leadership of social movement provide the required space not only to develop a critique of the society but also for trans-formative politics within the given structure

• Responses to globalization

1. 
   Shashi in his "two backlashes against globalisation." Says there is rise of anti economic globalisation and anti cultural globalisation
2. 
   
   
   David Goodhart has called it fight between anywheres(those who consider themselves globalists) and somewheres(those who consider themselves localists).
3. Due to increasing globalisation,power is shifting from govts elected by people to intl institutions that are manned by unelected bureaucrats (post sovereign governance/super territoriality). This has led to crisis of democracy(Huntington) in many nations
4. In developing countries, due to identity factors the socially dominant groups have reaped the benefits of globalisation and now we see a backlash against globalisation in the form of grassroot movements.

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  Joseph stiglitz- book- “globalization and its discontents” -
• Says need for transparency in global institutions
• Says globalisation was oversold, the gains in GDP were over estimated and the distributional effects of globalisation were underestimated
• The consequences of this overselling has been undermining of confidence in the elites that advocated globalisation.
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  In his book “people, power and profits” he talks about growing resentment against globalisation the world over. Calls for “progressive capitalism” that is less profit and more people centric.

Conclusion- social movements bring otherwise divided humans on one platform around a single issue and mobilise them to struggle for one cause – the defence of all living beings, born and unborn.