Social movements

Social movements are behind many of the democratic political changes we now take for granted in Australia. From the 1890s, for example, Australian unions and women’s organisations called for equal pay for equal work. In the early 1970s the Australian Conciliation and Arbitration Commission finally instituted laws requiring women’s pay to be equal to men’s pay for the same kind of work. Concerted efforts by movements of ordinary people outside the formal political system just like these continue to challenge governments and political parties to change unjust policies.

Knowing about how social movements emerge and how they make social change is critical to understanding how processes of democracy, government and policy-making interact. This chapter discusses what social movements are, when they form, who joins them and why, how they work, and why they cease to exist. Looking critically at social movements helps us understand how the political systems that movements operate within shapes them, and how movements themselves use these contexts to maximise their chances of success. These considerations shine a light on some of the important theories about the role of the state in a democratic society. The chapter also reflects on whether all of these groups are good for democracy and discusses the emergence of a variety of social movements in Australia.