The Fate of Social Movements

The fate of social movement organizations varies considerably. Some ultimately achieve legitimacy in society; the once militant labor union movement in the United States is now the highly institutionalized AFL-CIO. Some movements are successful at promoting their cause; the more moderate the goal (better enforcement of traffic laws), the better the chances of success. Some movements achieve legitimacy and desired gains; some achieve neither. But even among the apparent failures, there are often long-term positive effects.

Often ignored are the effects, both symbolic and material, of one movement group on another. Militant groups help legitimize more moderate groups; Malcolm X's Nation of Islam did that for Martin Luther King's SCLC. In other circumstances distant movements serve as important role models; witness King's debts to Gandhi and Thoreau. Apparently the students in Beijing were much influenced by revolutionary developments in Eastern Europe and by the freeing of the press in the Soviet Union. Great movements of the past also live on in legends and myths that are invented anew by successive generations, and in institutions and forms of action that are adapted to changed circumstances.