The old
Social movements – especially when broadly defined, which is generally how I choose to define them – are hardly new phenomena. I imagine they have been around as long as people have gathered in groups and organised to achieve specific goals. Of course, not all social movements are successful, widespread or share the same level of coherence as others, but nevertheless, I think ‘old’ understandings of social movements can draw out some key ideas related to what I’ve started calling the life cycle of social movements.
Generally, the ‘old’ version of social movements starts in a local setting, usually amongst a small group of associates, and often after a particular circumstance or event that acts as a flashpoint. This is followed by a lengthy period – sometimes measured in years – of organising within and around communities, often taking the form of education through leaflets, speeches, rallies, protests, and more direct action like boycotts. There might also be screening of things like films. The purpose here is to educate and then build momentum, often for a significant show of strength, such as a boycott or a mass gathering – such as the Bus Strike, or the Marches.
Such approaches require, at the very least, a significant involvement (an overhead, is the term often used) of time and resources from the participants. They need to give up leisure time to organise, plan and attend these events. They might need to fund raise or donate their own money to print leaflets and resources.
And, of course, there are often much more serious risks – including, in some cases, death, injury, imprisonment, the loss of employment opportunities and vilification in the press. And also emotional risks, such as being isolated from peer groups and families.
The new
However, it would be my argument that newer social movements do not have the same risks or costs associated with participation. Certainly, the use of mobile technology and social media has meant that organising – and perhaps education – has become significantly easier. It takes little time – and even less in terms of resourcing – to set up a Facebook Event or something similar. There are, of course, costs associated with this lowered overhead – Tufekci (2017) has written about this extensively, and that might speak to the ephemeral nature of the online social media.
I think there are three major differences between ‘old’ and ‘new’ social movements:
- The mix of the physical real and the virtual real, and the ability to make use of affordances in different spaces.
- Back to front organising, in that often mass events are the starting point. It is much easier to spread a call for action – and to reach a much larger number of people – so that this is often the starting point for further action, rather than the culmination.
- Youth-led, independent, but global
What does this mean for learning?
Of course, my real interest in this is how these social movements influence, promote and perhaps even encourage learning. There are three key points here:
- The methodological considerations
- Relationships as a proxy of learning
- The challenge of multi-modal analysis