SatyamAIR 218 · CSE 2016 · 200 wordsTheir whole copy
Opening
‘Relative Deprivation’ theory of social movements said that social movements - or concerted, collective social actions driven by a well-defined goal - are the results of the feeling of relative deprivation among individuals. ‘Resource Mobilization’ theory refutes this saying that relative deprivation is not enough. A social movement in order to be successful needs to gather enough resources - money, people, institutional support, so on.
Body · continuous prose
This theory (by McCarthy and Zeld) believes that various social movements compete for the limited resources in society. Those which are able to outdo others in this race are successful.
The theory also therefore believes that actors in a social movement are Rational, actively calculating their selfish interests.
However, it is argued that resource mobilization theory over-emphasizes the importance of resources. There have been movements (like of poor Black people in the US, or the Chipko movement in India) which were started by common & resourceless people but as the movements progressed, resources got added.
Close
Second, there have been many social movements - like the Indian Struggle for Independence - in which actors rising above selfish interests made tremendous sacrifices. Besides, such movements are 'collective actions' driven by deeply emotive feelings (and not rational calculations!)