Rodney Stark's Social Movement Theory and Its Applicability to Sri Lanka
Rodney Stark - Founder of Social Movement Theory 1. A social movement is a type of group action. Social movements can be defined as "organizational structures and strategies that may empower oppressed populations to mount effective challenges and resist the more powerful and advantaged elites". They are large, sometimes informal, groupings of individuals or organizations which focus on specific political or social issues. In other words, they carry out, resist, or undo a social change. They provide a way of social change from the bottom within nations. 2. The early growth of social movements was connected to broad economic and political changes in England in the mid-18th century which, quietly spread over the civilizations in European and Western countr...