Early theories of social movement

a) Personality and mass-society movement theory:

• The personality theory of social movement holds that people participate in movements to satisfy a personality need rather than to address a real grievance.
• This theory locates the cause of movement not in society, bur in the individual.
• Likewise, mass-society theory holds that people often join social movement because they feel isolated and alienated in the society.
• However, these theories do not explain why such types of social movement vary so much over time and among different societies.

b) Relative – Deprivation theory

• This theory holds that social movement emerge when people feel deprived or mistreated relative either to how others are treated or to how they feel should be treated.
• Generally, relative – deprivation theory can often predict when social movements are likely to emerge, but cannot predict who is likely to participate.