Types of Social Movements

Types of Social Movements: Alternative, Redemptive, Reformative, and Revolutionary

Sociologist David Aberle (1966) developed a typology of social movements based on two dimensions: (1) how much change is sought, and (2) who is the target of change (individuals or society).

KEY TAKEAWAY: Not all social movements seek the same degree of change. Understanding the type of a movement helps explain its tactics, its likely opposition, and its potential outcomes.

The Four Types

1. Alternative Movements

• Scope of change: Limited; focused on changing specific behaviours in specific individuals
• Target: Individual people’s behaviour, not social structures
• Goal: Encourage or discourage particular individual choices
• Examples:
• Anti-smoking campaigns (encourage individuals to quit smoking)
• Alcoholics Anonymous (support individuals to stop drinking)
• “No Junk Mail” neighbourhood campaigns
• Tactics: Education, peer support, awareness campaigns
• Opposition faced: Relatively limited; not threatening to powerful institutions

STUDY HINT: Alternative movements are the most limited in scope. They do not seek to change the system — only to change individual behaviour within the existing system.

2. Redemptive Movements

• Scope of change: Total/comprehensive, but targeted at individuals
• Target: Complete transformation of the individual (spiritual, moral, or psychological)
• Goal: Total personal transformation — “saving” or fundamentally changing individual members
• Examples:
• Religious conversion movements (e.g. evangelical Christianity; Jehovah’s Witnesses)
• Recovery movements (AA’s “spiritual awakening” model)
• New Age personal transformation movements
• Tactics: Conversion, testimony, community support, intensive personal engagement
• Opposition faced: Moderate; may face criticism if accused of cultism or social manipulation

3. Reformative Movements

• Scope of change: Partial; targeted at society (not just individuals)
• Target: Changing specific laws, policies, or social institutions — not the entire social order
• Goal: Reform elements of the existing system while broadly accepting its legitimacy
• Examples:
• Marriage equality movement in Australia (achieved reform of marriage law)
• Women’s suffrage movement (achieved reform of electoral law)
• Aboriginal land rights movement (achieved reform of land tenure law)
• Environmental movements advocating specific policy changes (emissions targets, national parks)
• Tactics: Lobbying, legal action, public campaigns, protests, media engagement, electoral pressure
• Opposition faced: Significant; dominant interests (governments, corporations) resist change to the system

4. Revolutionary Movements

• Scope of change: Total; targeted at society
• Target: Overturning the entire social, political, or economic order
• Goal: Fundamental, systemic transformation — replacing existing institutions, not just reforming them
• Examples:
• Bolshevik Revolution (Russia, 1917) — sought total transformation of economic and political order
• Some Indigenous sovereignty movements that seek not reform within Australian law but fundamental renegotiation of the colonial settlement
• 20th-century anti-colonial independence movements
• Tactics: Can range from sustained civil disobedience to armed struggle; often face most severe repression
• Opposition faced: Most intense; existing power structures mobilise fully against existential threats

Summary Table

EXAM TIP: VCAA questions often ask you to classify a specific social movement and justify the classification. Know the two key dimensions (target: individual vs society; scope: partial vs total) and apply them to your example. Avoid ambiguous responses — commit to a classification and justify it.

COMMON MISTAKE: Students sometimes confuse reformative and revolutionary movements. The key difference is scope: reformative movements accept the overall legitimacy of the existing system and seek to change specific elements; revolutionary movements seek to replace the entire system.