Consider the following statements about new social movements:(A) Iden…

Consider the following statements about new social movements:

(A) Identity politics, cultural anxieties and aspirations are essential elements in creating them.
(B) They are not organised along class lines alone.
(C) Their identity elements are easy to trace to class-based inequality.
(D) In them, social inequality occurs alongside other, less important, issues.

Choose the correct answer from the options given below:

Answer & explanation

Correct answer: option 1

The correct answer is Option (1) → A and B only

(A) Identity politics, cultural anxieties and aspirations are essential elements in creating them. — Correct. Identity politics, cultural anxieties and aspirations are essential elements in creating new social movements.

(B) They are not organised along class lines alone. — Correct. New social movements are not organised along class lines alone. They often bring together people of different classes.

(C) Their identity elements are easy to trace to class-based inequality. — Incorrect. The feature is reversed. These identity elements arise in ways that are difficult to trace to class-based inequality.

(D) In them, social inequality occurs alongside other, less important, issues. — Incorrect. Social inequality occurs alongside other issues that are equally important. Calling those issues less important changes the point.

NCERT (2026-27): “Distinguishing the new social movement from the old social movements …
New social movements are not just about ‘old’ issues of economic inequality. Nor are they organised along class lines alone. Identity politics, cultural anxieties and aspirations are essential elements in creating social movements and occur in ways that are difficult to trace to class-based inequality. Often, these social movements unite participants across class boundaries. For instance, the women’s movement includes urban, middle-class feminists as well as poor peasant women. The regional movements for separate statehood bring together different groups of people who do not share homogeneous class identities. In a social movement, questions of social inequality can occur alongside other, equally important, issues.”