Practicing Success

Target Exam

CUET

Subject

Sociology

Chapter

Social Change and Development in India: Social Movements

Question:

Jharkhand is one of the newly formed states of India carved out of South Bihar in the year 2000. Behind the formation of this state lies more than a century of resistance. The social movement for Jharkhand had a charismatic leader in Birsa Munda, an adivasi who led a major uprising against the British. After his death Birsa became an important icon of the movement literate adivasis began to research and write about him. They disseminated information about tribal customs and cultural practices. This helped create a unified ethnic consciousness and a shared identity as Jharkhandis.

Read the passage given above and answer the question:

Choose the incorrect feature of a social movement.

Options:

Sustained Collective Action

Shared objectives and ideologies

Leadership

Spontaneous and disorganized

Correct Answer:

Spontaneous and disorganized

Explanation:
 The incorrect feature of a social movement is  Spontaneous and disorganized.

People may damage a bus and attack its driver when the bus has run over a child. This is an isolated incident of protest. Since it flares up and dies down it is not a social movement. A social movement requires sustained collective action over time. Such action is often directed against the state and takes the form of demanding changes in state policy or practice. Spontaneous, disorganised protest cannot be called a social movement either. Collective action must be marked by some degree of organisation. This organisation may include a leadership and a structure that defines how members relate to each other, make decisions and carry them out. Those participating in a social movement also have shared objectives and ideologies. A social movement has a general orientation or way of approaching to bring about (or to prevent) change. These defining features are not constant. They may change over the course of a social movement’s life.