Some decades ago, landless labourers in a district joined a struggle that aimed to drive out oppressive landlords and officials and to take over the local government by force. Over the next two decades its leaders began to contest elections and to press the legislature for land ceiling laws and minimum wages. Large rallies and road blockades gave way to a quieter routine: it opened district offices, hired paid staff, kept a membership register and held yearly general meetings.
Social scientists who study the life cycles of movements describe the later phase in the passage as a move towards:
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 2
The correct answer is Option (2) → Social movement organisations
Option (1) Non-party political formations — Incorrect. Non-party political formations are groups that take up people's issues outside the frame of political parties. The term does not describe a movement settling into offices, paid staff and registers after its protest phase.
Option (2) Social movement organisations — Correct. When a movement moves from mass mobilisation and collective protest to a more institutionalised form, social scientists call this a move towards social movement organisations. Offices, paid staff, a membership register and yearly meetings in place of rallies and blockades show this shift.
Option (3) New social movements — Incorrect. New social movements are about quality-of-life issues such as a clean environment. The term names a kind of movement, so it cannot describe a phase in one movement's life cycle.
Option (4) Civil society — Incorrect. Civil society is the public space beyond the family but outside the state and the market, where voluntary groups and movements act. It is the setting in which movements work, so it cannot name their institutionalised phase.
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