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122-408: Free love is a social movement that accepts all forms of love . The movement's initial goal was to separate the state from sexual and romantic matters such as marriage , birth control , and adultery . It stated that such issues were the concern of the people involved and no one else. The movement began during the 19th century and was advanced by hippies during the 1960s and early 70s. Much of

244-442: A "special revolutionary militant section": he saw this as "corrupt and degenerate". Despite the traditional marital lives of Lenin and most Bolsheviks, they believed that sexual relations were outside the jurisdiction of the state. The Soviet government abolished centuries-old Czarist regulations on personal life, which had prohibited homosexuality and made it difficult for women to obtain divorce permits or to live singly. However, by

366-445: A book of nearly 350 pages comprising most of his writings on sexuality. In a text from 1937, he mentioned among the individualist objectives the practice of forming voluntary associations for purely sexual purposes of heterosexual, homosexual, or bisexual nature or of a combination thereof. He also supported the right of individuals to change sex and stated his willingness to rehabilitate forbidden pleasures, non-conformist caresses (he

488-415: A community. Hence, making emergence the first step to a social movement. This discontent will act as the chain that links common people together, as they share the same experiences and feelings of oppression. "Within this stage, social movements are very preliminary and there is little to no organization. Instead this stage can be thought of as widespread discontent (Macionis, 2001; Hopper, 1950). " Emergence

610-529: A fellow inmate. Wollstonecraft makes it clear that "women had strong sexual desires and that it was degrading and immoral to pretend otherwise." Wollstonecraft felt that women should not give up freedom and control of their sexuality, and thus did not marry her partner, Gilbert Imlay , despite the two conceiving and having a child together in the midst of the Terror of the French Revolution. Though

732-420: A form of prostitution. The best-known British advocate of free love was the philosopher Bertrand Russell , later Third Earl Russell, who said that he did not believe he really knew a woman until he had made love with her. Russell consistently addressed aspects of free love throughout his voluminous writings, and was not personally content with conventional monogamy until extreme old age. His most famous work on

854-415: A large number of people realize that there are others sharing the same value and desire for a particular social change. This third stage, bureaucratization, is when movements must become more organized, centered around a more systematic model. The set up and system for going about the construct must be more formal, with people taking on specific roles and responsibilities. "In this phase their political power

976-490: A life cycle: they are created, they grow, they achieve successes or failures and eventually, they dissolve and cease to exist. They are more likely to evolve in the time and place which is friendly to the social movements: hence their evident symbiosis with the 19th century proliferation of ideas like individual rights, freedom of speech and civil disobedience. Social movements occur in liberal and authoritarian societies but in different forms. These new movements are activated by

1098-487: A minority reaction in the form of the free-love movement. While the phrase free love is often associated with promiscuity in the popular imagination, especially in reference to the counterculture of the 1960s and 1970s, historically, the free-love movement has not advocated multiple sexual partners or short-term sexual relationships. Rather, it has argued that sexual relations that are freely entered into should not be regulated by law, and may be initiated or terminated by

1220-415: A movement may take before proceeding into decline. Success of a movement would result in permanent changes within the society and/or government that would result in a loss of need for protest. Failure is often the result of the incapability to keep a common focus, and work towards the goal in mind. "Failure of social movements due to organizational or strategic failings is common for many organizations". Such

1342-443: A natural impulse like hunger or thirst, involves more than that, because no one is "satisfied by the bare sexual act". He argued that abstinence enhances the pleasure of sex, which is better when it "has a large psychical element than when it is purely physical". Russell noted that for a marriage to work requires that there "be a feeling of complete equality on both sides; there must be no interference with mutual freedom; there must be

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1464-730: A number of "communistic" movements throughout the Middle Ages also rejected marriage. Typical of such movements, the Cathars of 10th to 14th century Western Europe freed followers from all moral prohibition and religious obligation, but respected those who lived simply, avoided the taking of human or animal life, and were celibate. Women had an uncommon equality and autonomy, even as religious leaders. The Cathars and similar groups (the Waldenses , Apostle brothers, Beghards and Beguines , Lollards , and Hussites ) were branded as heretics by

1586-420: A painter. Nichols studied the writings of Sylvester Graham and became a vegetarian around 1837. She was an influential proponent in the natural hygiene movement. She lectured to all-female audiences on anatomy , physiology , and hygiene to relieve women of what she saw as unnecessary physical and mental suffering. She recommended that women exercise daily, breathe fresh air, shower with cold water, avoid

1708-481: A plurality of individuals, groups and/or organizations, engaged in a political or cultural conflict, on the basis of a shared collective identity" Sociologist Charles Tilly defines social movements as a series of contentious performances, displays and campaigns by which ordinary people make collective claims on others. For Tilly, social movements are a major vehicle for ordinary people's participation in public politics. He argues that there are three major elements to

1830-475: A rational and strategic effort by ordinary people to change society or politics. The form of the resources shapes the activities of the movement (e.g., access to a TV station will result in the extensive use TV media). Movements develop in contingent opportunity structures that influence their efforts to mobilize; and each movement's response to the opportunity structures depends on the movement's organization and resources Critics of this theory argue that there

1952-420: A route would result in the gradual breaking up of an organization, and out of the stages of movement. Co-optation results when people or groups are integrated and shift away from the social movement's initial concerns and values. Repression is another example, when the movement is slowly wiped away from the public platform through means of an outside force, usually being the government. The last route into declining

2074-516: A second wife into the house. His poetry suggests that external demands for marital fidelity reduce love to mere duty rather than authentic affection, and decries jealousy and egotism as a motive for marriage laws. Poems such as "Why should I be bound to thee, O my lovely Myrtle-tree?" and "Earth's Answer" seem to advocate multiple sexual partners. In his poem " London " he speaks of "the Marriage-Hearse" plagued by "the youthful Harlot's curse",

2196-499: A shared normative orientation; (3.) the sharing of a concern for change of the status quo and (4.) the occurrence of moments of practical action that are at least subjectively connected together across time addressing this concern for change. Thus we define a social movement as a form of political association between persons who have at least a minimal sense of themselves as connected to others in common purpose and who come together across an extended period of time to effect social change in

2318-405: A social movement as "a set of opinions and beliefs in a population which represents preferences for changing some elements of the social structure and/or reward distribution of a society." According to Paul van Seeters and Paul James , defining a social movement entails a few minimal conditions of 'coming together': (1.) the formation of some kind of collective identity; (2.) the development of

2440-413: A social movement to improve (or defend) their conditions. There are two significant problems with this theory. First, since most people feel deprived at one level or another almost all the time, the theory has a hard time explaining why the groups that form social movements do when other people are also deprived. Second, the reasoning behind this theory is circular – often the only evidence for deprivation

2562-441: A social movement to organize it must have strong leadership and sufficient resources. Political opportunity refers to the receptivity or vulnerability of the existing political system to challenge. This vulnerability can be the result of any of the following (or a combination thereof): One of the advantages of the political process theory is that it addresses the issue of timing or emergence of social movements. Some groups may have

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2684-411: A social movement: Sidney Tarrow defines a social movement as "collective challenges [to elites, authorities, other groups or cultural codes] by people with common purposes and solidarity in sustained interactions with elites, opponents and authorities." He specifically distinguishes social movements from political parties and advocacy groups . The sociologists John McCarthy and Mayer Zald define as

2806-444: A vague free love but also multiple partners, which he called "plural love". In the individualist anarchist journal L'en dehors he and others continued in this way. Armand seized this opportunity to outline his theses supporting revolutionary sexualism and camaraderie amoureuse that differed from the traditional views of the partisans of free love in several respects. Later Armand submitted that from an individualist perspective nothing

2928-612: A vegetarian diet. In 1851, Nichols and her husband Thomas Low Nichols founded a " water-cure " clinic, the American Hydropathic Institute in New York City . It offered a fee of $ 50, for people to become qualified "water cure" doctors. The institute's use of hydrotherapy is cited as a historical example of quackery . Nichols and her husband were advocates of bathing in cold water, fasting and occasional wet-sheet packing. Nichols contributed to

3050-404: A wish for change in social customs, ethics and values which oppress certain communities. The birth of a social movement needs what sociologist Neil Smelser calls an initiating event : a particular, individual event that will begin a chain reaction of events in the given society leading to the creation of a social movement. The root of this event must be the result of some common discontent among

3172-748: A woman. Of the four major free-love periodicals in the Reconstruction era , half had woman editors. To proponents of free love, the act of sex was not just about reproduction. Access to birth control was considered a means to women's independence, and leading birth-control activists also embraced free love. Sexual radicals remained focused on their attempts to uphold a woman's right to control her body and to freely discuss issues such as contraception , marital-sex abuse (emotional and physical), and sexual education . These people believed that by talking about female sexuality, they would help empower women. To help achieve this goal, such radical thinkers relied on

3294-691: A writer who also had an interest in health reform and progressive views on women's rights . Together they planned to open a School of Health, School of Progress and School of Life in a three-story building they leased. They moved to England at the outset of the Civil War. Nichols wrote novels and stories under the pseudonym Mary Orme. She wrote short stories for Godey's Lady's Book . Edgar Allan Poe praised her fiction. Nichols died in Brompton, London on May 30, 1884, from breast cancer . Her surviving daughter by her first husband, Elma Gove , became

3416-450: Is a loosely organized effort by a large group of people to achieve a particular goal, typically a social or political one. This may be to carry out a social change , or to resist or undo one. It is a type of group action and may involve individuals , organizations , or both. Social movements have been described as "organizational structures and strategies that may empower oppressed populations to mount effective challenges and resist

3538-439: Is also a concern—for example, some jurisdictions do not recognize spousal rape , or they treat it less seriously than non-spousal rape. Free-love movements since the 19th century have also defended the right to publicly discuss sexuality and have battled obscenity laws. The history of free love is entwined with the history of feminism . From the late 18th century, leading feminists, such as Mary Wollstonecraft , have challenged

3660-466: Is bound In spells of law to one she loathes? and must she drag the chain Of life in weary lust? (5.21-3, E49) Blake believed that humans were "fallen", and that a major impediment to a free love society was corrupt human nature, not merely the intolerance of society and the jealousy of men, but the inauthentic hypocritical nature of human communication. He also seems to have thought that marriage should afford

3782-467: Is bound to fail." Activists too often make the mistake of trying to convince people to address their issues. A mobilization strategy aimed at large-scale change often begins with action a small issue that concerns many people. Popovic also argues that a social movement has little chance of growing if it relies on boring speeches and the usual placard waving marches. He argues for creating movements that people actually want to join. OTPOR! succeeded because it

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3904-432: Is going mainstream, which is generally perceived as an overall success. This is when goals of the movement are taken into society as a part of daily life, making it a 'social norm.' For example, birth control is still a greatly debated topic on a government level, but it has been accepted into social life as a common thing that exists. It is important to recognize that though movements may disintegrate and cease to be active,

4026-508: Is greater than in the previous stages in that they may have more regular access to political elites." In this stage, one organization may take over another one in order to obtain a greater status and formal alliance. This 'taking over' may be a positive or negative move for organizations. Ella Baker, an activist who played a role in the NAACP, had proposed to the students of the student movement to start their own organization. This becomes known as

4148-407: Is like to have the worst of it, for the man will be gone and leave them ... after he hath had his pleasure. ..... By seeking their own freedom they embondage others. The ideals of free love found their champion in one of the earliest English feminists , Mary Wollstonecraft . In her writings, Wollstonecraft challenged the institution of marriage, and advocated its abolition. Her novels criticized

4270-412: Is not to take away. In an act understood to support free love, the child of Wollstonecraft and Godwin, Mary , took up with the then still-married English romantic poet Percy Bysshe Shelley in 1814 at the young age of sixteen. Shelley wrote in defence of free love in the prose notes of Queen Mab (1813), in his essay On Love ( c.  1815 ), and in the poem Epipsychidion (1821). Sharing

4392-405: Is prior to any sort of organized resistance to the condition of society. Jonathan Christiansen's essay on the four stages of social movement dissects further into the historical sociology of how each stage affects the whole movement. The Civil Rights Movement's early stages are an example of the public display of protest that is utilized to push a movement into the next stages. "It was not until after

4514-473: Is that for most, neither insiders to a movement nor outsiders apply consistent labels or even descriptive phrases. Unless there is a single leader who does, or a formal system of membership agreements, activists will typically use diverse labels and descriptive phrases that require scholars to discern when they are referring to the same or similar ideas, declare similar goals, adopt similar programs of action, and use similar methods. There can be great differences in

4636-638: Is the social movement. If deprivation is claimed to be the cause but the only evidence for such is the movement, the reasoning is circular. Mass society theory argues that social movements are made up of individuals in large societies who feel insignificant or socially detached. Social movements, according to this theory, provide a sense of empowerment and belonging that the movement members would otherwise not have. Very little support has been found for this theory. Aho (1990), in his study of Idaho Christian Patriotism, did not find that members of that movement were more likely to have been socially detached. In fact,

4758-685: Is too much of an emphasis on resources, especially financial resources. Some movements are effective without an influx of money and are more dependent upon the movement members for time and labor (e.g., the civil rights movement in the U.S.). Political process theory is similar to resource mobilization in many regards, but tends to emphasize a different component of social structure that is important for social movement development: political opportunities . Political process theory argues that there are three vital components for movement formation: insurgent consciousness, organizational strength, and political opportunities. Insurgent consciousness refers back to

4880-788: The Association d'Études sexologiques and the Ligue mondiale pour la Réforme sexuelle sur une base scientifique . After the October Revolution in Russia, Alexandra Kollontai became the most prominent woman in the Soviet administration. Kollontai was also a champion of free love. However, Clara Zetkin recorded that Lenin opposed free love as "completely un-Marxist, and moreover, anti-social". Zetkin also recounted Lenin's denunciation of plans to organise Hamburg's women prostitutes into

5002-568: The House of Commons to deliver a petition demanding the repeal of the Act, which the government refused to do. Soon, large riots broke out across London and embassies and Catholic owned businesses were attacked by angry mobs. Other political movements that emerged in the late 18th century included the British abolitionist movement against slavery (becoming one between the sugar boycott of 1791 and

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5124-535: The Napoleonic Wars entered a period of social upheaval characterised by the growing maturity of the use of social movements and special-interest associations. Chartism was the first mass movement of the growing working-class in the world. It campaigned for political reform between 1838 and 1848 with the People's Charter of 1838 as its manifesto – this called for universal suffrage and the implementation of

5246-467: The Second World War entered a period of radical reform and change. In the post-war period, feminism , gay rights movement , peace movement , civil rights movement , anti-nuclear movement and environmental movement emerged, often dubbed the new social movements They led, among other things, to the formation of green parties and organisations influenced by the new left . Some find in

5368-477: The Water-Cure Journal , and published with her husband Nichols’ Journal of Health, Water-Cure, and Human Progress (1853–1858). Nichols and her husband advocated free love and the belief that marriage was evil. She was the leading female advocate and the woman most looked up to in the free love movement, and her autobiography ( Mary Lyndon: Or, Revelations of a Life: An Autobiography , 1860) became

5490-784: The industrialization and urbanization of 19th-century societies. It is sometimes argued that the freedom of expression, education and relative economic independence prevalent in the modern Western culture are responsible for the unprecedented number and scope of various contemporary social movements. Many of the social movements of the last hundred years grew up, like the Mau Mau in Kenya, to oppose Western colonialism. Social movements have been and continue to be closely connected with democratic political systems . Occasionally, social movements have been involved in democratizing nations, but more often they have flourished after democratization. Over

5612-554: The right to sexual pleasure without social or legal restraints. In the Victorian era , this was a radical notion. Later, a new theme developed, linking free love with radical social change and depicting it as a harbinger of a new anti-authoritarian , anti-repressive sensibility. According to the modern stereotype, earlier middle-class Americans wanted the home to be a place of stability in an uncertain world. To this mentality are attributed strongly defined gender roles, which led to

5734-629: The secret ballot , amongst other things. The term "social movements" was introduced in 1848 by the German Sociologist Lorenz von Stein in his book Socialist and Communist Movements since the Third French Revolution (1848) in which he introduced the term "social movement" into scholarly discussions – actually depicting in this way political movements fighting for the social rights understood as welfare rights . The labor movement and socialist movement of

5856-407: The worker class . Many other social movements were created at universities , where the process of mass education brought many people together. With the development of communication technologies, creation and activities of social movements became easier – from printed pamphlets circulating in the 18th century coffeehouses to newspapers and Internet , all those tools became important factors in

5978-543: The 1967 Summer of Love , acknowledged in 2007 how many of the men who participated in the event viewed women as prone. A number of utopian social movements throughout history have shared a vision of free love. An early Christian sect known as the Adamites existed in North Africa in the 2nd, 3rd and 4th centuries and rejected marriage. They practiced nudism and believed themselves to be without original sin . In

6100-545: The 6th century, adherents of Mazdakism in pre-Muslim Persia apparently supported a kind of free love in the place of marriage. One folk story from the period that contains a mention of a free-love (and nudist ) community under the sea is "The Tale of Abdullah the Fisherman and Abdullah the Merman" from The Book of One Thousand and One Nights ( c.  10th–12th century ). Karl Kautsky , writing in 1895, noted that

6222-586: The Beatniks in this new counterculture social rebellion, it has been acknowledged that the New Left movement was arguably the most prominent advocate of free love during the late 1960s. Many among the counterculture youth sided with New Left arguments that marriage was a symbol of the traditional capitalist culture which supported war. " Make Love Not War " became a popular slogan in the counterculture movement which denounced both war and capitalism. Images from

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6344-718: The Brown v. the Board of Education Supreme court decision (1954), which outlawed segregation in Public schools, and following the arrest of Rosa Parks in Montgomery, Alabama for refusing to comply with segregation laws on city buses by giving up her bus seat to a white man, that the American Civil Rights Movement would proceed to the next stage – coalescence." The impact of a black woman, Rosa Parks , riding in

6466-527: The Christian socialist writer John Humphrey Noyes , although he preferred to use the term ' complex marriage '. Noyes founded the Oneida Community in 1848, a utopian community that "[rejected] conventional marriage both as a form of legalism from which Christians should be free and as a selfish institution in which men exerted rights of ownership over women". He found scriptural justification: "In

6588-774: The Light-Bearer (ed. Moses Harman ) and the German-language Detroit newspaper Der Arme Teufel (ed. Robert Reitzel). Organisations included the New England Free Love League, founded with the assistance of American libertarian socialist Benjamin Tucker as a spin-off from the New England Labor Reform League (NELRL). A minority of freethinkers also supported free love. The most radical free love journal

6710-662: The President of the Protestant Association in 1779. The Association had the support of leading Calvinist religious figures, including Rowland Hill , Erasmus Middleton , and John Rippon . Gordon was an articulate propagandist and he inflamed the mob with fears of Papism and a return to absolute monarchical rule . The situation deteriorated rapidly, and in 1780, after a meeting of the Protestant Association, its members subsequently marched on

6832-700: The Roman Catholic Church and suppressed. Other movements shared their critique of marriage but advocated free sexual relations rather than celibacy, such as the Brethren of the Free Spirit , Taborites , and Picards . Free love was an element in radical thinking during the " English Revolution " of 1640–1660, most strongly associated with the " Ranters ". There were also perceptive critiques, within these radical movements, such as Gerrard Winstanley : The mother and child begotten in this manner

6954-547: The SNCC, the student nonviolent coordinating committee (1960s). The students could have joined forces with the SCLC, an already existing organization, but that would have been a poor bureaucratizing decision, as they would succumb to old ideologies. New and progressive ideas that challenge prior authority are crucial to social change. The declining of a social movement does not necessarily mean failure. There are multiple routes in which

7076-554: The Scottish intellectual Thomas Davidson . Fellowship members included many illustrious intellectuals of the day, who went on to radically challenge accepted Victorian notions of morality and sexuality, including poets Edward Carpenter and John Davidson , animal rights activist Henry Stephens Salt , sexologist Havelock Ellis , feminists Edith Lees , Emmeline Pankhurst and Annie Besant and writers H. G. Wells , Bernard Shaw , Bertrand Russell and Olive Schreiner . Its objective

7198-403: The aggregation of resources by social movement entrepreneurs and movement organizations, who use these resources to turn collective dissent in to political pressure. Members are recruited through networks; commitment is maintained by building a collective identity, and through interpersonal relationships. Resource Mobilization Theory views social movement activity as "politics by other means":

7320-573: The authorities to concede to the movement's demands. Wilkes was returned to Parliament, general warrants were declared unconstitutional, and press freedom was extended to the coverage of Parliamentary debates . A much larger movement of anti-Catholic protest was triggered by the Papists Act 1778 , which eliminated a number of the penalties and disabilities endured by Roman Catholics in England , and formed around Lord George Gordon , who became

7442-412: The communist regimes of Eastern Europe , developed after trade union activist Anna Walentynowicz was fired from work. The South African shack dwellers' movement Abahlali baseMjondolo grew out of a road blockade in response to the sudden selling off of a small piece of land promised for housing to a developer. Such an event is also described as a volcanic model – a social movement is often created after

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7564-518: The end of the 1920s, Stalin had taken control of the Communist Party and begun to implement socially conservative policies. Homosexuality was classified as a mental disorder, and free love was further demonized. With the Summer of Love in 1967, the eccentricities of the beat generation became a nationally recognized movement. Despite the developing sexual revolution and the influence of

7686-410: The end of the 1990s the emergence of a new global social movement, the anti-globalization movement . Some social movement scholars posit that with the rapid pace of globalization, the potential for the emergence of new type of social movement is latent—they make the analogy to national movements of the past to describe what has been termed a global citizens movement . Several key processes lie behind

7808-648: The fashionable tight-laced corsets of the day, and abstain from coffee and meat. Nichols lectured for the Ladies Physiological Society, an offshoot of the American Physiological Society . She has been described as the "first woman in America to lecture on topics of anatomy and physiology and she included lessons on vegetarianism, and prevention and cure of sickness." Nichols believed that cancer could be cured with

7930-767: The first argument against marriage written from a woman's point of view. These beliefs alienated Nichols and her husband from others in the hydropathic community. In 1855, they moved to Cincinnati and opened the Memnonia Institute, a "school of life" at Yellow Springs, Ohio , in 1856. The name of the institute referred to the goddess of water, reflecting their interest in hydropathy, but also promoted asceticism , fasting, and spiritual penance. It had few members, lasting only one year. They both attended seances, believing themselves to be in communication with spirits, and converted to Catholicism . Herbert M. Shelton 's book The Science and Fine Art of Natural Hygiene

8052-519: The first woman to run for presidency in the U.S., in 1872, was also called "the high priestess of free love". In 1871, Woodhull wrote: "Yes, I am a Free Lover. I have an inalienable, constitutional and natural right to love whom I may, to love as long or as short a period as I can; to change that love every day if I please, and with that right neither you nor any law you can frame have any right to interfere". The women's suffrage movement , free love and Spiritualism were three strongly linked movements at

8174-454: The free love tradition reflects a liberal philosophy that seeks freedom from state regulation and church interference in personal relationships . According to this concept, the free unions of adults (or persons at or above the age of consent ) are legitimate relations which should be respected by all third parties whether they are emotional or sexual relations. In addition, some free love writing has argued that both men and women have

8296-483: The free-love ideals of the earlier social movements—as well as their feminism, pacifism, and simple communal life—were the utopian socialist communities of early-nineteenth-century France and Britain, associated with writers and thinkers such as Henri de Saint-Simon and Charles Fourier in France, and Robert Owen in England. Fourier, who coined the term feminism, argued for true freedom, without suppressing passions:

8418-567: The growing movement for popular sovereignty among the middle classes – people began chanting "Wilkes and Liberty" in the streets. After a later period of exile brought about by further charges of libel and obscenity , Wilkes stood for the Parliamentary seat at Middlesex , where most of his support was located. When Wilkes was imprisoned in the King's Bench Prison on 10 May 1768, a mass movement of support emerged, with large demonstrations in

8540-608: The growth of the social movements. Finally, the spread of democracy and political rights like the freedom of speech made the creation and functioning of social movements much easier. Nascent social movements often fail to achieve their objectives because they fail to mobilize sufficient numbers of people. Srdja Popovic, author of Blueprint for Revolution, and spokesperson for OTPOR! , says that movements succeed when they address issues that people actually care about. "It's unrealistic to expect people to care about more than what they already care about, and any attempt to make them do so

8662-501: The history of social movements. Urbanization led to larger settlements, where people of similar goals could find each other, gather and organize. This facilitated social interaction between scores of people, and it was in urban areas that those early social movements first appeared. Similarly, the process of industrialization which gathered large masses of workers in the same region explains why many of those early social movements addressed matters such as economic wellbeing, important to

8784-438: The ideas of deprivation and grievances. The idea is that certain members of society feel like they are being mistreated or that somehow the system is unjust. The insurgent consciousness is the collective sense of injustice that movement members (or potential movement members) feel and serves as the motivation for movement organization. Organizational strength falls inline with resource-mobilization theory, arguing that in order for

8906-605: The impact that they have in the social realm is success in its own way. It sparks the notion in new generations that the possibility to organize and make change is there. Sociologists have developed several theories related to social movements [Kendall, 2005]. Some of the better-known approaches are outlined below. Chronologically they include: Deprivation theory argues that social movements have their foundations among people who feel deprived of some good(s) or resource(s). According to this approach, individuals who are lacking some good, service, or comfort are more likely to organize

9028-664: The importance of culture. One advance on the political process theory is the political mediation model, which outlines the way in which the political context facing movement actors intersects with the strategic choices that movements make. An additional strength of this model is that it can look at the outcomes of social movements not only in terms of success or failure but also in terms of consequences (whether intentional or unintentional, positive or negative) and in terms of collective benefits . Mary Gove Nichols Mary Sargeant Gove Nichols ( née   Neal ; August 10, 1810 – May 30, 1884), also known by her pen name Mary Orme ,

9150-598: The institution of marriage, and many have advocated its abolition. According to feminist critique, a married woman was solely a wife and mother, denying her the opportunity to pursue other occupations; sometimes this was legislated, as with bans on married women and mothers being employed as teachers . In 1855, free love advocate Mary Gove Nichols (1810–1884) described marriage as the "annihilation of woman", explaining that women were considered to be men's property in law and public sentiment, making it possible for tyrannical men to deprive their wives of all freedom. For example,

9272-428: The insurgent consciousness and resources to mobilize, but because political opportunities are closed, they will not have any success. The theory, then, argues that all three of these components are important. Critics of the political process theory and resource-mobilization theory point out that neither theory discusses movement culture to any great degree. This has presented culture theorists an opportunity to expound on

9394-403: The joy of love, but that in reality it often does not, as a couple's knowledge of being chained often diminishes their joy: I never was attached to that great sect, Whose doctrine is, that each one should select Out of the crowd a mistress or a friend, And all the rest, though fair and wise, commend To cold oblivion ... True love has this, different from gold and clay, That to divide

9516-490: The key to joining the movement was having a friend or associate who was a member of the movement. Social Strain Theory, is the "proposal that pressure derived from social factors, such as lack of income or lack of quality education, drives individuals to commit crime." This theory is also subject to circular reasoning as it incorporates, at least in part, deprivation theory and relies upon it, and social/structural strain for

9638-627: The late 19th century are seen as the prototypical social movements, leading to the formation of communist and social democratic parties and organisations. These tendencies were seen in poorer countries as pressure for reform continued, for example in Russia with the Russian Revolution of 1905 and of 1917 , resulting in the collapse of the Czarist regime around the end of the First World War . In 1945, Britain after victory in

9760-522: The law often allowed a husband to beat his wife. Free-love advocates argued that many children were born into unloving marriages out of compulsion, but should instead be the result of choice and affection—yet children born out of wedlock did not have the same rights as children with married parents. In 1857, in the Social Revolutionist , Minerva Putnam complained that "in the discussion of free love, no woman has attempted to give her views on

9882-405: The loss of the latter union, legal union should lose all meaning and dissolve automatically, without the legal requirement for a divorce. Free love particularly stressed women's rights since most sexual laws discriminated against women: for example, marriage laws and anti-birth control measures. Free love began to coalesce into a movement in the mid- to late 19th century. The term was coined by

10004-399: The mass petition march. However, the movement was careful not to cross the line into open rebellion; it tried to rectify the faults in governance through appeals to existing legal precedents and was conceived of as an extra-Parliamentary form of agitation to arrive at a consensual and constitutional arrangement. The force and influence of this social movement on the streets of London compelled

10126-508: The more powerful and advantaged elites". They represent a method of social change from the bottom within nations . On the other hand, some social movements do not aim to make society more egalitarian, but to maintain or amplify existing power relationships. For example, scholars have described fascism as a social movement. Political science and sociology have developed a variety of theories and empirical research on social movements. For example, some research in political science highlights

10248-548: The most complete physical and mental intimacy; and there must be a certain similarity in regard to standards of value". He argued that it was, in general, impossible to sustain this mutual feeling for an indefinite length of time, and that the only option in such a case was to provide for either the easy availability of divorce , or the social sanction of extra-marital sex. Russell's view on marriage changed as he went through personal struggles of subsequent marriages; in his autobiography he writes, "I do not know what I think now about

10370-420: The movement and its aims later came to use the term, and it is the term by which they are known to history. Caution must always be exercised in any discussion of amorphous phenomena such as movements to distinguish between the views of insiders and outsiders, supporters and antagonists, each of whom may have their own purposes and agendas in characterization or mischaracterization of it. Social movements have

10492-417: The name of that purpose. The early growth of social movements was connected to broad economic and political changes in England in the mid-18th century, including political representation , market capitalization , and proletarianization . The first mass social movement catalyzed around the controversial political figure John Wilkes . As editor of the paper The North Briton , Wilkes vigorously attacked

10614-584: The new administration of Lord Bute and the peace terms that the new government accepted at the 1763 Treaty of Paris at the end of the Seven Years' War . Charged with seditious libel , Wilkes was arrested after the issue of a general warrant , a move that Wilkes denounced as unlawful – the Lord Chief Justice eventually ruled in Wilkes favour. As a result of this, Wilkes became a figurehead to

10736-541: The other parties to the contract from certain risks of the amorous experience, such as rejection, rupture, exclusivism, possessiveness, unicity, coquetry, whims, indifference, flirtatiousness, disregard for others, and prostitution." He also published Le Combat contre la jalousie et le sexualisme révolutionnaire (1926), followed over the years by Ce que nous entendons par liberté de l'amour (1928), La Camaraderie amoureuse ou "chiennerie sexuelle" (1930), and, finally, La Révolution sexuelle et la camaraderie amoureuse (1934),

10858-832: The parties involved at will. Nevertheless, it has been acknowledged that many men who participated in the free love movement also saw free love as a way to get free sex. The term "sex radical" is often used interchangeably with the term "free lover". By whatever name, advocates had two strong beliefs: opposition to the idea of forced sexual activity in a relationship and advocacy for a woman to use her body in any way that she pleases. Laws of particular concern to free love movements have included those that prevent an unmarried couple from living together, and those that regulate adultery and divorce , as well as age of consent , birth control , homosexuality , abortion , and sometimes prostitution ; although not all free-love advocates agree on these issues. The abrogation of individual rights in marriage

10980-558: The past 200 years, they have become part of a popular and global expression of dissent . Modern movements often use technology and the internet to mobilize people globally. Adapting to communication trends is a common theme among successful movements. Research is beginning to explore how advocacy organizations linked to social movements in the U.S. and Canada use social media to facilitate civic engagement and collective action. Mario Diani argues that nearly all definitions share three criteria: "a network of informal interactions between

11102-883: The political journal The Masses and its sister publication The Little Review , a literary journal. Incorporating influences from the writings of the English thinkers and activists Edward Carpenter and Havelock Ellis , women such as Emma Goldman campaigned for a range of sexual freedoms, including homosexuality and access to contraception. Other notable figures among the Greenwich-Village scene who have been associated with free love include Edna St. Vincent Millay , Max Eastman , Crystal Eastman , Floyd Dell , Mabel Dodge Luhan , Ida Rauh , Hutchins Hapgood , and Neith Boyce . Dorothy Day also wrote passionately in defense of free love, women's rights, and contraception—but later, after converting to Catholicism, she criticized

11224-770: The pro-socialist May 1968 uprising in France, which occurred as the anti-war protests were escalating throughout the United States, would provide a significant source of morale to the New Left cause as well. Canadian Justice Minister, and future Prime Minister, Pierre Elliot Trudeau 's 20 December 1967 statement "there's no place for the state in the bedrooms of the nation" was a very public declaration justifying his government's decriminalization of sexual activity between same sex partners in Canada, following 1967's Summer of Love . Social movement A social movement

11346-533: The relation between popular movements and the formation of new political parties as well as discussing the function of social movements in relation to agenda setting and influence on politics. Sociologists distinguish between several types of social movement examining things such as scope, type of change, method of work, range, and time frame. Some scholars have argued that modern Western social movements became possible through education (the wider dissemination of literature ) and increased mobility of labor due to

11468-521: The relationship ended badly, due in part to the discovery of Imlay's infidelity, and not least because Imlay abandoned her for good, Wollstonecraft's belief in free love survived. She later developed a relationship with the anarchist William Godwin , who shared her free love ideals, and published on the subject throughout his life. However, the two did decide to marry, just months before her death from complications in parturition . A member of Wollstonecraft's circle of notable radical intellectuals in England

11590-482: The result alternately of false Prudence and/or Harlotry. Visions of the Daughters of Albion is widely (though not universally) read as a tribute to free love since the relationship between Bromion and Oothoon is held together only by laws and not by love. For Blake, law and love are opposed, and he castigates the "frozen marriage-bed". In Visions , Blake writes: Till she who burns with youth, and knows no fixed lot,

11712-527: The resurrection they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like the angels in heaven" (Matt. 22:30). Noyes also supported eugenics ; and only certain people (including Noyes himself) were allowed to become parents. Another movement was established in Berlin Heights, Ohio . In 1852, a writer named Marx Edgeworth Lazarus published a tract entitled "Love vs. Marriage pt. 1", in which he portrayed marriage as "incompatible with social harmony and

11834-406: The role of exceptional levels of deprivation, grievance, or social strain in motivating mass protest—Resource Mobilization perspectives hold "that there is always enough discontent in any society to supply the grass-roots support for a movement if the movement is effectively organized and has at its disposal the power and resources of some established elite group" Movement emergence is contingent upon

11956-441: The root cause of mental and physical impairments." Lazarus intertwined his writings with his religious teachings, a factor that made the Christian community more tolerable to the free love idea. Elements of the free-love movement also had links to abolitionist movements, drawing parallels between slavery and " sexual slavery " (marriage), and forming alliances with black activists. American feminist Victoria Woodhull (1838–1927),

12078-496: The second great petition drive of 1806), and possibly the upheaval surrounding the French and American Revolutions . In the opinion of Eugene Black (1963), "...association made possible the extension of the politically effective public. Modern extra parliamentary political organization is a product of the late eighteenth century [and] the history of the age of reform cannot be written without it. From 1815, Britain after victory in

12200-534: The sexual revolution of the sixties. The development of the idea of free love in the United States was also significantly impacted by the publisher of Playboy magazine, Hugh Hefner , whose activities and persona over more than a half century popularized the idea of free love to some of the general public. Free love was a central tenet of the philosophy of the Fellowship of the New Life , founded in 1883 by

12322-469: The social construction of marriage and its effects on women. In her first novel, Mary: A Fiction written in 1788, the heroine is forced into a loveless marriage for economic reasons. She finds love in relationships with another man and a woman. The novel, Maria: or, The Wrongs of Woman , never finished but published in 1798, revolves around the story of a woman imprisoned in an asylum by her husband. Maria finds fulfilment outside of marriage, in an affair with

12444-500: The social notion of marriage. These organizations and sex radicals believed that true equality would never exist between the sexes as long as the church and the state continued to work together, worsening the problem of subordination of wives to their husbands. Free-love movements continued into the early 20th century in bohemian circles in New York's Greenwich Village . A group of Villagers lived free-love ideals and promoted them in

12566-654: The streets under the slogan "No liberty, no King." Stripped of the right to sit in Parliament, Wilkes became an Alderman of London in 1769, and an activist group called the Society for the Supporters of the Bill of Rights began aggressively promoting his policies. This was the first ever sustained social movement: it involved public meetings, demonstrations, the distribution of pamphlets on an unprecedented scale and

12688-602: The subject of marriage. There seem to be insuperable objections to every general theory about it. Perhaps easy divorce causes less unhappiness than any other system, but I am no longer capable of being dogmatic on the subject of marriage." Russell was also a very early advocate of repealing sodomy laws . An important propagandist of free love was individualist anarchist Émile Armand . He advocated naturism and polyamory in what he termed la camaraderie amoureuse . He wrote many propagandist articles on this subject such as "De la liberté sexuelle" (1907) where he advocated not only

12810-416: The subject was Marriage and Morals , published in 1929. The book heavily criticizes the Victorian notions of morality regarding sex and marriage. Russell argued that the laws and ideas about sex of his time were a potpourri from various sources, which were no longer valid with the advent of contraception , as the sexual acts are now separated from the conception. He argued that family is most important for

12932-415: The subject" and challenged every woman reader to "rise in the dignity of her nature and declare herself free." The figureheads of the free love movement were often men, both in leading organizations and contributing to its ideology. Almost all books endorsing free love in the 1850s were by men, except for Mary Gove Nichols 's 1855 autobiography. This was the first full-length case against marriage written by

13054-502: The suppression of passions is not only destructive to the individual, but to society as a whole. He argued that all sexual expressions should be enjoyed as long as people are not abused, and that "affirming one's difference" can actually enhance social integration. The eminent sociologist Herbert Spencer argued in his Principles of Sociology for the implementation of free divorce. Claiming that marriage consists of two components, "union by law" and "union by affection", he argued that with

13176-600: The time, and Woodhull was also a spiritualist leader. Like Noyes, she also supported eugenics . Fellow social reformer and educator Mary Gove Nichols was happily married (to her second husband), and together they published a newspaper and wrote medical books and articles. Both Woodhull and Nichols eventually repudiated free love. Publications of the movement in the second half of the 19th century included Nichols' Monthly, The Social Revolutionist , Woodhull & Claflin's Weekly (ed. Victoria Woodhull and her sister Tennessee Claflin ), The Word (ed. Ezra Heywood ), Lucifer,

13298-538: The topic of sexual education. For Carpenter, sexual education meant forwarding a clear analysis of the ways in which sex and gender were used to oppress women, contained in Carpenter's radical work Love's Coming-of-Age . In it he argued that a just and equal society must promote the sexual and economic freedom of women. The main crux of his analysis centred on the negative effects of the institution of marriage. He regarded marriage in England as both enforced celibacy and

13420-832: The underlying motivation of social movement activism. However, social movement activism is, like in the case of deprivation theory, often the only indication that there was strain or deprivation. Resource mobilization theory emphasizes the importance of resources in social movement development and success. Resources are understood here to include: knowledge, money, media, labor, solidarity, legitimacy, and internal and external support from power elite. The theory argues that social movements develop when individuals with grievances are able to mobilize sufficient resources to take action.The emphasis on resources offers an explanation why some discontented/deprived individuals are able to organize while others are not. In contrast to earlier collective behavior perspectives on social movements—which emphasized

13542-428: The way that is done, to recognize who is and who is not a member or an allied group : It is often outsiders rather than insiders that apply the identifying labels for a movement, which the insiders then may or may not adopt and use to self-identify. For example, the label for the levellers political movement in 17th-century England was applied to them by their antagonists, as a term of disparagement . Yet admirers of

13664-604: The welfare of children, and as such, a man and a woman should be considered bound only after her first pregnancy. Marriage and Morals prompted vigorous protests and denunciations against Russell shortly after the book's publication. A decade later, the book cost him his professorial appointment at the City College of New York due to a court judgment that his opinions made him "morally unfit" to teach. Contrary to what many people believed, Russell did not advocate an extreme libertine position. Instead, he felt that sex, although

13786-439: The whites-only section of the bus (although she was not acting alone or spontaneously—typically activist leaders lay the groundwork behind the scenes of interventions designed to spark a movement). This leads into coalesce because now the common dilemma and source of oppression is being pinned down, allowing for organizations and appearance to the public eye to be established. The Polish Solidarity movement, which eventually toppled

13908-423: The written word, books, pamphlets, and periodicals, and by these means the movement was sustained for over fifty years, spreading the message of free love all over the United States. However, many feminists would point out that the 1960s free love movement did not significantly change views about women's role in mainstream America. Haight-Ashbury Free Clinic founder Dr. David Smith, who was a prominent participant in

14030-607: Was The Social Revolutionist , published in 1856–1857 by John Patterson. The first volume consisted of twenty writers, of which only one was a woman. Sex radicals were not alone in their fight against marriage ideals. Some other nineteenth-century Americans saw this social institution as flawed, but hesitated to abolish it. Groups such as the Shakers, the Oneida Community, and the Latter-day Saints were wary of

14152-509: Was "The cultivation of a perfect character in each and all," and believed in the transformation of society through setting an example of clean simplified living for others to follow. Many of the Fellowship's members advocated pacifism , vegetarianism and simple living . Edward Carpenter was an early activist for the rights of homosexuals . He became interested in progressive education, especially providing information to young people on

14274-537: Was an American women's rights and health reform advocate, hydrotherapist , vegetarian and writer. Nichols was born in Goffstown, New Hampshire . At a young age, she suffered from four miscarriages and a chronic illness. She became a woman's health care advocate and spread her message through lectures, clinics, and her writings. Mary Gove Nichols raised children, treated patients, published writings, and sought to live what she believed. Nichols first marriage

14396-708: Was fun, funny, and invented graphic ways of ridiculing dictator Slobodan Milosevic . It turned fatalism and passivity into action by making it easy, even cool, to become a revolutionary, branding itself within hip slogans, rock music and street theatre. Tina Rosenberg , in Join the Club, How Peer Pressure can Transform the World , shows how movements grow when there is a core of enthusiastic players who encourage others to join them. Sociologists distinguish between several types of social movement: A difficulty for scholarship of movements

14518-498: Was personally inclined toward voyeurism), as well as sodomy. This led him to allocate more and more space to what he called "the sexual non-conformists", while excluding physical violence. His militancy also included translating texts from people such as Alexandra Kollontai and Wilhelm Reich and establishments of free love associations which tried to put into practice la camaraderie amoureuse through actual sexual experiences. Free love advocacy groups active during this time included

14640-406: Was reprehensible about making "love", even if one did not have very strong feelings for one's partner. "The camaraderie amoureuse thesis", he explained, "entails a free contract of association (that may be annulled without notice, following prior agreement) reached between anarchist individualists of different genders, adhering to the necessary standards of sexual hygiene, with a view toward protecting

14762-561: Was the Romantic poet William Blake , who explicitly compared the sexual oppression of marriage to slavery in works such as Visions of the Daughters of Albion (1793), published five years after Wollstonecraft's Mary . Blake was critical of the marriage laws of his day, and generally railed against traditional Christian notions of chastity as a virtue. At a time of tremendous strain in his marriage, in part due to Catherine's apparent inability to bear children, he directly advocated bringing

14884-587: Was to Hiram Gove, an unsuccessful businessman. Gove married Mary expecting financial support and obedience from his wife. The Goves moved to Lynn, Massachusetts , where Mary ran a girls' school, and this was where she began her health reform career. In 1841, she took her daughter and moved back with her parents leaving her husband behind; he eventually agreed to a divorce in 1847 or 1848. After being abused, both sexually and emotionally, she made it her life's work to inform women of their bodies and their opportunities. In July 1848, she remarried to Thomas Low Nichols ,

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