Research Paper
krisGG
SocialMovement1.docx6
Social Movements
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Social Movement
The study’s selected topic includes social movement, which many celebrities have shown concern by supporting the movement’s theories. It is a loosely organized but sustainable campaign formed to support goals and objectives regarding particular changes in societal values or structures. Social movements may differ in their sizes, but they tend to be essentially collective towards common goals and objectives related to society's interests. Social movement involves groups of individuals coming from more or less spontaneous and having relationships based on society outlook rather than defined procedures and rules (Almeida and Dunn, 2018). Typically, a social movement is characterized by a crowd that possesses motivational and organizational mechanisms with membership sustainability, especially during the inaction and waiting periods.
The chosen person to interview the selected topic is an African American pop star, Rihanna. The African American pop icon has been utilizing her role as a global ambassador for Global Education Partnership to formulate activities of supporting poor and disabled children to acquire education. For instance, in 2017, Rihanna visited Malawi with Global Citizen to address the education crisis that had impacted millions of younger generations (GPE, 2017). Also, she utilized her essential social media clout in advocating for the Hurricane Maria victims and the GPE beneficiaries by tweeting at the global leaders. Based on both cases she got involved with, Rihanna, with Global Citizen's help, convinced most leaders who later changed various policies to support children's education. These included providing education essentials such as employing more teachers in schools, building more classrooms, and giving sufficient books and desks to promote students' growth.
Questions to ask in the interview
1. What is your motivation and inspiration as a global ambassador for Global Education Partnership?
2. Have you ever been in a society or situation where education barriers were highly felt by you or people close to you?
3. What are some of the challenges you encounter while on a mission to change specific societal settings?
4. What are the response or reactions you tend to experience from the involved societies?
5. What support do you get from leaders or government agencies in terms of funding to implement some of these societal changes?
African American culture is typically based on the struggle they underwent during the 1950s and 1960s Civil Rights War. Prior to the war, African Americans faced oppression and discrimination in the United States. They used Civil Rights Movement to demand social policy changes in promoting fair treatment and equality to all regardless of one's background. On the contrary, the interview was based on the concept of using social movement to attract change in societies facing such kinds of oppression and denial of human rights. Based on the interview, Rihanna formulized social movements in Malawi and Hurricane Maria's victims to implement some of the societal goals and objectives. The idea or topic of change implementation in societies was the interview's central focus and motive. She demonstrated in the interview how social movements enabled African Americans to attain and implement social goals and objectives.
Based on the asked questions, the interviewee responded to the first one stating that education is the key to survive in the hostile contemporary world that is rapidly changing. She claimed that ever since she was a young girl, she saw how young children lacked education opportunities and how they were taken advantage of by adults with self-interest. As such, she was motivated and inspired by the situation where she wanted all children to be given equal education opportunities to be independent in the future. Besides, she admitted that she had been raised in a society where children's education was difficult to participate in. Challenges she mentioned included resistance from the top leaders who declined to implement social changes for self-interests. Also, capital to implement such policy changes was not readily available in all regions she visited. She had to ask her royal fans and followers to join and fund specific campaigns. She also said that most of the societies welcomed her with hostility, and they embraced her role in bringing a manful life of education to the oppressed children. Moreover, she claimed that most global leaders agreed funded most of her proposals where millions of children acquired the opportunity of education (GPE, 2017). Also, some corporations donated necessities for education like books, desks, and other related equipment.
Social science is a branch of science that involves studying relationships regarding societies and interacting with such society's individuals. In other words, the study is based on understanding society's relationships with its people and how changes can be implemented to improve people's lives within the communities. Notably, the topic of social movement has played a crucial role in the past and in the contemporary world to bring societal changes to people, thereby improving lives' status and standards to communities. In essence, the information acquired from the interview relates to the idea learned in class. It is based on life improvement by studying different social settings and implementing significant policy changes to improve people's living standards in such communities. For instance, Rihanna used her position to learn about the education crisis and implement changes in various regions, including Malawi, where she resolved the education crisis that affected millions of children.
Social movement, which is a branch of social science, is typically characterized by people coming together with motivational and organizational mechanisms to sustain their membership through inaction and waiting periods. In essence, it comprises people with a sustainable campaign to support the goals and objectives related to a particular society. For instance, in 2011, there was an eruption of protests in Egypt that were fueled by the longtime stifling rule of President Hosni Mubarak. The revolution in Tunisia sparked protests which inspired demonstrations across the Middle East. The social movements in Egypt and some parts of the Middle East demonstrated and demanded leadership change in the country. President Hosni Mubarak had ruled the country for more than thirty days with dictatorship power (Asser, 2011). However, social movement formation exerted relentless pressure on the president's removal, which eventually resulted in positive outcomes. The leadership changes were achieved and implemented due to the presence of social movements who demonstrated in streets demanding the changes. Similar to the interviewee's experience, the initiatives of participating in street demonstrations through social movements encouraged the global leaders to intervene and requested immediate change following the society's goals and objectives.
Based on self-reflections regarding the interview, it is clear to me that social movements have a significant impact on society settings. Since ancient times, oppressed people have used such social movements to demand their rights, and they are still used in the contemporary world. There are numerous regions globally where discrimination and oppression of individuals are inevitable. It requires a small group of activists to incite the formulation of a social movement to demand and implement changes to such societies. From the interview, I think the social movement is an effective tool to change and improve people's societal status and living standards living in such oppressed societies. Essentially, activists should demonstrate their responsibilities and roles by educating and engaging different communities with topics such in social movements where they can demand their rights before global leaders' eyes (Cummings, 2017).
The area that I found to be more attractive in where the interviewee claimed that she dedicated most of her time traveling from one country to another to seek education rights in children. In essence, giving one's life to something that does not concern you may be hard to implement, and few people volunteer to such missions. Therefore, it was surprising to hear how the interviewee was determined to ensure children worldwide can have opportunities to get educated for future reliance, especially in the industrialized world where education is everything.
References
Almeida, P., & Chase-Dunn, C. (2018). Globalization and social movements. Annual Review of Sociology, 44, 189-211.
Cummings, S. L. (2017). Law and Social Movements: An Interdisciplinary Analysis. In Handbook of Social Movements Across Disciplines (pp. 233-270). Springer, Cham.
GPE. (2017). Rihanna leads campaign for increased global education funding with visit to Malawi. Retrieved from
Martin Asser. (2011). Q&A: Egyptian protests against Hosni Mubarak. BBC News. Retrieved from;
