Using material from Item D and elsewhere assess the view that new social movements challenge the power of the state in advanced capitalist societies.
A new social movement is a wide and diverse spectrum of new, non-institutional political movements which re-emerged in Western liberal democratic societies during the 60s and 70s. It refers to movements which may be posed to challenge the established cultural, economic and political orders of capitalist society. According to Item D, new social movements ‘challenge the power of the state in advanced capitalist societies.’ Many sociologists such as Scott (1990) have argued that the emerge of new social movements since the 60s indicates that the nature of political debate and action has undergone fundamental change. Up until the 1960s both political debate and action were dominated by either a political party or pressure groups that aim to protect economic and material order. This means that politics was dominated by class based issues. Wider social inequalities have been brought to the attention of society since the 60s when new social movements have begun tackling issues such as which try and celebrate ‘social difference’.
Marcuse (1964) argues that NSMs are a result of the alienation caused by the capitalist mode of production and consumption. Marcuse argues that in order for capitalist society to maximize its profits it has produced a superficial mass subculture. This culture has consequently led some middle class students for example to reject materialism. NSMs encourage people to be unselfish and focus on other people’s needs or the