Social change is the process in which structures  and features in government change as a result of social movements 

Albion College

Collective action is the actions/behaviors of a group of individuals working towards the same goal or common objective. The individuals tend to be like-minded in the way that they believe that the completion of their goal(s) will make their life better.

Collective Action

George, Jordana & Leidner, Dorothy. (2019). From clicktivism to hacktivism: Understanding digital activism. Information and Organization. 29. 10.1016/j.infoandorg.2019.04.001. 

From clicktivism to hacktivism: Understanding digital activism

Social Movement is the collective action of a group of like-minded individuals and/or organizations. The group tends to be closely organized and is focused on creating change according to their ideals. A majority of famous social movements have been focused on creating change and a better place for those who have been marginalized or mistreated.  

Social Movement

Social change

1. Relative deprivation theory (RDT)
    - perceptions and emotions of group-based injustice
2. Social identity theory (SIT)
    - (politicized) social identification
3. Instrumental cost-benefit analysis
    -  instrumental cost-benefit expectations of available resources 

Collective action theories 

When discussing collective action the low-status group is defined as the group that is at a disadvantage because of the social, political, structural, etc. systems set up and maintained by those who are in the high-status group that discriminates because of a select characteristic.

1. the low-status group needs to have a sense of psychological collective empowerment as that helps elevate the feelings/idea that they can create change. This helps motivate individuals to participate in collective action.


Collective action: Low-status groups

 The high-status group is those who are not disadvantaged as they do not have the negative characteristics.


  -Those who belong to the high-status group tend to engage in oppressive acts. These acts can be something like perpetuating stereotypes, ignoring prejudice, minimizing impact. etc. Members of the high-status group engage in these acts because the acts are normalized through exposure as well as encouraged by other members.


Collective action: High-status groups

Contentious Collective action is when a group of like-minded individuals are working together to achieve a goal. The goal of the group or the process used to achieve their goal is contentious, controversial, or argumentative. 

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