Comparison and Contrast Paragraph. Valentyn Degtyar

Social movements differ  by their audience, issues they promote and the way this is performed. A particularly important distinguishment is the one between the so called old social movements and the new social movements. Firstly, audience difference should be considered. The old social movements are advocacy networks and civic mobilization structures that focus on protecting and advancing wellfare for the definite social groups - the working class, peasants, ethnic or religious communities. The new social movements are more issue-centered, rather than audience-centered. They promote ideas and policy orientations that go beyond, but are not separate from stratifications of class or ethnicity. Secondly, the distinction between the old and the new social movements becomes evidently sharp when the issue framing is considered. Issues of the old social movements are labor rights, protection from layoffs, issues of land and capital control, nationalism, religious rights. New social movements promote and mobilize around such issues as environment, feminism, civil rights, freedom of speech, free software and creative commons information, anti-war and global justice, LGBT rights and more. The first set of issues in terms of framing is more often related to the demands of redistribution. Conversely, the second set of issues is more often framed with recognition as major demand. Thirdly, there is the difference in repertoire of social movement tactics. Old social movements usually have more possibilities to initiate a strike or national campaign, whereas the new social movements have to be more creative, therefore  they often invent new methods of action involving indirect sabotage or symbolic action for the promotion of their issue.

Donatella Della Porta, Mario Diani. 2006. Social Movements: an Introduction