Essay About Cause Of New Collective Protest And Social Consequences

How Is the Form and Level of Political Particpation in Liberal Democracies Changing and What Are the Political Consequences?How Is the Form and Level of Political Particpation in Liberal Democracies Changing and What Are the Political Consequences?Political participation involves ‘activity by individuals formally intended to influence who governs or the decisions taken by those who do so.’ (Hague & Harrop 2004) This can include voting, writing to representatives, joining pressure groups or political parties, campaigning in small groups and many other forms. Collective action especially is an important feature of participation in a representative democracy, activities such as signing petitions, marches, rallies and lobbies of representatives. Participation in liberal democracies expands on simply voting in elections, in order to measure participation, this essay will account for the drastic changes in levels of participation and the mediums through which they are conducted in recent decades (Bentley et al 1999). Additionally it is important to examine the social consequences this change has to the opportunity of different groups to participate and on the level at which they can do so. Therefore, a key theme to this essay will be to gain understanding on the extent of participation in contemporary liberal democracies, and for what reasons does it appear to be falling.

Firstly, it is important to examine the change in participation from involvement in social groupings, to issue based participation with no (or very little) socially based compilations. Cultural values are now the main base for conflict, constituting the rise of a postmaterial society in most advanced liberal democratic nations (Melucci 1985). This reflects a greater level of individualism in society and has resulted in increasing numbers of ad hoc temporary alliances (Melucci 1985). Modern society does not have a single central conflict but specific problems and therefore one class actor is transformed into several protest groups. (Eder 1985) The development of postmaterialism has resulted in a cultural surplus and people having needs other than subsistence due to the fact that they are economically more affluent, (Melucci 1985) therefore this is the cause of new collective protest. Previous forms of action were based around a community, the modern form is institutional. (Eder 1985) This modernisation is reflected in the less ideological basis of groups, Galting suggests “a federation of issue movements that work out the level of integration they find justifiable, supporting each other on many things but not on all.” (Offe 1985) It is clear that action outside the system is much more necessary and effective today due to the fact that institutions hold central power and majority have little input.

In order to understand contemporary participation it is also important to assess the mediums through which it is conducted. A development towards New Social Movements has occurred, ‘the politics of New Social Movements … seeks to politicize the institutions of civil society.’ (Offe 1985) This mode of participation has been described as ‘New Politics’, the New Social Movements are organisations that allow our modern lifestyles to accommodate participation. Additionally post materialism and ‘new politics’ has resulted in the issues on which New Social Movements are experts becoming more important, this is known as social structural determinism. Tilly suggests, New Social Movements involve associational rather than community based collective action, this is reflective of changes in society due to the fact that class is less relevant today.(Eder 1985) Raschke suggests the New Social Movements are very different and operate in a way which can not easily be categorised using traditional liberal political theory.(Offe 1985) . Collective protest by New Social Movements has become socially accepted and is now considered to be rational. (Eder 1985) Political pressure groups also play an important role by offering a means of participation and collective action to lobby government. New Social Movements are used not used as an alternative to the conventional political process but in addition to it. (Offe 1985)

The composition of those typically involved in participation, involves the ‘new middle class’ or petit bourgeoisie who are considered to dominate New Social Movements (Offe 1985), therefore the characteristics of people involved include ‘high levels of education, economic affluence and employment in the service sector rather than manual labour.’ (Offe 1985) They hold greater competence to make judgements about current affairs and greater ability to think independently and so to question society as it is. This group can also be categorised as the new petit-bourgeoise, defined as welfare state workers, this group is more class conscious and post materialist values fit their lifestyle perfectly. Due to the fact that they are not attempting radical reform, simply to influence government. (Eder 1985). A second group considered to have high levels of participation especially in New Social Movements is the decommodified

n- middle class, this group includes both high levels of social support, as well as a large number of independent and active community workers.

When New Social Movements formed, a major problem was the emergence of a low level of participation due to the lack of political will, often to be found in certain sectors, especially in manufacturing or in food and fuel production. This made it necessary to integrate the lower socio-political classes. A third group considered to be of less technical and less social character and thus less social, was concerned mostly with changing the status of ‘high working class’, ‘lower class’ or lower castes. This was especially true of those from the working class, such as those from the other political classes.

In our view, this group is mainly concerned with change of status in a wide range of fields that can be linked to the economic situation and also in this regard, the group makes the necessary changes which we find in the new class. We also find that, in contrast to the working class that is considered to be most interested in social change, we are mainly concerned to change the status of the lower castes which can be more useful to the upper class of the working class. But the above criteria were not entirely correct in our evaluations, in the following category were excluded the following category of those who were members of an ‘independent’ sector: the middle class

A fourth category had a high status relative to the existing middle class that was concerned mainly in manufacturing, food supply, oil production, transport and telecommunications. There was also the situation that some members of social classes are seen as ‘lowerly-skilled’, that their employment can be seen as ‘socially irrelevant’ and that they can also work less if they are forced to accept a lower pay. The third category excluded the working class and was concerned mainly in food, transport and transport production.

A final group was excluded from discussion, which we were able to accept as the group considered the middle class. This group was focused more on getting the ruling class into action to put an end to the economic depression and to improve the lives of their people and as such, it has become a major party for those in the new class, its ideology is not being embraced and the new class is viewed as being only left behind. This group was composed mainly of new workers of the working class which were not from the working class but also had to represent them and to help them find a new place in society at a time when there was no political will by capitalists to bring about political change.

Of the new class, we found that the working class in general is the most political, with the participation of around 1 of the 3 upper class members and a good number of professional and technical professionals. Since these are the most technical and professional the group thinks that a greater participation is important. These group’s aims and interests are focused on promoting the social reform agenda of the new class with a view to replacing the existing middle class with an independent and socially democratic middle class.

We found that the working class has already seen the political implications of this new middle class’s policies, that the existing middle class does not share with the political demands of the previous one, that more democratic reforms are needed but that people of different levels of experience need to be involved in social change. This group also believed that the new middle class needs to adopt a new political structure and that it can be a more civilised society. (Eder 1985) The following categories were considered to be of lower moral character: the higher social class: those who work in the service sector, the ‘high mass of high skilled workers’, and the