Alternative Movements

Social movements are organized, collective efforts to promote or resist change to some aspect of society. Alternative movements are one type in which participants create their own social space and live differently, in defiance of mainstream social institutions. Community currencies and home schooling are two notable examples. The struggle for social justice takes many forms, and some choose to exit the system and build their own alternative communities. Despite their prevalence, alternative social movements have received very little scientific attention from researchers.

In their attempt to understand the dynamics of social movements, scholars have defined and categorized movements in a variety of ways. Those with more stringent conceptions often cite five different elements: (1) collective challenge, (2) common claims and interests, (3) collective identity, (4) disruptive tactics, and (5) sustained interaction with opponents. In accord with the first three criteria, alternative social movements are collective efforts waged by people with common claims and a collective identity. Yet, alternative movements are not based on, nor do they usually involve, the use of disruptive tactics or interaction with opponents. As these are “do-it-yourself” efforts, alternative social movements do not necessarily directly protest against other groups or social institutions.

The lack of attention to alternative movements in the larger social movement literature is at least partially attributable to the fact that those adhering to strict conceptions do not consider these efforts to be social movements. Many other definitions of social movements are looser and do not stress the use of disruptive tactics, seeing these forms of collective behavior as movement activity.

Popular typologies of social movements tend to exclude alternative movements. One oft-cited scheme contains four movement types by differentiating between the amount of change sought (partial vs. total) and the locus of change (individual vs. social structure). Alternative movements seek partial change in individuals' behaviors or habits. Self-help movements such as Alcoholics Anonymous and Drug Abuse Resistance Education are representative of alterative movements. Redemptive movements seek total personal transformation and are typically religious in nature. Reformative movements, the most common form of social movements, attempt to change parts of existing society in some fashion. Transformative movements seek revolutionary change and replacement of the existing social order.

Alternative social movements are not easily placed within this typology. In the criterion concerning the amount of change sought, some alternatives seem to fit squarely in the “partial” side. The home schooling and community currency movements, for example, do not seek total change in either individuals or society. On the other hand, communes and utopian socialist communities may represent “total change” examples of these types of movements. Problems emerge when the other criterion of the typology—locus of change—is considered. These alternative efforts are more difficult to pigeonhole, as they do not really attempt to reform the existing social structure; rather, they create an alternative to it. Yet, the change is greater than at just the individual level, as whole new communities are created. Alternative social movements fall somewhere in between micro-level (individual) and macrolevel (social structural) change. They are most appropriately considered as meso-level change because they build new communities.

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