social movements
Definition
Social movements refers to collective political formations that emerge from and respond to conditions of societal change, operating neither as simple returns to the past nor as straightforward advances toward a predetermined future. Traditionalist political movements, including religio-ethno-nationalist parties and authoritarian populist formations, are better understood as dynamically evolving phenomena that simultaneously reclaim and repurpose historical frameworks in ways shaped by contemporary conditions such as media para-sociality, globalization, and political polarization. MAGA, for instance, is at once forward-looking in its desire for future greatness and backward-looking in its assertion that past greatness can be resurrected, which makes linear characterizations of such movements as either progressive or regressive analytically inadequate. The popular labels applied to these movements, including 'backlash,' 'democratic backsliding,' and 'regress,' assume a single linear trajectory of history that the movements are reversing, an assumption that distorts more than it explains.
Sources: Leach et al. (2026)
Related Terms
- polarization (1 shared article)
- authoritarianism (1 shared article)
- democracy (1 shared article)
- racism (1 shared article)
- societal change (1 shared article)
- systems (1 shared article)
Applications
Social Movements and Societal Change
Mass protest for and against the state has risen to unprecedented levels in the twenty-first century, and the ascent of traditionalist political movements to power is widely interpreted as a reversal of liberal democratic principles around enfranchisement, gender and ethnic equality, and welfare provision. This interpretation, however, depends on the time frame chosen and the trajectory imputed to history, both of which shape how change is perceived rather than revealing an objective arc of progress now interrupted.
Sources: Leach et al. (2026)
Social Movements and Authoritarianism
Authoritarian political movements are not regressions to an older politics but are instead expressions of a recurring psycho-social orientation that evolves differently across periods and places. The appeal of strongman leadership that promises to discipline 'deviants' and offer security to traditionalists seeking stability in subordination to a resolute leader is a constant feature of that orientation, remade in each era under the specific economic, political, and psychological conditions of the moment.
Sources: Leach et al. (2026)
Social Movements and Political Polarization
Political polarization is frequently cited as both a cause and a consequence of the rise of contemporary political movements, yet the evidence shows that polarization in the U.S. House of Representatives became sharply concentrated only in the 1980s and showed little additional increase after 1995. Partisan divergence occurred primarily within a single four-year window after 2011, suggesting that polarization develops in bursts tied to specific historical moments rather than as a steady backdrop driving movement mobilization.
Sources: Leach et al. (2026)
