Sociology

There is no singular description of social movements.  Paul Wilkinson interprets social movement as a deliberate collective endeavor to promote change in any direction and by any means, not excluding violence, illegality, revolution or withdrawal into utopian community.  Social movements are in this sense, obviously distinct form historical movements, upheavals or waves.  It is obligatory to remember, in this connection, however that such proper sites and inclinations and the effect of the material or insensible factors in human behavior, may be of vital significance in enlightening the problems of exploring and explaining social movement.
According to Herbert Blumer, Social movements can be viewed as collective enterprises to establish a new order of life. They have their inception in the condition of unrest, and derive their motive power on the one hand from dissatisfaction with the current form of life, and on the other hand, from wishes and hopes for a new scheme or system of living (Kemmis, 1993).
Dong McAdam defines social movements as those organized efforts, on the part of excluded groups, to promote or resist changes in the structure of society that involve recourse to non institutional forms of political participation (Kemmis, 1993).
Three crucial factors concurrent in the above definitions are noteworthy. They include (1) collective initiative, (2) social transformation and (3) common purpose.  Hence, in the strict sense, agitation or protests are quite different from social movements. Since, they recurrently do not seek to bring about social change, they do not interpret that. There is recoil to a certain state of conditions.
Several key processes lie behind the history of social movements. The process of urbanization, which created large cities, facilitated social interaction between scores of people. It was in cities, where people of similar goals could find each other, gather and organize, that those early social movements first appeared. Similarly, the process of industrialization which gathered large masses of workers in the same region was responsible for the fact that many of those early social movements addressed matters important to that social class. Many other social movements were created at universities, where the process of mass education brought many people together. With the development of communication technologies, creation and activities of social movements became easier - from printed pamphlets circulating in the 18th century coffeehouses to newspapers and Internet, all those tools became important factors in the growth of the social movements. Finally, the spread of democracy and political rights like the freedom of speech made the creation and functioning of social movements much easier.
Social movements have been and continued to be closely connected with democratic political systems. Occasionally social movements have been involved in democratizing nations, but more often they have flourished after democratization. Over the past 200 years, they have become part of a popular and global expression of dissent.
Social movements are not eternal. They have a life cycle they are created, they grow, they achieve successes or failures and eventually, they dissolve and cease to exist.  They are more likely to evolve in the time and place which is friendly to the social movements hence their evident symbiosis with the 19th century proliferation of ideas like individual rights, freedom of speech and civil disobedience. Social movements occur in liberal and authoritarian societies but in different forms. But there must always be polarizing differences between groups of people in case of old movements, they were the poverty and wealth gaps.
In case of the new movements, they are more likely to be the differences in customs, ethics and values. Finally, the birth of a social movement needs what sociologist Neil Smelser calls an initiating event a particular, individual event that will begin a chain reaction of events in the given society leading to the creation of a social movement (Kemmis, 1993). For example, American Civil Rights movement grew on the reaction to black woman, Rosa Parks, riding in the whites-only section of the bus (although it is important to note that Rosa Parks was not acting alone or spontaneously -- typically activist leaders lay the groundwork behind the scenes of interventions designed to spark a movement). The Polish Solidarity movement, which eventually toppled the communist regimes of Eastern Europe, developed after trade union activist Anna Walentynowicz was fired from work. The South African shack dwellers movement Abahlali baseMjondolo grew out of a road blockade in response to the sudden selling off of a small piece of land promised for housing to a developer. Such an event is also described as a volcanic model - a social movement is often created after a large number of people realize that there are others sharing the same value and desire for a particular social change (Kemmis, 1993). Thus, one of the main difficulties facing the emerging social movement is spreading the very knowledge that it exists. Second is overcoming the free rider problem - convincing people to join it, instead of following the mentality why should I trouble myself when others can do it and I can just reap the benefits after their hard work.
Many social movements are created around some charismatic leader, i.e. one possessing charismatic authority. After the social movement is created, there are two likely phases of recruitment. The first phase will gather the people deeply interested in the primary goal and ideal of the movement. The second phase, which will usually come after the given movement had some successes and is trendy it would look good on a rsum. People who join in this second phase will likely be the first to leave when the movement suffers any setbacks and failures.
Eventually, the social crisis can be encouraged by outside elements, like opposition from government or other movements. However, many movements had survived a failure crisis, being revived by some hardcore activists even after several decades.