Page "Social movement" Paragraph 13

Several key processes lie behind the history of social movements.

Urbanization led to larger settlements, where people of similar goals could find each other, gather and organize.

This facilitated social interaction between scores of people, and it was in urban areas that those early social movements first appeared.

Similarly, the process of industrialization which gathered large masses of workers in the same region explains why many of those early social movements addressed matters such as economic wellbeing, important to the worker 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.