A countermovement in

sociology Sociology is the scientific study of human society that focuses on society, human social behavior, patterns of Interpersonal ties, social relationships, social interaction, and aspects of culture associated with everyday life. The term sociol ...

means a

social movement A social movement is either a loosely or carefully organized effort by a large group of people to achieve a particular goal, typically a Social issue, social or Political movement, political one. This may be to carry out a social change, or to re ...

opposed to another social movement. Whenever one social movement starts up, another group establishes themselves to undermine the previous group. Many social movements start out as an effect of political

activism Activism consists of efforts to promote, impede, direct or intervene in social, political, economic or environmental reform with the desire to make Social change, changes in society toward a perceived common good. Forms of activism range from ...

towards issues that a group disagrees with. “Researchers have used

resource mobilization Resource mobilization is the process of getting resources from the resource provider, using different mechanisms, to implement an organization's predetermined goals. It is a theory that is used in the study of social movements and argues that the ...

to study all manner of social and political movements such as

environmentalism Environmentalism is a broad philosophy, ideology, and social movement about supporting life, habitats, and surroundings. While environmentalism focuses more on the environmental and nature-related aspects of green ideology and politics, ecolog ...

, father's rights groups, religious movements, and

abortion rights Abortion-rights movements, also self-styled as pro-choice movements, are movements that advocate for legal access to induced abortion services, including elective abortion. They seek to represent and support women who wish to terminate their p ...

”.Peckham, Michael. "New Dimensions of Social Movement/Countermovement Interaction: The Case of Scientology and its Internet Critics." Canadian Journal of Sociology 23.4 (1998): 317. Academic Search Complete. EBSCO. Web. 8 Mar. 2010. The reason for the start of countermovement groups is that people are competing for resources for political influence. Countermovement groups are a part of American society that try to compete for government

legislation Legislation is the process or result of enrolling, enacting, or promulgating laws by a legislature, parliament, or analogous governing body. Before an item of legislation becomes law it may be known as a bill, and may be broadly referred ...

to support their own views. The resource mobilization theory is an important issue in countermovements. “Research mobilization theory was a response to social psychological theories that focused on

grievance A grievance () is a wrong or hardship suffered, real or supposed, which forms legitimate grounds of complaint. In the past, the word meant the infliction or cause of hardship. See also * Complaint system * Harm Harm is a morality, moral and ...

s and viewed movements as collective identities”. This theory suggests that social movements organize their resources to make changes in society that fits in their views. As a social movement starts growing, there are those who oppose their views and in time start countermovements. For example,

anti-abortion Anti-abortion movements, also self-styled as pro-life movements, are involved in the abortion debate advocating against the practice of abortion and its Abortion by country, legality. Many anti-abortion movements began as countermovements in r ...

and

movements are countermovements to each other. There are countermovements relating to fathers’ rights,

religion Religion is a range of social system, social-cultural systems, including designated religious behaviour, behaviors and practices, morals, beliefs, worldviews, religious text, texts, sanctified places, prophecies, ethics in religion, ethics, or ...

, and

war War is an armed conflict between the armed forces of states, or between governmental forces and armed groups that are organized under a certain command structure and have the capacity to sustain military operations, or between such organi ...

. These movements and countermovements will never have a resolution so they try to pass their views into government legislation. Countermovements main goal is to oppose the other movement to get their views into the mainstream. Many of these movements try to recruit people to gain popularity and in time gain political support. In some cases an apparent countermovement group may be crerated deliberately by a party with a financial stake, a process known as

Astroturfing Astroturfing is the deceptive practice of hiding the Sponsor (commercial), sponsors of an orchestrated message or organization (e.g., political, economic, advertising, religious, or public relations) to make it appear as though it originates from ...

. The

Global warming Present-day climate change includes both global warming—the ongoing increase in global average temperature—and its wider effects on Earth's climate system. Climate change in a broader sense also includes previous long-term changes ...

countermovement is one example.

Environment

An example of a countermovement has to deal with the environmental issues. Even with scientific facts and statistics that global warming exists, there are still groups that disagree that our environment is changing. As Jacques states, "the reality of doubt in environmental problems is not due to

science Science is a systematic discipline that builds and organises knowledge in the form of testable hypotheses and predictions about the universe. Modern science is typically divided into twoor threemajor branches: the natural sciences, which stu ...

, but has to deal with

politics Politics () is the set of activities that are associated with decision-making, making decisions in social group, groups, or other forms of power (social and political), power relations among individuals, such as the distribution of Social sta ...

--global politics to be specific".Jacques, Peter. "The Rearguard of Modernity: Environmental Skepticism as a Struggle of Citizenship." Global Environmental Politics 6.1 (2006): 76-101. Academic Search Complete. EBSCO. Web. 4 Mar. 2010. Many who are “environmental skeptics” are saying that there are no environmental problems that will threaten humanity. Many of these skeptics are blaming environmentalist for stopping human progress to make standard of living rise. Environmentalists on the other hand blame factions within

right-wing politics Right-wing politics is the range of Ideology#Political ideologies, political ideologies that view certain social orders and Social stratification, hierarchies as inevitable, natural, normal, or desirable, typically supporting this position b ...

for this

skepticism Skepticism ( US) or scepticism ( UK) is a questioning attitude or doubt toward knowledge claims that are seen as mere belief or dogma. For example, if a person is skeptical about claims made by their government about an ongoing war then the p ...

and becoming an

anti-environmental Anti-environmentalism is a set of ideas and actions that oppose environmentalism as a whole or specific environmental policies or environmental initiatives. Criticism of environmentalism can come both from outside the movement and from within, as ...

countermovement. Jacques explains that, "The concentration of skeptical claims from the 1990s onwards indicates an intense burst of interest in the environmental skeptical program and is consistent with a conservative countermovement against global environmental concern".

Fathers' rights movement

Fathers’ Rights Groups have become a growing issue in

American society The society of the United States is based on Western culture, and has been developing since long before the United States became a country with its own unique social and cultural characteristics such as American English, dialect, Music of the ...

. In response to the perceived high number of

violent crime A violent crime, violent felony, crime of violence or crime of a violent nature is a crime in which an offender or perpetrator uses or threatens to use harmful Force (law), force upon a victim. This entails both crimes in which the violence, vio ...

s committed against women by their male partners, the battered women’s movement (BWM) has been campaigning for greater awareness of

domestic violence Domestic violence is violence that occurs in a domestic setting, such as in a marriage Marriage, also called matrimony or wedlock, is a culturally and often legally recognised union between people called spouses. It establishes r ...

.Crowley, Jocelyn Elise. "Fathers' Rights Groups, Domestic Violence and Political Countermobilization." Social Forces 88.2 (2009): 723-755. Academic Search Complete. EBSCO. Web. 4 Mar. 2010. (p. 723) With the widespread understanding that domestic violence is a serious problem in the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

and elsewhere, the BWM has found public support to create “tougher penalties against offenders and public vigilance against potential batterers, including fathers from dissolving families” (p. 723). At least partly in response to this, there has been a counter-movement of activists from the fathers’ rights movement (FRM) who argue that the battered women’s movements have created laws that targets men unfairly. Fathers’ rights groups have grown in numbers since the 1980s in

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

, the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and north, and Finland to the east. At , Sweden is the largest Nordic count ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

, and the United States (p. 727). The fathers’ rights movement has argued that the

legal system A legal system is a set of legal norms and institutions and processes by which those norms are applied, often within a particular jurisdiction or community. It may also be referred to as a legal order. The comparative study of legal systems is th ...

is making it difficult for them to be 'good fathers.' The FRM employs the argument that being a biological father is different from being a social father because a biological father is simply the individual who makes a genetic contribution, while a social father is one who engages in all of their children’s activities (p. 727) The FRMs "have tapped into the emerging cultural notion that in the healthiest families fathers are involved in all aspects of their children's daily lives.(p. 727).

Abortion

The most controversial of countermovements are about whether

abortion Abortion is the early termination of a pregnancy by removal or expulsion of an embryo or fetus. Abortions that occur without intervention are known as miscarriages or "spontaneous abortions", and occur in roughly 30–40% of all pregnan ...

should be legal or not, which is fought by

and pro-abortion groups. The

group is opposed to abortion under most grounds, notably those "on request". Some

proponents believe abortion to be justifiable when serious health issues are present for the mother, while other proponents believe that abortion is unjustifiable under any circumstance. The pro-abortion group believes that a woman has a right to abortion under all circumstances, often citing human rights do not encompass fetuses before

fetal viability Fetal viability is the ability of a human fetus to survive outside the uterus. Viability depends upon factors such as birth weight, gestational age, and the availability of advanced medical care. In low-income countries, more than 90% of extr ...

. Both of these groups tend to be adamant towards their views and neither sides' arguments seem to convince towards otherwise. “Although the issue of abortion is very controversial, most surveys indicate

liberalization Liberalization or liberalisation (British English) is a broad term that refers to the practice of making laws, systems, or opinions less severe, usually in the sense of eliminating certain government regulations or restrictions. The term is used ...

of public attitudes towards pregnancy termination between 1965 and the years immediately following

Roe v. Wade ''Roe v. Wade'', 410 U.S. 113 (1973),. was a List of landmark court decisions in the United States, landmark decision of the U.S. Supreme Court in which the Court ruled that the Constitution of the United States protected the right to have an ...

Supreme Court decision which legalized abortion. Recent polls demonstrate that between 80% and 90% of Americans approve of abortion in the case of poor health, defective fetus, or

rape Rape is a type of sexual assault involving sexual intercourse, or other forms of sexual penetration, carried out against a person without consent. The act may be carried out by physical force, coercion, abuse of authority, or against a person ...

, and between 40% and 50% indicate approval for other reasons. Only 10% would like to prohibit abortion under all circumstances”.Shain, R.N. “A cross-cultural history of abortion.” PubMed.gov. U.S. National Library of Medicine, Mar. 1986. Web. 10 Mar. 2010. There is also information that people who are usually pro-abortion or

come from very different backgrounds and have different values. “Sociodemographic analyses indicate that individuals who disapprove of abortion are usually committed to

organized religion Organized religion, also known as institutional religion, is religion in which belief systems and rituals are systematically arranged and formally established, typically by an official doctrine (or dogma), a hierarchical or bureaucratic leadership ...

, such as

Roman Catholicism The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

or fundamentalist Protestants, are usually very traditional/conservative with regard to women’s role in life, and are less educated than those who are pro-abortion”. Both groups will create logical fallacies because both of these countermovements will not agree to each other's issues. Both of these countermovements try to use emotional appeal by “abortion advocates tie their cause to the importance of ‘choice’, while

activist point out the significance of protecting all forms of life”.

Conclusion

In summary, countermovements have been a part of every movement. Many of the countermovements have tried to stop the opposing movements to get rid of their movement and control the politics of the issue. All countermovements are competing for resources whether it is political influence, money, or enforcing their

doctrine Doctrine (from , meaning 'teaching, instruction') is a codification (law), codification of beliefs or a body of teacher, teachings or instructions, taught principles or positions, as the essence of teachings in a given branch of knowledge or in a ...

on others. No matter the movement that comes up now or in the future, there is another group who will disapprove and make a countermovement. Crowley, Jocelyn Elise. "Fathers' Rights Groups, Domestic Violence and Political Countermobilization." Social Forces 88.2 (2009): 723-755. Academic Search Complete. EBSCO. Web. 4 Mar. 2010

References

{{Reflist Social movements