The Ecological Movements in the Light of Social Movements' Development

Abstract

Social movements are difined as a form of collective action seeking a global social change. The ecological movements, to which some attention is paid here, have already worked to initiate social change, but the grass-roots movements are confronted with difficult choices in order to insure the maintenance and reinforcement of the link between ideas and concrete actions. Those movements have gone through distinct integration phases in four societies (France, the former Federal Republic of Germany (FRG), Quebec, and the U.S.A.). The structural integration phase has been characterized by the differentiation process, as well of the problems as of the groups themselves, and by the institutionalization process. The political and cultural integration phases have been characterized by the passage, at various degrees, through the electoral process and the legitimation process.