Civil society
This topic explains what civil society means, how does it work and how we can valorise it
New Social Movements
In new social movements, more importance is attached to social and cultural concerns, rather than economic or political considerations. Actors in NSMs are from a new middle class, instead of from the lower classes, as was typical of social movements of the industrial economy. The primary difference from the previous social movements is in their goals, as the new movements focus not on issues of materialistic qualities such as economic wellbeing, but on issues related to human rights (such as gay rights or pacifism). NSMs consist of informal, loosely organized social networks of supporters rather than members and tend to be locally-based. NSMs act as a platform for collective action in civil society or in the cultural domain, rather than as an instrumental tool for the state. As such, new movements are often considered to be anti-authoritarian. NSMs are normally centered on a single issue, or a limited range of issues which are related to a broader theme, such as the environment.