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The category of new movements can best be divided into subcategories of cultural movements, which oppose the social life of the present, & political movements, which resist the modern state. Both are often viewed as recurring historical phenomena of protest. The ecological movement, however, embodies a new social trend with a new self-image. Description of new movements as Romantic or populist implies that they are recurrences of older movements. To determine whether there is in fact anything new in current movements requires examination of the type of society they attempt to create. A distinctive feature of modern societies is that social movements are themselves the sources of change, & have the power to challenge cultural traditions. Distinct cultural models can be identified as based on organic, mechanical, & cybernetic concepts of work; these in turn imply differing fundamental normative orders. Where both capitalist & socialist movements represent responses to the mechanical & industrial cultural model, the new movements represent responses to the cybernetic & postindustrial model. These are not yet unified; the logical next step is for sociological research to be followed by intervention to create a unified movement. W. H. Stoddard.

Organizations involved in the development of innovative social programs are coming under increasing pressure to establish structures through which the users, targets, or beneficiaries of program activities can be involved in program planning and implementation. The dynamic that this sets up between the program and its wider environment, particularly in areas in which "new social movements" are operating, can be quite challenging. This article seeks to examine these dynamics, particularly in the context of program evaluation. It is argued that an engaged evaluation approach (drawing on an action research orientation) has particular strengths in such a situation, although the limitations and challenges of such an approach are also outlined. It may, for example, require careful management in terms of the dynamics of the evaluation team. The discussion is illustrated by examples drawn from the evaluation of a European program for disabled people in which the author as member of a research team from The Tavistock Institute was involved.

The concept of "new social movements," characterized by a focus on identity, cannot readily be transferred to a Latin American context. Latin America never experienced the postmaterialist turn that led some to call certain European social movements "new." In addition, as the case of black organizing in Brazil demonstrates, identity-based Latin American social movements are much older than the literature suggests. What was indeed a Latin American novelty of the 1980s was the massive emergence of nongovernmental organizations (NGOs). In the case of Brazil, these organizations emerged in response to new financial opportunities provided by international donors and the coercive and paternalistic actions of states, a reality that the concept of new social movements is unable to capture. Both the long history of identity-based organizing and the emergence of NGOs can be explained by focusing on political opportunities and changing protest repertoires. [Reprinted by permission of Sage Publications Inc., copyright holder.]

The concept of "new social movements," characterized by a focus on identity, cannot readily be transferred to a Latin American context. Latin America never experienced the postmaterialist turn that led some to call certain European social movements "new." In addition, as the case of black organizing in Brazil demonstrates, identity-based Latin American social movements are much older than the literature suggests. What was indeed a Latin American novelty of the 1980s was the massive emergence of nongovernmental organizations (NGOs). In the case of Brazil, these organizations emerged in response to new financial opportunities provided by international donors and the coercive and paternalistic actions of states, a reality that the concept of new social movements is unable to capture. Both the long history of identity-based organizing and the emergence of NGOs can be explained by focusing on political opportunities and changing protest repertoires.

Extent to which Poland's independent trade union functioned as a social movement; similarity to new social movements in the West.

A critique of new social movement (NSM) theories, based on an extensive review of NSM & other literature. It is suggested that NSM theorists have created & maintained a false distinction between pre- & post-WWII social movements by oversimplifying the histories of the movements of women, workers, racial & ethnic minorities, pacifists, & environmentalists. The NSM argument that recent movements were the first to organize around issues of identity is disputed with evidence from such turn-of-the-century leaders as W. E. B. DuBois & Marcus Garvey. Furthermore, the connections between changing post-WWII social conditions & the NSMs are problematic. Important continuities between the historical eras are cited & attention is drawn to movement cycles in an attempt to formulate a theory better oriented toward furthering the goals of social movements. D. Schwartz

Discussions of New Social Movements have sought to explain the apparent shift in the forms of contemporary social movements in Western nations by linking it to the rise of a postmodern world. However, the central propositions of the NSM paradigm have not been critically analyzed in terms of its concepts or the evidence. This review provides a critical analysis of the NSM thesis, finding that the central propositions are not defensible as a theory or a paradigm.