How Law Influences a Social Movement’s Agenda
Introduction
Law affects the process of agenda formation within a movement to a significant extent. Specifically, legal standards shape the attitudes and intentions within marginalized groups, mobilizing disenfranchised communities to change the existing regulations. Namely, the inconsistency between the concept of social justice and the set legal standards galvanizes the process of social change. Furthermore, in addition to providing an initial impetus, the gaps in the legal framework allow for determining the course of the movement and the core criteria of its success (Sarat, 2004, p. 511). Therefore, there is a direct way in which the law shapes social movements, which is linked to injustice integrated within the legal standards.
Two Ways That Social Movements Use Law to Pursue Their Goals
However, movements can also use the existing legal framework to achieve their goals faster. Specifically, the creation of an “opportunity structure” that supports the development of the movement and allows it to promote its cause should be mentioned as the main means for a movement to pursue its goals with the help of law (Sarat, 2004, p. 512). Legal standards also provide extensive chances for a movement to attain its core objectives by contributing to the development of alliances within different social groups. Specifically, bound by legal requirements and standards, members of different social tiers can collaborate to promote the ideas of a specific movement.
Conclusion
In addition to shaping the development of a movement, legal standards and frameworks can also predetermine the results thereof. Specifically, laws and regulations introduced into a community as a result of a specific movement may ensure that its core ideas and values are enshrined into law (Sarat, 2004). Furthermore, the outcomes in question may create an environment that will incorporate “challenges to authoritarian regimes” (Sarat, 2004, p. 513). Thus, the legal outcomes of a social movement will define the existence of the movement in question and its further role in the target community.
Reference
Sarat, A. (Ed.). (2004). The Blackwell companion to law and society. Blackwell Publishing.