NCERT Solutions for Class 12 Sociology Chapter 8: Social Movements (NCERT 2026–27)
These Class 12 Sociology Chapter 8 solutions cover Social Movements from Social Change and Development in India, the prescribed NCERT textbook for the 2026–27 session. The chapter explains what gives a collective protest the character of a social movement, how sociology has studied movements, the difference between reformist, redemptive and revolutionary movements, the distinction between old and new social movements, and the major Indian movements — ecological, class-based (peasant and workers’), caste-based (Dalit and backward-caste), tribal and the women’s movement. Below you get step-by-step answers to all end-of-chapter Questions, clear notes on key concepts, extra practice, MCQs, Assertion–Reason and FAQs.
Class: 12Subject: SociologyBook: Social Change and Development in IndiaChapter: 8Title: Social MovementsSession: 2026–27
Chapter 8, Social Movements, shows how many rights we take for granted — the eight-hour workday, the weekend, equal pay, the right to vote — were won through long collective struggle. A social movement is defined by sustained collective action over time, some degree of organisation (leadership and structure), and shared objectives and ideology; it is distinct from spontaneous, disorganised protest and from broad, ongoing social change. Sometimes counter movements arise to defend the status quo. The chapter classifies movements as redemptive, reformist and revolutionary, and distinguishes the old social movements (organised through political parties around class and power) from the new social movements (identity, quality-of-life and global issues, often outside party politics). It then surveys major Indian movements: ecological (the Chipko Movement), class-based (peasant movements, new farmers’ movements and workers’ movements), caste-based (the Dalit movement and backward-class movements), tribal (Jharkhand and the North East) and the women’s movement — ending with the idea that movements change both individuals and society.
Key Concepts & Terms
Social movement: sustained collective action over time, marked by some degree of organisation (leadership and a structure), and guided by shared objectives, ideologies and a general orientation towards bringing about — or preventing — change. It is usually directed at the state or at changing state policy.
Counter movement: a movement that arises in defence of the status quo against a social movement — e.g. the Dharma Sabha formed to oppose the campaign against sati, or movements opposing the extension of reservation.
Social change vs social movement: social change is continuous, ongoing and the sum of countless actions across time and space (e.g. sanskritisation, westernisation); a social movement is directed at specific goals and involves long, continuous, organised effort (e.g. 19th-century social reform).
Reformist movement: seeks to change existing social and political arrangements through gradual, incremental steps — e.g. the 1960s movement for linguistic reorganisation of states and the Right to Information campaign.
Redemptive (transformatory) movement: aims to bring about change in the personal consciousness and actions of its members — e.g. Narayana Guru’s reform of the Ezhava community in Kerala.
Revolutionary movement: attempts to radically transform social relations, often by capturing state power — e.g. the Bolshevik Revolution and the Naxalite movement.
Old social movements: organised within the frame of political parties and trade unions, with the reorganisation of power relations (class) as a central goal — e.g. the Indian National Movement led by the Congress.
New social movements: concerned with quality-of-life, identity, cultural and global issues (environment, women, human rights), often non-party and international in scope — e.g. the World Social Forum.
Ecological movement: a movement raising interlinked ‘red’ (livelihood/inequality) and ‘green’ (environmental sustainability) issues — the Chipko Movement in the Himalayan foothills is the textbook example.
Peasant vs new farmers’ movements: peasant movements (Tebhaga 1946–47, Telangana 1946–51) were often party-led struggles over land and exploitation; new farmers’ movements (1970s, Punjab and Tamil Nadu) were regionally organised, non-party, anti-state, market-involved and focused on ‘price and related issues’.
Dalit movement: not a single unified movement but many movements asserting a shared Dalit identity — a struggle for recognition, self-dignity, self-determination and the eradication of untouchability, accompanied by a growing body of Dalit literature.
Tribal movement: movements such as Jharkhand (led early by Birsa Munda; statehood in 2000) and those in the North East, binding ecological, identity and economic issues, especially the alienation of tribals from forest land.
NCERT “Questions” — Full Solutions
All questions below are reproduced verbatim from the NCERT textbook’s end-of-chapter Questions section. Answers are original, written in exam-ready style.
1. Imagine a society where there has been no social movement. Discuss. You can also describe how you imagine such a society to be.
ANSWERA society with no social movement would be a society frozen in its existing hierarchies and injustices, because social movements are the main means through which ordinary people press for and win change. Almost every right we now take for granted was the outcome of a movement.Without social movements, the workday might never have been limited to eight hours; there would be no weekly holiday; women would not have won the right to vote or equal pay; workers would have no right to social security or pension. Colonial rule might never have ended, since the nationalist movement and many anti-colonial movements across Asia, Africa and the Americas brought independence. Practices such as sati might have continued, girls might still be denied education, untouchability might never have been challenged, and caste and gender discrimination would remain unquestioned.Such a society would be deeply unequal and static. Entrenched interests and values would face no organised resistance, the voices of the poor, the Dalits, tribals, peasants, workers and women would have no collective platform, and the state would face no pressure to reform from outside the formal political system. In short, a society without social movements would be one without the engine of conscious, collective social change — an unjust order in which the powerful remain unchallenged.
2. Write short notes on:
• Women’s Movement• Tribal Movements
ANSWERWomen’s Movement. The women’s movement in India has had two broad phases. The first grew out of the 19th-century social reform movements that raised issues concerning women, followed in the early 20th century by women’s organisations such as the Women’s India Association (1917), the National Council for Women in India (1925) and the All India Women’s Conference (1926). Though some began with a limited ‘welfare’ focus, their scope widened to link women’s questions with national freedom. Importantly, women participated not only as middle-class reformers but also in tribal and rural revolts such as the Tebhaga, Telangana and Warli struggles. After a lull around Independence (many activists turned to nation-building, and Partition caused trauma), the movement was renewed in the mid-1970s — its ‘second phase’ — with new issues such as violence against women, dowry, sexual harassment, land rights and employment, and important legal changes. It also recognised that all women do not suffer the same kind of discrimination, that men too are constrained by dominant gender identities, and that a gender-just society frees both men and women.Tribal Movements. Tribal groups across India share some common issues but also differ significantly. Many movements have been located in the ‘tribal belt’ of middle India (Santhals, Hos, Oraons, Mundas of Chota Nagpur and the Santhal Parganas) — the region that became Jharkhand, a state carved out of south Bihar in 2000 after more than a century of resistance. Its early charismatic leader was Birsa Munda, an adivasi who led an uprising against the British and became an icon of the movement; literate adivasis, aided by missionary education, documented their history and built a shared Jharkhandi identity. Adivasis resented the dikus (migrant traders and moneylenders) who grabbed the wealth of this mineral-rich region while adivasi lands were alienated. The movement agitated against land acquisition for large projects and firing ranges, survey and settlement operations, collection of loans and dues, and the nationalisation of forest produce. In the North East, state formation after Independence generated movements; an earlier secessionist tendency was later replaced by a search for autonomy within the Indian Constitution. A key issue binding tribal movements everywhere is the alienation of tribals from forest lands, making ecological issues central alongside identity and economic concerns.
3. In India it is difficult to make a clear distinction between the old and new social movements. Discuss.
ANSWERThe distinction. ‘Old’ social movements functioned within the frame of political parties and trade unions and saw the reorganisation of power relations — especially class — as their central goal; the Indian National Congress led the Indian National Movement, and the Communist Party of China led the Chinese Revolution. ‘New’ social movements are said to be less about the distribution of power and class exploitation and more about quality-of-life and identity issues such as a clean environment, often organised outside political parties and international in scope (e.g. the World Social Forum).Why the line blurs in India. In practice, the two cannot be neatly separated. Rajni Kothari attributes the surge of social movements in India in the 1970s to people’s growing dissatisfaction with parliamentary democracy — people left out by the formal political system joined non-party formations to pressure the state from outside, yet their concerns still included old issues of inequality. New movements are not only about old economic issues, nor are they organised along class lines alone; identity, cultural anxieties and aspirations unite participants across class boundaries. For instance, the women’s movement includes urban middle-class feminists as well as poor peasant women, and regional movements for separate statehood bring together groups that do not share a homogeneous class identity.Conclusion. The Chipko Movement shows this clearly — it raised both the ‘red’ issue of villagers’ subsistence and inequality and the ‘green’ issue of ecological sustainability at the same time. Similarly, new farmers’ movements broadened their agenda to include environmental and women’s issues. The broader term ‘civil society’ now covers both old movements (parties, trade unions) and new ones (NGOs, women’s, environmental and tribal groups), and old and new movements often work together in new alliances. Hence, in India questions of social inequality occur alongside other issues, and a clear distinction between old and new movements is difficult to maintain.
4. Environmental movements often also contain economic and identity issues. Discuss.
ANSWEREnvironmental or ecological movements are rarely about ‘the environment’ alone; they usually combine ecological concerns with intertwined economic and identity issues. The dominant model of development — big dams, industries, unchecked use of natural resources — displaces people from their homes and livelihoods, so environmental questions are inseparable from questions of survival, inequality and political voice.The textbook’s example is the Chipko Movement in the Himalayan foothills, described by Ramachandra Guha in Unquiet Woods. When government forest contractors came to fell the oak and rhododendron forests, villagers — including a large number of women — hugged the trees to prevent their cutting. At stake was the economic issue of subsistence: villagers depended on the forest for firewood, fodder and daily necessities, so the ‘economy of subsistence’ was pitted against the government’s ‘economy of profit’ from selling timber. There was also the ecological issue of sustainability, since deforestation had caused devastating floods and landslides. And it expressed an identity and political dimension — the resentment of hill villagers against a distant government in the plains that seemed indifferent and hostile to their concerns.Thus, for the villagers the ‘red’ (livelihood and inequality) and ‘green’ (ecology) issues were interlinked: their survival depended on the survival of the forest, which they also valued as ecological wealth that benefits all. The same is true of tribal movements, where the alienation of tribals from forest land binds ecological, economic and identity concerns together. Environmental movements therefore characteristically fuse economic and identity issues with their ecological agenda.
5. Distinguish between peasant and New Farmer’s movements.
ANSWERBoth are agrarian movements, but they differ in their period, organisation, participants, ideology and demands, as set out below.
Basis
Peasant Movements
New Farmers’ Movements
Period
From pre-colonial days; classical cases at Independence — Tebhaga (1946–47) and Telangana (1946–51); earlier organisations like the Bihar Provincial Kisan Sabha (1929) and All India Kisan Sabha (1936).
Began in the 1970s, in Punjab and Tamil Nadu.
Organisation
Often led by or linked to political parties, especially the Kisan Sabhas and the Communist Party of India; some linked to the national/Independence movement.
Regionally organised and explicitly non-party.
Participants
Mainly peasants and sharecroppers (e.g. the Tebhaga sharecroppers demanding two-thirds of their produce).
Mainly farmers, who are market-involved as both commodity producers and purchasers.
Ideology
Sought freedom from economic exploitation and feudal conditions for peasants, workers and other exploited classes.
Strongly anti-state and anti-urban.
Main demands
Land, a fairer share of produce, and an end to exploitation and feudal/oppressive conditions.
‘Price and related issues’ — price procurement, remunerative prices, prices of agricultural inputs, taxation, non-repayment of loans.
Methods
Militant struggles, sometimes armed (as in Telangana and Naxalbari).
Novel agitations — blocking roads and railways, refusing entry of politicians and bureaucrats to villages.
Significantly, new farmers’ movements have broadened their agenda to include environmental and women’s issues, and so are often seen as part of the worldwide ‘new social movements’, whereas the older peasant movements belonged more clearly to the ‘old’ class-based movements.
Extra Practice Questions
Short Answer Type Questions
Q1. What are the defining features of a social movement?
ANSWERA social movement requires sustained collective action over time, usually directed against the state or aimed at changing state policy. The action must have some degree of organisation, including leadership and a structure defining how members relate, decide and act, and the participants must share objectives, ideologies and a general orientation towards bringing about or preventing change. These features may shift over the course of a movement’s life.
Q2. What is a counter movement? Give an example.
ANSWERA counter movement arises in defence of the status quo when a social movement seeks change. For example, when Raja Rammohun Roy campaigned against sati and formed the Brahmo Samaj, defenders of sati formed the Dharma Sabha and petitioned the British not to legislate against it. Proposals to extend reservation have similarly led to counter movements opposing them.
Q3. Distinguish between reformist and revolutionary movements.
ANSWERA reformist movement seeks to change existing social and political arrangements gradually, through incremental steps — for example, the 1960s movement for the linguistic reorganisation of states and the Right to Information campaign. A revolutionary movement attempts to radically transform social relations, often by capturing state power — for example, the Bolshevik Revolution and the Naxalite movement.
Q4. Why is the study of social movements important for sociology?
ANSWERFrom its very beginning, sociology has been interested in social movements. The French Revolution and the social upheaval of the Industrial Revolution shaped the discipline: Durkheim’s concern with social order and integration treated movements as forces of disorder, while scholars influenced by Marx, such as E.P. Thompson, showed that the ‘crowd’ had its own ‘moral economy’ and that the poor had good reasons to protest. Movements thus reveal how social structures, conflict and change work.
Q5. What is the Dalit movement a struggle for?
ANSWERThe Dalit movement cannot be explained by economic exploitation or political oppression alone. It is a struggle for recognition as fellow human beings, for self-confidence and a space for self-determination, and for the abolition of the stigmatisation that untouchability implied — ‘a struggle to be touched’. There has been no single unified Dalit movement, but all of them assert a shared Dalit identity and a common quest for equality, self-dignity and the eradication of untouchability.
Long Answer Type Questions
Q1. Explain the three types of social movements — redemptive, reformist and revolutionary — with examples, and explain why classification is difficult.
ANSWERSocial movements are commonly classified into three types. A redemptive (or transformatory) movement aims to change the personal consciousness and actions of its individual members; for instance, the Ezhava community in Kerala was led by Narayana Guru to change their social practices. A reformist movement strives to change existing social and political arrangements through gradual, incremental steps; the 1960s movement for reorganising states on the basis of language and the recent Right to Information campaign are examples. A revolutionary movement attempts to radically transform social relations, often by capturing state power; the Bolshevik Revolution that deposed the Tsar and the Naxalite movement that sought to remove oppressive landlords and officials are examples. Classification is difficult because most movements have a mix of redemptive, reformist and revolutionary elements, and their orientation may shift over time — starting revolutionary and becoming reformist, or moving from mass mobilisation to becoming institutionalised ‘social movement organisations’. Moreover, how a movement is perceived is a matter of interpretation: what was a ‘mutiny’ for the British in 1857 was the ‘first war of Independence’ for Indian nationalists.
Q2. Trace the development of the workers’ (trade union) movement in India.
ANSWERFactory production began in India in the early 1860s under a colonial trade pattern in which raw materials were taken from India and British-made goods sold here; factories grew in the port towns of Calcutta, Bombay and later Madras, and tea plantations in Assam from 1839. In the early stages labour was very cheap because the colonial government did not regulate wages or working conditions. Workers protested, but their early actions were more spontaneous than sustained. The First World War expanded industry but brought misery, food shortages and rising prices, sparking waves of strikes — about 30 recorded strikes in Bombay’s textile mills in September–October 1917, and strikes by jute workers in Calcutta, mill workers in Madras and textile workers in Ahmedabad. The first trade union was established in April 1918 in Madras by B.P. Wadia, and in the same year Gandhi founded the Textile Labour Association (TLA). In 1920 the All India Trade Union Congress (AITUC) was formed in Bombay as a broad-based body of communists, moderates and nationalists. As communists gained control of the AITUC, the Congress formed the INTUC in May 1947; the 1947 split led to further splits along party lines, and regional parties later formed their own unions. The 1966–67 recession and the major 1974 railway strike made confrontation between the state and trade unions acute, and the workers’ movement became part of the wider struggle for civil liberties.
Q3. Examine the Chipko Movement as an example of how economy, ecology and political representation are interlinked.
ANSWERThe Chipko Movement in the Himalayan foothills is the textbook’s prime example of an ecological movement in which several issues are interlinked. According to Ramachandra Guha’s Unquiet Woods, villagers rallied to save the oak and rhododendron forests near their villages; when government forest contractors came to fell the trees, villagers — including many women — stepped forward to hug the trees to prevent their being cut. The movement brought together three concerns. Economy: villagers depended on the forest for firewood, fodder and other necessities, so the ‘economy of subsistence’ of poor villagers was pitted against the government’s ‘economy of profit’ from selling timber — an issue of social inequality between villagers and a state representing commercial, capitalist interests. Ecology: the felling of natural forests was a form of environmental destruction that had already caused devastating floods (the heavy 1970 monsoon flood in the Alaknanda valley) and landslides. Political representation: the movement expressed the resentment of hill villagers against a distant government headquartered in the plains that seemed indifferent and hostile. For the villagers these ‘red’ and ‘green’ issues were one — their survival depended on the survival of the forest, which they also valued as ecological wealth benefiting all. The Reni episode, where Gaura Devi mobilised the village women to stop the contractors’ men, captures how livelihood, ecology and political voice combined in a single struggle.
MCQs & Assertion–Reason
1. A social movement is best defined by:
(a) any spontaneous protest (b) sustained, organised collective action with shared goals (c) an individual’s act of defiance (d) a riot
2. The Dharma Sabha, formed to oppose the campaign against sati, is an example of a:
(a) reformist movement (b) revolutionary movement (c) counter movement (d) redemptive movement
3. Narayana Guru’s effort to change the social practices of the Ezhava community is an example of a movement that is:
4. Which pair is given as an example of revolutionary movements?
(a) RTI campaign and linguistic reorganisation (b) Bolshevik Revolution and the Naxalite movement (c) Brahmo Samaj and Dharma Sabha (d) Chipko and Tebhaga
5. The Chipko Movement is associated with which writer’s book Unquiet Woods?
For each Assertion–Reason question, choose: (A) Both true and the Reason correctly explains the Assertion; (B) Both true but the Reason is not the correct explanation; (C) Assertion true, Reason false; (D) Assertion false, Reason true.
A-R 1. Assertion: A social movement is more than spontaneous, disorganised protest.
Reason: A social movement requires sustained collective action marked by some degree of organisation and shared objectives.
A-R 2. Assertion: Social movements can change society easily and without resistance.
Reason: Social movements go against entrenched interests and values, so they are bound to face opposition and resistance.
A-R 3. Assertion: In India it is difficult to make a clear distinction between old and new social movements.
Reason: New movements often unite participants across class boundaries and combine identity issues with older questions of inequality.
A-R 4. Assertion: Ecological issues are central to tribal movements.
Reason: The alienation of tribals from forest land is a key issue that binds tribal movements across different regions.
A-R 5. Assertion: The new farmers’ movements can be seen as part of the worldwide ‘new social movements’.
Reason: They were led directly by political parties and focused solely on class-based exploitation.
Answer key: 1-(A), 2-(D), 3-(A), 4-(A), 5-(C).
Exam Tips & Common Mistakes
How to score full marks in this chapter
Memorise the defining features of a social movement (sustained collective action, organisation/leadership, shared objectives and ideology) and the difference between social change and a social movement. For the very common question on peasant vs new farmers’ movements, answer in a clear point-wise or table form (period, organisation, participants, ideology, demands, methods). Keep ready the textbook’s named examples — Chipko (Guha’s Unquiet Woods, Gaura Devi, Reni), Tebhaga and Telangana, the AITUC/INTUC story, Birsa Munda and Jharkhand (2000), and the women’s organisations (WIA 1917, NCWI 1925, AIWC 1926). For ‘old vs new’ movements, always note that the line blurs in India and support it with Chipko or the women’s movement.
Common mistakes to avoid
Calling any protest or riot a ‘social movement’ — it must be sustained, organised and goal-directed.
Confusing redemptive (change in personal consciousness), reformist (gradual change) and revolutionary (radical, often capturing state power) movements.
Mixing up peasant movements (party-linked, land/exploitation) with new farmers’ movements (non-party, anti-state, price issues).
Treating old and new social movements as completely separate — in India they overlap and work together.
Describing environmental movements as ‘only about trees’ — they also carry economic and identity issues, as Chipko shows.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is Chapter 8 of Class 12 Sociology (Social Change and Development in India) about?
Chapter 8, Social Movements, explains the features of a social movement, why sociology studies movements, the types of movements (reformist, redemptive, revolutionary), the difference between old and new social movements, and major Indian movements — ecological (Chipko), class-based (peasant and workers’), caste-based (Dalit and backward-caste), tribal (Jharkhand, North East) and the women’s movement.
What is the difference between peasant and new farmers’ movements?
Peasant movements (such as Tebhaga 1946–47 and Telangana 1946–51) were often party-linked struggles by peasants and sharecroppers over land and exploitation. New farmers’ movements began in the 1970s in Punjab and Tamil Nadu; they were regionally organised, non-party, anti-state and anti-urban, involved market-involved farmers, and focused on ‘price and related issues’.
Why is it hard to distinguish old and new social movements in India?
Old movements worked through parties and trade unions around class and power, while new movements focus on identity and quality-of-life issues. In India the line blurs because new movements unite people across class boundaries and still raise old questions of inequality — for example, the Chipko Movement combined livelihood (‘red’) and ecological (‘green’) issues, and the women’s movement includes both middle-class and peasant women.
