How do social movements contribute to poverty reduction

Essay from the year 2011 in the subject Sociology - Political Sociology, Majorities, Minorities, grade: Merit , University of Birmingham, course: MSc. International Development, language: English, abstract: Poverty reduction is a topic widely discussed in research and the media as one of the most vital issues for developing countries. It was placed as one of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). A large amount of research and reports have been presented about poverty reduction. At the same time, social movements have also been extensively studied, resulting in the emergence of many social movements related theories. Despite the causal relation between social movements and poverty reduction, a limited number of studies have revealed the impacts of social movements on poverty reduction since both fields are placed under different analytical categories. Social movements impact on poverty reduction is a must to study phenomenon, especially that we are witnessing the widespread of movements that tackle issues related to inequality and poverty directly and indirectly.