The Peace Movement Emerges

Abstract

In the late 1970s the Israeli peace movement emerged as a veritable social movement. This is the essence of this chapter. What, however, is meant by a‘social movement’? Sociologists have produced volumes in attempts to deal with this question. Without entering into any polemics, a number of characteristics may be spelled out. Firstly, true social movements cannot be fabricated. They are spontaneous expressions of widespread discontent. For this reason they tend, in the early stages, to be amorphous. What ‘structure’ they possess is likely to change at any given moment. Social movements are usually ‘carried’ by many unknown and obscure people who work in different areas and ways. If a movement endures, it is likely to acquire a certain form, albeit a fluid one: an enduring division of labour, as well as leadership and established social rules and values.