No two movements are exactly alike; yet different movements have much in common. Most completed movements pass through much the same set of four stages - of unrest, excitement, formalization, and institutionalization, first suggested by W.E. Gettys, who applied them to his study of the Methodist movement in England. A few accomplish their purpose without needing to enter the later stages. Other life cycles suggested by Zald and Ash and by Blumer are quite similar, differing only in details.
The Unrest Stage
All movements are rooted in social unrest. When people grow bored and restless, or develop a sense of social injustice, or when some changes has disrupted an established way of life, they develop an unstable volatility which we call social unrest. When they confront situations that their traditional ideology cannot explain, they are frustrated. For example, the Great Depression of the thirties brought actual destitution to millions of workers who had been socialized to believe that there must be something wrong with a man who cannot support his family. The emotional experience was shattering for most unemployed men, many of whom agonized painfully about accepting relief when it was offered. Social change, social disorganization, and social unrest are inseparable. This stage may be very prolonged, lasting as many as several generations.
The Excitement stage
Unrest is vague, generalized, and unfocused. When it becomes focused on certain conditions, and when certain "causes" of misery are identified so that proposals for action fill the air, the excitement stage has come. During this stage it is easy to gather an audience, and agitators, seem to pop on everywhere. Many fledgling movements are launched, mostly to founder on the rocks of clumsy leadership or ineffective appeals. Sometimes magnetic agitators, working on people whose needs have made them receptive, can rouse a huge following almost overnight. To convert such a mass into an effective movement requires a skillful organizer. The excitement stage is typically brief, leading quickly either to action or to loss of interest.
The formalization stage
Some of the migratory and expressive movements may be able to operate without formal organization, but those, which seek to modify the society, must become organized. An excited mass of followers will drift away unless their enthusiasms are ordered and directed. In the formalization stage, a chain of officers is worked out, fund raising is systematized, and the ideology of the movement is clarified. The ideology reminds people of their discontents, identities the villains, states the movement's objectives, outlines the strategy and tactics for attaining the stated purposes, and provides the moral justification for all these actions. Formalization converts an excited mass into a disciplined membership and a vague cause into a practical enterprise. This, too, is a brief phase leading quickly into institutionalization.
The institutionalization stage
Institutionalization eventually overtakes most movements if they last long enough. The movement crystallizes into a definite pattern, including traditions to uphold and possibly vested interests to defend. Efficient bureaucrats replace zealous agitators as leaders, and members feel themselves supporters of a worthy organization rather than campaigners in a sacrificial crusade. The acquisition of elaborate office suites or buildings is evidence that the institutionalization of the movement is complete. This stage may last almost indefinitely.
The dissolution stage
Most scholars end the movement's cycle with the institutionalization stage. But this is not really the end, for different movements come to different conclusions. A movement may die at any stage in its career. Some movements achieve their objectives and then disappear, like the movement for women's suffrage. Such a change of direction is rarely successful. Some movements, however, do undergo a transition in which, the movement comes to pursue objectives quite different from the original ones. As an example, the Townsend movement for liberal old-age pensions lost most of its members when returning prosperity and the growth of other pension plans undercut its program, but the Townsend clubs survived for quite a number of years as recreational groups of older people who were only mildly interested in the pension plan. A movement may shrink into a sect like band of followers, doggedly pursuing an objective, which is probably forever unattainable, such as the prohibitionist movement embodied in the Women's Christian Temperance Union. Some movements achieve full institutional status and make a contribution to the institutions of the society. This progress is illustrated by the many religious sects, which have completed the transition into denominations.
