Reform Movement

A reform movement is a kind of social movement that aims to make gradual change, or change in certain aspects of society, rather than rapid or fundamental changes. A reform movement is distinguished from more radical social movements such as revolutionary movements.

Reformists' ideas are often grounded in liberalism, although they may be rooted in socialist (specifically, Social democratic) or religious concepts. Some rely on personal transformation; others rely on small collectives, such as Mahatma Gandhi's spinning wheel and the self-sustaining village economy, as a mode of social change. Reactionary movements, which can arise against any of these, attempt to put things back the way they were before any successes the new reform movement(s) enjoyed, or to prevent any such successes.

Read more about Reform Movement:  Great Britain/United Kingdom: Late 18th Century To Early 20th, United States: 1840s - 1930s, Mexico: La Reforma, 1850s, Ottoman Empire: 1840s-1870s, Republic of Turkey: 1920s-1930s

Famous quotes containing the words reform and/or movement:

    Let us reform our schools, and we shall find little reform needed in our prisons.
    John Ruskin (1819–1900)

    ... contemporary black women felt they were asked to choose between a black movement that primarily served the interests of black male patriarchs and a women’s movement which primarily served the interests of racist white women.
    bell hooks (b. c. 1955)