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The term new social movements (NSM) refers to a plethora of social movements that have come up in various western societies roughly since the mid-1960s (i.e. in a post-industrial economy) which depart significantly from the conventional social movement paradigm. New social movement theory looks at various collective actions, their identity and on their relations to culture, ideology and politics.[Kendall 2005]. Buechler argues that there is in fact no single new social movement theory, but a set of new social movement theories, each a variant on general approach to "something called new social movement", which he cautiously defines as a "diverse array of collective actions that has presumably displaced the old social movement of proletarian revolution".[Buechler 1999]

These movements differ from traditional social movements that had previously been seen, following Marxist paradigm, as centered on economic concerns, such as the labor movement.[Buechler 1999] The new social movements include the women's movement, the ecology movement, gay rights movement and various peace movements, among others. Thinkers have related these movements with the postmaterialism hypothesis as put forth by Ronald Inglehart. Important contributors in the field include sociologists such as Alain Touraine, Claus Offe, and Jürgen Habermas. Many of these NSMs tend to emphasize social changes in lifestyle and culture, rather than pushing for specific changes in public policy or for economic change. Some NSM theorists argue that the key actors in these movements are members of the "new middle class", or service-sector professionals (such as academics).

Unlike pressure groups that have a formal organisation and 'members', NSMs consist of an informal, loosely organised social network of 'supporters' rather than members. Paul Byrne ('97) described New Social Movements as 'relatively disorganised'^{[citation needed]}. Protest groups tend to be single issue based and are often local in terms of the scope of change they wish to effect. In contrast, NSMs last longer than single issue campaigns and wish to see change on an (inter)national level on various issues in relation to their set of beliefs and ideals. A NSM may, however adopt the tactic of a protest campaign as part of its strategy for achieving wider-ranging change.

Some sociologists, like Paul Bagguley and Nelson Pichardo, criticize NSM theory for a number of reasons, including 1) these movements existed (in one extent or another) during the industrial period and traditional movements still exist today, 2) there is a lack of empirical evidence showing the differences between these movements, 3) NSM focuses almost exclusively on left-wing movements and does not consider right-wing, 4) the term "new middle class" is amorphous and not consistently defined, and 5) might be better viewed as a certain instance of social movement theory rather than a brand new one.

• Steven M. Buechler, Social Movements in Advanced Capitalism, Oxford University Press, 1999, ISBN 0-19-512604-1, Google Print, p.46
• Diana Kendall, Sociology In Our Times, Thomson Wadsworth, 2005, ISBN 0-534-64629-8 Google Print, p.533

• Social criticism