Sociologically speaking, social change has been defined as significant alteration over time in social patterns and cultural understandings. In that context, how do social movements (like the gay rights and the anti-globalization movements) contribute to or generate social and cultural change in our societies? How are these social movements promoting new forms of social change in the world today?

Social movements, such as the anti-globalization and LGBTQ+ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans, queer, plus) movements, are rooted in causing cultural shifts that fundamentally shift a society and often affect a group of people's social, political, and economic reality. The anti-globalization movement was rooted in a desire to struggle against the homogenization of cultures that comes with globalization and against the extremely exploitative labor practices of transnational corporations. Globalization continues to exist and affect people across the world, often in negative ways, such as in the exploitation of indigenous peoples, extraction of their resources, deforestation, destruction of cultures, etc. However, the anti-globalization movement has still resulted in a broader discourse within society surrounding fair trade/labor, cultural appropriation, rights of indigenous people, the importance of not homogenizing human cultures, and the state of the ecosystem due to a global, industrialized economy.
Since the 1960s, The LGBTQ+ movement has struggled for social, political, and legal acceptance within a society that has been historically incredibly violent and unwelcoming towards gay, queer, and trans people. Between the 1960s and the present, Congress has been gradually decriminalizing homosexuality and passing anti-discrimination policies through state and national laws. While there is a spectrum of acceptance of LGBTQ people, such as much broader societal acceptance of cis-gender (people who identify with the gender they were assigned at birth) gay people, there is still significant social intolerance to transgender (people who do not identify with the gender they were assigned at birth) people. Still, culturally speaking, gay people are more able to access jobs, housing, and be open in public settings with a much more reduced chance of vigilante violence. This cultural shift can serve to encourage more marginalized LGBTQ+identities, such as transgender people, to be able to push for further acceptance as well.