social upheaval
Mass collective unrest
Social upheaval is a period of dramatic, disruptive change in a society's structures, norms, or power arrangements.
Revolutions, civil wars, and mass movements qualify: The civil rights era brought social upheaval to the American South.
The term implies widespread disruption affecting many people, not just policy changes or gradual shifts.
- coupAbrupt seizure of power
- regime changeReplacement of governing power
- power vacuumAbsence of governing authority
- protestPublic expression of disapproval
- rebellionDefiance of established power
revolution · recession · grassroots movement · counterculture · authoritarianism · class conflict · class warfare · civil disobedience · civil unrest · general strike · austerity measures · seize the moment · political polarization · feminism · civil rights movement · radicalism · barricades · mob
- Black Deathbubonic plague, Black Death, plague doctors, buboes, Yersinia pestis
- unrestriot, uprising, riots, revolt, civil unrest
- ArgentinaBuenos Aires, tango, Messi, Patagonia, mate
- conflictclash, fight, war, battle, dispute
- changeschange, shift, alter, transformation, modify
- French RevolutionBastille, guillotine, Robespierre, French Revolution, Marie Antoinette
social upheavalevolutionary change
Inherited trait shifts over generations
institutional reform · gradualism · incrementalism · progressive reform · legislative reform
social upheavalsocial stability
Absence of societal turmoil
social order · stability · social harmony · tranquility · normalcy