Social struggles and efforts at change on the part of groups of people who consider themselves exploited, oppressed, or simply treated unfairly occur not only when there are social movements led by forceful leaders. The civil rights movement of the 1960s in the United States is an example of organized social and political protest for change. We have also seen that there are social struggles, for example, in Bangladesh and India, connected to the particular issues of work and survival (Chen, 1995). In those cases, individuals' need for changes in traditions restricting women's work opportunities turned into group efforts with the support of organizations formed to further the cause and institute procedures to transform cultural practices. In the previous chapter, I discussed other examples of individuals and groups attempting to change particular cultural practices considered unfair and detrimental to human welfare.

In addition to overt acts of defiance and protest, in daily life people engage in covert acts of subterfuge and subversion aimed at circumventing norms and practices judged unfair, oppressive, or too restrictive of personal choices. Some acts of subversion are actually embedded or institutionalized in cultural practices and, in a sense, constitute practices that are covert and yet accepted.