The objective of this article is to provide a broad framework for situating social movements in post-apartheid South Africa. The discussion begins with a brief review of approaches to the study of social movements and then turns to the challenges presented by globalization. South African democratization coincided with its increasing economic, social and political engagement with the rest of the world. One of the key effects of this has been massive job losses and resultant increases in poverty and inequality. Finally, the article reviews key features of movements in postapartheid South Africa. Overwhelmingly, these movements are driven by worsening poverty, with struggles addressing both labour issues and consumption issues. In addition, some movements confront questions of social exclusion in terms of gender, sexuality and citizenship which sit at the intersection of recognition and redistribution. Given the failure of the post-apartheid party political system to generate opposition to the left of the African National Congress (ANC), social movements provide a vital counterbalance to promote the needs of the poor in political agendas.