Social Movements Sociology 810 Fall 2010

Transcription

1 Social Movements Sociology 810 Fall 2010 Kenneth (Andy) Andrews Friday 9:00-11:30 Office: Hamilton 209 Hamilton 151 Phone: Office hours: Th 1-2 and by appt. Purpose of the Course This course examines the field of social movements through major theoretical positions and illustrative studies. Questions concerning the origins, dynamics, and impacts of social movements will be addressed. Early weeks of the semester will focus on major theoretical approaches, debates among them, and research that applies and tests major theories. Particular attention will be devoted to collective behavior, rational actor, resource mobilization, political process, social cultural and relational/network theories. We will also examine major analytic questions concerning social movements including recruitment and participation, strategy, leadership, organization, the state and repression, diffusion, mass media, and outcomes/success. Along the way, we will learn about a broad array of social movements. In addition, we will consider various strategies available for studying social movements including historical and comparative methods, surveys of organizations and individuals, experiments, analyses of events, ethnographic fieldwork, and qualitative interviews. Course Requirements Class meetings will be organized as discussions. I will circulate reading questions for each class session. For class meetings, two students will be responsible for preparing a brief set of comments responding to those questions to get discussion started. Typically, I will take a few minutes at the beginning of class to comment on the week s themes and topics with an eye toward locating our reading in the broader field. Discussion leaders will then have an opportunity to reflect on the readings. These comments might include critical observations about the reading, identification of further questions to pursue, reflections on the applicability of concepts and theories in the reading to other cases, and so forth. Your comments should focus attention on key analytic questions and areas for debate and discussion. Each student will comment on readings for one or possibly two class sessions during the semester. In addition to the class presentation(s) and discussions, the other major requirement is a research proposal. Your proposal will be developed through an initial statement of your research question and empirical case (due Monday, September 13 th ), an initial draft on October 25 th, and a final version due at the end of the semester. If appropriate, this paper should include the findings of preliminary research. The goal for this assignment is a proposal suitable for a master s paper,

2 grant/fellowship application, or dissertation. Over the semester, everyone will have a chance to present on their project and research plans and gain feedback from the class. These presentations will be spread out over the semester. Most likely, we will schedule two for each of our regular class sessions and devote the final 30 minutes of each class to hearing about everyone s projects. Course grades will be based on class participation throughout the semester, presentations, and the research proposal. Reading The following books have been ordered: Doug McAdam Political Process and the Development of Black Insurgency Chicago: University of Chicago Press. Ganz, Marshall Why David Sometimes Wins: Leadership, Organization, and Strategy in the California Farm Worker Movement. NY: Oxford University Press. Soule, Sarah A Contention and Corporate Social Responsibility. New York: Cambridge University Press. Luders, Joseph E The Civil Rights Movement and the Logic of Social Change. New York: Cambridge University Press. All other readings will be available through Blackboard. There are several general overviews of the field that you may find helpful. I would recommend: Suzanne Staggenborg s Social Movements (Oxford, 2010), David Snow and Sarah Soule s A Primer on Social Movements (Norton, 2009), or Mario Diani and Donatella Della Porta s Social Movements: An Introduction (Wiley-Blackwell, 2006). In addition, The Blackwell Companion to Social Movements(edited by David Snow, Sarah Soule and Hanspeter KRiesi) is a collection of essays reviewing many areas of scholarship that would help you identify further scholarship on a topic.

3 Course Schedule Aug 27 Introduction What is a social movement? When did the social movement emerge? How is it similar and different from related phenomena such as resistance, riots, interest groups, and so forth? What are the central questions in the field? Tilly, Charles Social Movements, Pp in Regimes and Repertoires. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. Sept 3 Collective Behavior Collective behavior approaches dominated the field from the early 20 th century through the 1960s. What are the core claims of this approach concerning the origins of movements, the characteristics of movement participants, and the defining features of movements? Why was this approach abandoned? Does the theory have continuing relevance for understanding movements? Turner, Ralph H. and Lewis M. Killian Processes in Collective Behavior: Models and Approaches and The Emergence of Collective Behavior. Pp and in Collective Behavior. 3rd ed. Englewood, Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, Inc. Smelser, Neil J Structural Strain Underlying Collective Behavior. Pp in Theory of Collective Behavior. NY: Free Press. Useem, Bert Disorganization and the New Mexico Prison Riot of American Sociological Review 50: Morris, Aldon and Cedric Herring "Theory and Research in Social Movements: A Critical Review." Annual Review of Political Science 2: Young, Michael P "Confessional protest: The religious birth of US national social movements." American Sociological Review 67: Sept 10 Rationality, Interests and Planning Beginning in the 1960s, many scholars began to see movement participation (and non-participation) as rational, calculated, and self-interested. What are the core claims of this perspective? How does it differ from collective behavior theory? Can selective incentives overcome free-riding? Olson, Mancur A Theory of Groups and Organizations, Pp 5-16 in The Logic of Collective Action. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. Oberschall, Anthony Risk, Rewards, and Resources, Pp in Social Conflict and Social Movements. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice- Hall. Fireman, Bruce and William H. Gamson "Utilitarian logic in the resource mobilization perspective." Pp in The Dynamics of Social Movements, edited by M. N. Zald and J. D. McCarthy. Cambridge, MA: Winthrop.

4 Klandermans, Bert Mobilization and Participation: Social-Psychological Expansions of Resource Mobilization Theory. American Sociological Review 49: Chong, Dennis Selective Social Incentives and Reputational Concerns, Pp in Collective Action and the Civil Rights Movement. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. Sept 17 Resource Mobilization and Movement Organizations Beginning in the 1970s Resource Mobilization theorists incorporated insights from organizational theory to understand movements. What kinds of organizations facilitate movement emergence? What drives growth and change in populations of movement organizations? Does the increasing professionalization of movements advance or undermine a movement s collective power? McCarthy, John D. and Mayer Zald Resource Mobilization and Social Movements: A Partial Theory. American Journal of Sociology 82: Tilly, Charles General Conditions for Mobilization, Pp in From Mobilization to Revolution NY: McGraw-Hill. Morris, Aldon Black Southern Student Sit-In Movement: An Analysis of Internal Organization. American Sociological Review 46: Staggenborg, Suzanne "The Consequences of Professionalization and Formalization in the Pro-Choice Movement." American Sociological Review 53: Buechler, Steven M "Beyond Resource Mobilization? Emerging Trends in Social Movement Theory." The Sociological Quarterly 34: Smith, Jackie and Dawn Wiest "The Uneven Geography of Global Civil Society: National and Global Influences on Transnational Association." Social Forces 84: Walker, Edward T "Privatizing Participation: Civic Change and the Organizational Dynamics of Grassroots Lobbying Firms." American Sociological Review 74: Andrews, Kenneth T., Marshall Ganz, Matthew Baggetta, Hahrie Han, and Chaeyoon Lim "Leadership, Membership, and Voice: Civic Associations That Work." American Journal of Sociology 115: Sept 24 Political Opportunity, Power, and Protest How do broad social, economic and political changes shape the rise, development and decline of movements? To what degree are challengers capable of generating their own leverage and to what degree are they dependent on electoral realignments, support from allies, political crises, elite support, and so forth? Doug McAdam Political Process and the Development of Black Insurgency Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

5 Kurzman, Charles "Structural Opportunity and Perceived Opportunity in Social-Movement Theory: The Iranian Revolution of 1979." American Sociological Review 61: Oct 1 Cycles and Diffusion of Protest How can we explain the dynamic aspects of movements including the ways that ideas, tactics, and information spread rapidly in the midst of popular struggles? What factors shape the rise and decline of movements? Tarrow, Sidney Cycles of Contention, Pp in Power in Movement: Social Movements, Collective Action and Mass Politics in the Modern State. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Koopmans, Ruud "The Dynamics of Protest Waves: West Germany 1965 to 1989." American Sociological Review 58: Minkoff, Debra C "The Sequencing of Social Movements." American Sociological Review 62: Zhao, Dingxin Ecologies of Social Movements: Student Mobilization During the 1989 Prodemocracy Movement in Beijing. AJS 103: Andrews, Kenneth T. and Michael Biggs "The Dynamics of Protest Diffusion: Movement Organizations, Social Networks, and News Media in the 1960 Sit-Ins." American Sociological Review 71: Caren, Neal, Raj Ghoshal, and Vanesa Ribas. Forthcoming. A Social Movement Generation: Cohort and Period Trends in Protest Attendance and Petition Signing American Sociological Review Oct 8 Culturalist Theories: Macro Approaches and Frames How are movements shaped by popular beliefs, understandings, and practices? What are the cultural obstacles to mobilization? Snow, David A. and Rob D. Benford Master Frames and Cycles of Protest, Pp in Frontiers in Social Movemnt Theory. A. D. Morris and C. M. Mueller. New Haven, Yale University Press. Roscigno, Vincent J. and William F. Danaher "Media and Mobilization: The Case of Radio and Southern Textile Worker Insurgency, 1929 to 1934." American Sociological Review 66: Ferree, Myra Marx "Resonance and Radicalism: Feminist Framing in the Abortion Debates of the United States and Germany." American Journal of Sociology 109: Koopmans, Ruud and Susan Olzak "Discursive Opportunities and the Evolution of Right-Wing Violence in Germany." American Journal of Sociology 110: Armstrong, Elizabeth A. and Mary Bernstein "Culture, Power, and Institutions: A Multi-institutional Politics Approach to Social Movements." Sociological Theory 26:74-99.

6 Oct 15 Culturalist Approaches: Solidarity, Identity, and Emotions To what degree does movement emergence and recruitment depend on preexisting identities, the transformation of existing ones, and the creation of new ones? Hirsch, Eric L Sacrifice for the Cause: Group Processes, Recruitment and Commitment in a Student Social Movement. American Sociological Review 55: Taylor, Verta and Nancy E. Whittier "Collective Identity in Social Movement Communities: Lesbian Feminist Mobilization." in Frontiers in Social Movement Theory, edited by A. D. Morris and C. M. Mueller. New Haven: Yale University Press. Jasper, James M. and Jane D. Poulsen Recruiting Strangers and Friends: Moral Shocks and Social Networks in Animal Rights and Anti-Nuclear Protests. Social Problems 42: Morris, Aldon and Naomi Braine Social Movements and Oppositional Consciousness, Pp in Oppositional Consciousness: The Subjective Roots of Social Protest, edited by Jane Mansbridge and Aldon Morris, Chicago: University of Chicago Press. Polletta, Francesca "How Participatory Democracy Became White: Culture and Organizational Choice." Mobilization 10: Goodwin, Jeff and James Jasper Emotions and Social Movements, Pp in Handbook of the Sociology of Emotions, edited by Jan E. Stets and Jonathan H. Turner. New York: Springer. Oct 29 Social Networks and Relationships How do an individual s relationships shape the likelihood of participating in movements? How do movement organizers mobilize through networks? How do the relationships people bring to movements matter, how do they shape emergence and ongoing development of movements, and how do movements transform relationships? Snow, David A., Louis A. Zurcher, and Sheldon Ekland-Olson Social Networks and Social Movements: A Microstructural Approach to Differential Recruitment. American Sociological Review 45: McAdam, Doug and Ronnelle Paulsen "Specifying the Relationship between Social Ties and Activism." American Journal of Sociology 99: Opp, Karl-Dieter and Christiane Gern Dissident Groups, Personal Networks, and Spontaneous Cooperation: The East German Revolution of American Sociological Review 58: Kitts, James A "Mobilizing in Black Boxes: Social Networks and Participation in Social Movement Organizations." Mobilization 5: Viterna, Jocelyn S "Pulled, Pushed, and Persuaded: Explaining Women s Mobilization into the Salvadoran Guerrilla Army." American Journal of Sociology 112:1-45.

7 Nov 5 Organizations, Markets and Social Movements A new strand of research has begun to pursue the relationship between movements and markets, workplaces and consumption drawing on organizational and social movement theory. How well do existing theoretical approaches explain the formation and success of these movements? Soule, Sarah A Contention and Corporate Social Responsibility. New York: Cambridge University Press. King, Brayden G. and Nicholas A. Pearce "The Contentiousness of Markets: Politics, Social Movements, and Institutional Change in Markets." Annual Review of Sociology 36: Nov 12 Strategy and Tactics in Movements What is strategy and how can we study it? Are some leaders, organizations, and movements able to develop better strategy, and, if so, what determines this? Ganz, Marshall Why David Sometimes Wins: Leadership, Organization, and Strategy in the California Farm Worker Movement. NY: Oxford University Press. Taylor, Verta, Katrina Kimport, Nella Van Dyke, and Ellen Ann Andersen "Culture and Mobilization: Tactical Repertoires, Same-Sex Weddings, and the Impact on Gay Activism." American Sociological Review 74: Walker, Edward T., Andrew W. Martin, and John D. McCarthy "Confronting the State, the Corporation, and the Academy: The Influence of Institutional Targets on Social Movement Repertoires." American Journal of Sociology 114: Nov 19 Interactions with States, Countermovements, and Media What are the main forms of social control and repression that movements encounter and have those changed? When does repression work to undermine movements and when does it backfire escalating movements? Why do some social movements become involved protracted struggles with countermovements? How do the mass media and social movements shape one another? McCarthy, John D. and Clark McPhail The Institutionalization of Protest in the United States. Pp in The Social Movement Society: Contentious Politics for a New Century. Ed. by David S. Meyer and Sidney Tarrow. Lanham, MD: Rowman and Littlefield. Almeida, Paul D "Opportunity Organizations and Threat-Induced Contention: Protest Waves in Authoritarian Settings." American Journal of Sociology 109: Davenport, Christian "State Repression and Political Order." Annual Review of Political Science 10:1-23.

8 Meyer, David S. and Suzanne Staggenborg "Movements, Countermovements, and the Structure of Political Opportunity." American Journal of Sociology 101: Gamson, William A. and Gadi Wolfsfeld "Movements and Media as Interacting Systems." Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science 528: Amenta, Edwin, Neal Caren, Sheera Joy Olasky, and James E. Stobaugh "All the Movements Fit to Print: Who, What, When, Where, and Why SMO Families Appeared in the New York Times in the Twentieth Century." American Sociological Review 74: Dec 3 Social and Political Consequences of Movements Can movements succeed? How can we tell whether they have or not? Beyond obtaining success, what enduring consequences do movements have? How do movements matter? Amenta, Edwin, Neal Caren, Elizabeth Chiarello, and Yang Su "The Political Consequences of Social Movements." Annual Review of Sociology 36: Andrews, Kenneth T "Social Movements and Policy Implementation: The Mississippi Civil Rights Movement and the War on Poverty, " American Sociological Review 66: Luders, Joseph E The Civil Rights Movement and the Logic of Social Change. New York: Cambridge University Press. Rochon, Thomas Diffusion of Change in Society from Culture Moves Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.