Lecture 11 - Politics and Social Movements

Question 1

How do Sociologists view Politics?

Answer 1

Includes (1) the formal political process, and (2) a broader set of power relations that includes how people negotiate their lives with family, social groups, and institutions (“the personal is political”)

Question 2

What are Social Movements?

Answer 2

Social movements are attempts to modify/overthrow existing power relations, often by working outside the formal political process

Question 3

What happened in the protests in Seattle?

Answer 3

Protests were able to physically stop and disrupt the meeting of the WTO

Question 4

Protests frequently _____________________ and sometimes_______________________

Answer 4

Challenge laws and intentionally violate them

Question 5

What was the justification for police activity in Toronto G20 protests?

Answer 5

Vandalism on public property, riots, peaceful protest turned into riot and police couldn’t distinguish who were rioters and who were peaceful protesters

Question 6

What is a Protest?

Answer 6

An organized public demonstration expressing strong objection to an official policy or course of action

Question 7

What is a Riot?

Answer 7

A violent disturbance of the peace by a crowd

Question 8

Why does public disorder emerge, according to the Le Bon Tradition?

Answer 8

Public Disorder is a by-product of the highly contagious state of “mindlessness” supposedly resulting from immersion in a crowd (mob mentality)

Question 9

What is Weber’s definition of Power?

Answer 9

Power is the ability to realize one’s will, despite the resistance of others

Question 10

Politics is …

Answer 10

Power

Question 11

The State exerts a considerable amount of power because:

Answer 11

It sets the rules, and has right to tax, imprison, kill

Question 12

The Rise of the modern state related to the:

Answer 12

Industrial Revolution

Question 13

What are Bureaucracies?

Answer 13

Organizational form that developed alongside the state that have formal roles and statuses, and often multiple goals

Question 14

What are 2 of the 7 essential features of bureaucracies?

Answer 14

3. ) Formal System of Rules

5. ) Separation of the person from the office

Question 15

Who are the Bourgeoisie?

Answer 15

Own the means of production (middle class)

Question 16

Who are the Proletariat?

Answer 16

Have only labour to exchange in the marketplace (working class)

Question 17

What is Marx’s Historical Materialism?

Answer 17

Those who controlled material resources (money, property, land, goods) can realize their will over others, exercise and challenge power

Question 18

What was Marx’s view on Material Processes?

Answer 18

The Power of individuals depends on their class position and relationship to the means of production

Question 19

What was Weber’s view on Material Processes?

Answer 19

Industrial societies were stratified, but power flows from Class, status, and party (not just class like Marx)

Question 20

What was Mills’ view on Material Processes?

Answer 20

Power could be held and controlled because of interlocking hierarchies of the economy, army, and stat

Question 21

What is Hegemony (domination)?

Answer 21

Working-class do not revolt under difficult circumstances because elites manufacture consent. Political and cultural forces (state, schools, religious organizations, and media) help generate hegemonic ideals

Question 22

Why do Social Movements need the Media?

Answer 22

1. ) Mobilization
2. ) Validation
3. ) Scope Enlargement

Question 23

What does media have control over when covering social movements?

Answer 23

1. ) Framing
2. ) Selection Bias
3. ) Description Bias

Question 24

How do Institutional Processes shape political outcomes?

Answer 24

1. ) Patterns of Behaviour that order people’s lives in predictable ways
2. ) Path Dependence

Question 25

What is Globalization?

Answer 25

A social process in which traditional constraints posed by geography, economic activity, culture, and social configurations have diminished and been replaced by international processes

Question 26

What is Transnationalism?

Answer 26

We may see more interaction across borders, but these changes aren’t global (a more limited claim than globalization)

Question 27

What is Framing Theory?

Answer 27

Need for “collective action frames” to identify grievances, promote a cause, shape a common identity

Question 28

What are the three core framing tasks?

Answer 28

1. ) Diagnostic frames define social problems, injustes
2. ) Prognostic frames articulate solutions and strategies for positive social change
3. ) Motivational frames compel people to join the social movement

Question 29

What is Framing Alignment?

Answer 29

People can be mobilized when the frames of participants are made congruent, complimentary - when frames resonate

Question 30

What is the Political Process Approach?

Answer 30

Politics can be characterized by:

1. ) Opportunities - social event or process that shows the need for mobilization and change
2. ) Constraints - anything that may act as a barrier to the mobilization and survival of a social movement

Question 31

What is Hactivism?

Answer 31

Subversive use of computers and networks for political ends

Question 32

What is Slacktivism?

Answer 32

Minimal symbolic efforts (“likes”) for political ends

Question 33

What is Digital Activism?

Answer 33

Mobilization where protest platform is online and relies on visual components

Question 34

What was the problem with Idle No More Protests?

Answer 34

There was no specific goal that they wanted. They were powerful, but there wasn’t any specific leader leading the protest to a particular goal

Question 35

Why do some movements succeed and others fail?

Answer 35

Unity and Diversity have trade-offs

Question 36

What is the main point about early forms of collective action?

Answer 36

Often poorly organized and sporadic, tied to local affairs and grievances with local elites

Question 37

What is the main point about the future of social movements?

Answer 37

Politics and social movements are often transnational