Social Movements

Question 1

Charles Tilly’s Definition

Answer 1

• Sees SMs as a prime example of Contentious Politics:
  – “social movements involve collective making of claims that, if realized, would conflict with someone else’s interests”
  – Three components evident in this description:
  Collective: Involves many people
  Conflict: social movements are inherently conflictual
  Claims: make demands about how politics/social relations should be
• Social Movements usually have 3 key traits:
  1. Campaign: Sustained and organized
  2. Repertoire: Consist of mass claim-making performances which are non-violent
  3. WUNC Displays: Most successful if they display certain characteristics that help to legitimize, sustain, and control the movement (worthiness, unity, numbers, commitment)

Question 2

Theories of Social Movements

Answer 2

1. Motivational Theories: Focus on motives that push many people to participate, anger, frustration, anomie and view SMs as destabilizing/dangerous.
2. Structural Theories: Focus on how external structures affect social movements.
   a. Resource Mobilization Theory (RMT): External resources are vital.
   b. Political Process Theory (PPT): Environment shapes characteristics of SMs.
3. Social Constructivist Theories: Notes the cognitive processes involved in SMs (framing, identity, emotions).

Question 3

Resource Mobilization Theory (RMT)

Answer 3

• Social movements are planned by rational actors
• Without diverse resources (which are structural/outside individual control), the movement will not succeed
• Contrary to earlier theories which saw SMs as spontaneously erupting due to common grievances
• Types of mobilizational resources include: human, material, moral/cultural, and organizational resources
• SMI and SMO are perfect organizational resources which allow for coordinating collective action

Question 4

Allan Morris and Resource Mobilization

Answer 4

• Founding figure of resource mobilization theory
• Describes how organizations were vital mobilizational resources that made possible the success of the Civil Rights Movement
• Finds that two organizations provided key coordination and planning: Churches and Universities
• Also provided diverse resources:
• 1. Human Resources: both churches and schools had a lot of people who could join the movement. Ministers—talented speakers. Students—leadership and communication skills
• 2. Moral Resources: schools and churches legitimized movement. Ministers and churches are viewed as worthy and trustworthy and doing God’s work. Students and professors aren’t looking out for material well-being, idealistic; pundits
• 3. Cultural Resources: pastors able to intertwine Christianity and movement
     – Use history of slavery to frame movement
• 4. Material Resources: churches and schools provided financial resources; both churches and schools provided safe environments

Question 5

Political Process Theory

Answer 5

• Strongly linked to Charles Tilly
• Accepts RMT but suggests political environment/structure affects whether and how these resources can be used
• Two main focuses:
• 1. Openings
     Democratization offers openings for SMs and legitimize their influence as political action (right to assemble, freedom of speech, rule of law and human rights, public discorse, emphasis on the number of supporters)
• 2. Character
     The characteristic of the political system affects the characteristics of the SM
     More close democracy or more police coercion make for more radical SMs

Question 6

Social Constructivist Theories

Answer 6

• Participation in SMs is shaped by key cognitive processes
• People need to perceive, make sense of, and have feelings towards SMs to participate or support
• Three key mental processes:
• 1. Framing: Process by which SMs communicate their diagnosis and prognosis, skillful framing results in successful SMs. Must popularize frames to gain support and promote change.
     Examples of framing in the environmental movement include: Environmental protection for social justice, future generations, capitalism, or survival. Each frame has different affects on support and goals.
• 2. Identity: People support SMs when they can identify with them. More success when SM presents in ways to increase individual identification.
• 3. Emotions: Skillful SM leaders will frame the movement in emotional way to get people involved.
     An example would be to show a drowning polar bear to elicit emotion and promote support/participation in environmental movement.

Question 7

Difference between Social Constructivist Theories and Structural Theories

Answer 7

• 1. Psychology: SC focuses more on psychological/individual mental processes
• 2. Question: SC asks WHY SMs occur, while structural asks HOW
• 3. Motive: SC focuses on psychological processes affecting the motives while structural assumes the motive to focus on mobilization

Question 8

van Stekelenburg and Klandermans’ “Social movement theory:
Past, present and prospects”

Answer 8

• The text explores the evolution of social movement theory, focusing on why and when people protest.
• Around 1900, street protest was seen as deviant behavior by early sociologists.
• Classic paradigms attributed protest to relative deprivation, shared grievances, and generalized beliefs.
• Dissatisfaction led to the development of new theories like resource mobilization and political process.
• Resource mobilization theory emphasizes organization as a key resource, while political process theory focuses on political aspects.
• Social-constructivistic paradigms emerged, concentrating on individuals’ perceptions and interpretations of socio-political conditions.
• These paradigms involve framing, identity, and emotions as key concepts.
• The chapter also discusses the social-psychology approach to understanding social movements.
• The socio-political context is changing due to globalization and liberalization, influencing the dynamics of social movements.
• Integration of structural and constructivistic paradigms is suggested for comprehensive explanations of social movements.

Question 9

Emotions and Social Movements

Answer 9

• Emotions cause disregard of personal interests, makes people willing to incur costs (Jasper & the collective action problem)
• Successful social movements use emotions to gain support/participation and to sustain the movement
• Example: BLM & Police Brutality invoking anger/compassion

Question 10

James Jasper & The Collective Action Problem

Answer 10

• Emotions affect social movements in important ways, notably with the collective action problem
• Collective Provision of Public Goods: It is irrational to participate in creating public goods
• Dominant view in economics, assumes people act in calculated ways to maximize interests
• Without the state to force participation in social movements, and without individual incentives for participating, why do people participate?
• Emotions motivate us to make sacrifices, incur costs, participate even if not “rational” from individual cost benefit perspective

Question 11

James Jasper & Collective Emotions

Answer 11

• Jasper notes that the emotions which lead to participation in social movements are intertwined with collective identities
  – Love/concern for in-group, anger/fear of out-group
• Emotional identification with the collective promotes participation in social movements in different ways:
• 1. Identity Affirmation: Participation affirms collective identity, makes you feel good about yourself
• 2. Alleviation: Participation helps to alleviate negative collective emotions, cope with them through solidarity with other participants
• Example: Participating in Civil Rights Movement helped people deal with racism

Question 12

Wulff, Bernstein, & Taylor’s “Gender and Sexuality Movements”

Answer 12

• Considers how the study of gender/sexuality movements has improved our understandings of social movements
• North American academia traditionally dominated by structural views, but G/S movements force scholars to consider social-constructivist approach in two ways:
• 1. Identity
     – Identity for Empowerment: Use identity to unify activists and empower category
     – Change Identity: Challenge stigmatization, demand recognition, deconstruct oppressive categories
     – Identity Deployment: Using identity to spark debate, criticize
     
     2. Emotions: emotions are gendered in ways that make them especially evident in gender/sexuality movements
        – Use of emotions to inspire/motivate participants
        – Emotion Management: Managing emotions as not to conform to emotional stereotypes
     3. Defining Social Movements: Originally defined as dealing with political or economic pursuits and bases of power, G/S commonly pursue cultural change and culture as a source of power