week 10 - social movements and revolutions

Question 1

social movements

Answer 1

a large grouping of individuals focused on specific political or social issues.

Question 2

goal of social movement

Answer 2

to carry out, resist, or undo a political or social change.

Question 3

revolutions

Answer 3

• aim to completely change/replace the fundamental structure of the state.
• social movements sometimes spiral into revolutions.

Question 4

goal of revolutions

Answer 4

a wholesale replacement of the regime; upending the status quo.

Question 5

social movements and influence

Answer 5

they do not have direct access to the decision-making arenas in government, they seek influence by drawing public attention through social media.

Question 6

social movements and success

Answer 6

• There is not a strong correlation/relationship between the size of the movement and its success.
• What matters more is the political opportunity structure.

Question 7

political opportunity structure

Answer 7

the extent to which citizens can influence leaders on a certain issue or set of issues.

Question 8

examples and their political opportunity structure

Answer 8

• Iraq War Protest: unsuccessful (poor political opportunity structure).
• Tea Party Movement: successful (high political opportunity structure).
• Extinction Rebellion: ongoing.

Question 9

difference between revolutions and social movements

Answer 9

• social movements: to carry out, resist, or undo a political or social change
• revolutions: upending the status quo.

Question 10

theories of the causes of revolution

Answer 10

• Relative Deprivation Theory
• Resource Mobilization Theory

Question 11

relative deprivation theory

Answer 11

• many people feel deprived relative to others.
• how you compare your situation to others – we consider our wellbeing relative to other people.

Question 12

resource mobilization theory

Answer 12

• people believing there is enough organization and resources to sustain a movement.
• rational choice: people will join if doing so is in their best interest and the revolution is more likely to succeed.

Question 13

how do theories affect revolutions

Answer 13

they affect the extent to which one is willing to join in a revolutionary movement.

However, it is hard to predict revolution/how they might occur.

Question 14

the tipping model of revolution

Answer 14

• gives a general understanding of when revolutions might occur
• it includes assumptions of whether an individual supports/opposes the regime.

Question 15

private preference

Answer 15

• one’s true attitude toward the regime.
• their true preference that they don’t reveal to others.
• people might privately oppose a regime and publicly support a regime.

Question 16

public preference

Answer 16

• the attitude toward the regime that one reveals to the outside world.
• individuals who oppose the regime often falsify their preferences in public

Question 17

revolutionary threshold

Answer 17

the protest size at which an individual is willing to participate

Question 18

low revolutionary thresholds

Answer 18

people who are quite happy to oppose the regime irrespective of whether others do.

Question 19

high revolutionary threshold

Answer 19

people who may be willing to protest only if lots of others join in.

Question 20

very high revolutionary threshold

Answer 20

some people who actually support the regime and would be extremely unwilling to protest.

Question 21

importance of a person’s threshold

Answer 21

• determines and is very important for knowing the likelihood of revolution.
• a slight shift in one person’s threshold generates a revolutionary cascade (more likely for the revolution to occur).

Question 22

implications of revolutionary threshold in relative deprivation theory

Answer 22

we would expect that one’s revolutionary threshold will decrease when one sees a disjunction between expectations and benefits.

Question 23

implications of revolutionary threshold in resource mobilization theory

Answer 23

we expect that one’s revolutionary threshold will decrease when one believes the resources and organization necessary to sustain a revolutionary movement are available.

Question 24

what does preference falsification mean

Answer 24

a society’s distribution of revolutionary thresholds is never known to the individuals in that society.

Question 25

which theory can perfectly predict where revolutions will occur

Answer 25

Neither can perfectly predict where revolutions will occur.

Question 26

violence and revolutions

Answer 26

• often use violence in an effort to overthrow the regime.
• Revolutionaries sometimes use terrorism.

Question 27

why are revolutions hard to predict

Answer 27

preference falsification: our inability to observe private preferences and revolutionary thresholds conceals potential revolutionary cascades