week 10 - social movements and revolutions Flashcards
social movements
a large grouping of individuals focused on specific political or social issues.
goal of social movement
to carry out, resist, or undo a political or social change.
revolutions
- aim to completely change/replace the fundamental structure of the state.
- social movements sometimes spiral into revolutions.
goal of revolutions
a wholesale replacement of the regime; upending the status quo.
social movements and influence
they do not have direct access to the decision-making arenas in government, they seek influence by drawing public attention through social media.
social movements and success
- There is not a strong correlation/relationship between the size of the movement and its success.
- What matters more is the political opportunity structure.
political opportunity structure
the extent to which citizens can influence leaders on a certain issue or set of issues.
examples and their political opportunity structure
- Iraq War Protest: unsuccessful (poor political opportunity structure).
- Tea Party Movement: successful (high political opportunity structure).
- Extinction Rebellion: ongoing.
difference between revolutions and social movements
- social movements: to carry out, resist, or undo a political or social change
- revolutions: upending the status quo.
theories of the causes of revolution
- Relative Deprivation Theory
- Resource Mobilization Theory
relative deprivation theory
- many people feel deprived relative to others.
- how you compare your situation to others – we consider our wellbeing relative to other people.
resource mobilization theory
- 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.
how do theories affect revolutions
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.
the tipping model of revolution
- gives a general understanding of when revolutions might occur
- it includes assumptions of whether an individual supports/opposes the regime.
private preference
- 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.
public preference
- the attitude toward the regime that one reveals to the outside world.
- individuals who oppose the regime often falsify their preferences in public
revolutionary threshold
the protest size at which an individual is willing to participate
low revolutionary thresholds
people who are quite happy to oppose the regime irrespective of whether others do.
high revolutionary threshold
people who may be willing to protest only if lots of others join in.
very high revolutionary threshold
some people who actually support the regime and would be extremely unwilling to protest.
importance of a person’s threshold
- 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).
implications of revolutionary threshold in relative deprivation theory
we would expect that one’s revolutionary threshold will decrease when one sees a disjunction between expectations and benefits.
implications of revolutionary threshold in resource mobilization theory
we expect that one’s revolutionary threshold will decrease when one believes the resources and organization necessary to sustain a revolutionary movement are available.
what does preference falsification mean
a society’s distribution of revolutionary thresholds is never known to the individuals in that society.
