Social Movements

Basic Concepts
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Book report assignment (distributed, explained)
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Username: SMStudent
Password: SocMove
These are CASE Sensitive!!
Correct exam dates: March 10, April 28
Choosing Sides, Choosing Theory
There is a broad tendency to use different theories for
movements we agree with and those we disagree with
Our own movements
Respond to core principles of justice, morality and
characterized by clear thinking.
Principal focus on identifying the most effective forms of
action
Opponents
Irrational, deluded even motivated by evil
OR cynical, hiding their true motives
Principal focus on explaining how people could think such
things, or on exposing the true sources of the movement
Theories are rooted in cases and standpoints
If you understand what movements are the touch-points
for a line of theory, and how the theorists stood with
respect to them, you will understand the core of the
theory
Our goal is to treat movements as even-handedly as
possible in our theory, use the same theories for all
movements, or be able to explain theoretically why
they differ
This does NOT mean we give up our capacity to form
political or moral judgments about right and wrong
Older theories
1. Fearful. French revolution, turmoil, Fascism,
Stalinism, lynching. How could people support
such terrible things?
Group mind, Authoritarianism, Ideological delusion
Collective behavior theory focused on disruption of
society
2. Celebratory. Marxian/Socialist supporters of
working class movements. Black Civil Rights
Movement and anti-war movements of the 1960s
Goals seem unproblematic, reasonable
Political sociology tradition fed into resource mobilization:
how can people win?
Basic Definitions (courtesy Goodwin/Jasper)
Protest = the act of challenging, resisting, or making
demands upon authorities, powerholders, and/or
cultural beliefs and practices by some individual or
group
Social movement = a collective, organized, sustained
and noninstitutional challenge to authorities,
powerholders, or cultural beliefs and practices.
Revolutionary movement = a social movement that
seeks, at a minimum, to overthrow the government or
state
Protest
the act of challenging, resisting, or making
demands
upon
authorities, power-holders,
and/or cultural beliefs and practices
by some individual or group

Discuss examples? Borderline cases? We dont
study ONLY protest.
Social Movement is a
challenge to
authorities, power-holders, OR
cultural beliefs and practices
(NOTE: others would say actions to promote or resist social
change)
that is
collective (multiple people)
organized (coordinated, at least to some degree)
sustained (lasts a while, not just one outburst) and
non-institutional (the most problematic part of a standard
definition outside the normal structures or routines of
society. More about this shortly.)
Different ways of defining movements
As groups of people (the most natural idea): BUT a
movement can continue as the people in it come and
go
As a (single) challenge that lasts a long time but
misses the complexity of movements
As preferences for change (i.e. as sets of ideas)
(McCarthy & Zald 1977 commonly cited) BUT
although the preferences bound a movement, they are
not the thing itself
As sets of actions with common orientations toward
social change preferences
Another, related way of defining terms
Collective action (esp. protests): people act together in
some concerted fashion.
Collective campaign: series of collective actions
oriented toward the same general social change goal
bounded by space, time, and/or participants
Social movement: a complex set of collective
campaigns and other collective events broadly oriented
to the same general goal
Emphasis on complexity, diffuse boundaries
Competing definitions, orientations within the movement
About the goals of social movements
Can be extremely vague and ill-defined, especially for
relatively unorganized turmoil expressing discontent
without clear proposals: make things better for farmers
[or peasants, or poor urbanites]."
Organizations are more likely to articulate clear goals or
proposals.
Different factions of the same movement may disagree
about specific goals. I.e. different branches of womens
movement, Black movement, workers movements, gay
movement.
A complex movement generally encompasses may
specific and even competing goals within a broader
more diffuse social change orientation
Organizations
Social movement organization (SMO): an
organization (with boundaries, members, a structure)
explicitly oriented toward movement goals. National
Organization for Women. NAACP. Greenpeace.
Other organizations (sometimes called preexisting
organizations) may be part of movements, but their
purpose is not the movement. I.e. churches, unions,
fraternal organizations, government agencies.
All the organizations in a social movement taken
together may be called a social movement sector (but
the term is NOT popular)
BUT . . .
Movements are more than organizations
Individual Actions
Organizational Actions
Collective Actions not by
Organizations
Actions
oriented
toward
goal
Preferences for social change
Organizations in movements
Coherent decision-making groups set goals,
plan strategies, accumulate resources
Often seek directly to influence those who have
power
Often plan events designed to draw in other
people OR to influence other peoples opinions
May take many forms: moderate law-abiding,
small informal or small clandestine, large
bureaucratic, radical or disruptive, religious or
secular
Other kinds of collective actions
Demonstrations, mass protests. Typically planned by
an organization or coalition of organizations, but may
draw in many other people. May also occur more
spontaneously after a major precipitating event, or at a
gathering formed for another purpose.
Riots, short-term insurrections. Typically not planned
(although some may be incited). Generally build upon
prior sentiments, organized on the spot.
Consciousness. Collective shifts in how people talk
about issues, what kinds of actions they reward/punish
in others. Ideology, awareness, standing up.
Individual actions are also parts of movements
Individual thoughts, ideas
Isolated contributions, usually financial
Votes, public opinion, green consumerism
Some individuals take extensive actions to
promote their movements: one-person
campaigns
Individual acts of interpersonal resistance and
solidarity. Challenge hierarchies and form
solidarities in interpersonal relations.
Individuals and movements: Beliefs
Adherents support the goals of the movement.
Beneficiaries stand to benefit personally from the
movement.
Constituents are adherents who identify with the
movement. If you support the goals but hate the
movement, you are an adherent who is not a
constituent.
Conscience constituents are people who support a
movement even though it won't benefit them (e.g.
white supporters of black movement, wealthy
supporters of working class movement).
Individuals and movements: actions
Participants engage in movement activities
Contributors give money to movement organizations.
Members are be members of particular organizations
(see below)
NOTE: a "movement" as a whole is not a single entity
with a membership list, but it is common for the term
"movement member" to be used casually by non-
specialists to refer to participants, contributors,
constituents, or sometimes even adherents.
We try to be clear about which we mean
Social movements overlap with other
elements of society
We dont worry about drawing
boundaries, but about understanding
the phenomenon
Some typologies of movements
Aberles types
Total Change Partial Change
Individual
Change
Redemptive
(religious sects)
Alterative
(personal
improvement)
Social Change Transformative
(revolutionary,
millennial)
Reformative
(specific issues)
Turner & Killians Movement Orientations
1. Value: the specific things the group wants to
change
2. Power: the desire to acquire power
3. Participation as an end in itself: self-
expression, doing the right thing, belonging

All movements have elements of all three, but
vary in the mix.
Types of movement issues: many dimensions
Universal issues: everyone benefits (in
principle): peace, environment
Responses to economic crises, threats to
subsistence, livelihood
Inequality issues
Specific issue, moral reform movements
On behalf of yourself
On behalf of others, victims
Think in terms of the social structure of the
issue
Universal issues
Examples: peace, environment
Despite universal claims, always contentious
Peace: avoid war vs. use force to get rid of a
perceived problem
Environment: all are harmed if the planet is
destroyed, but the harms and the costs of
protection are distributed unevenly
The groups supporting these issues tend to be
tied to lifestyle, political, or religious
subcultures, but not to deep social divisions
Inequality issues
Oppressed people who form separate economically &
politically weak communities (many ethnic/racial
minorities). Few ties to dominant groups.
Class movements
Reactive responses to subsistence threats
Longer-term solidaristic institutionalized movements
seeking state power
These may be tied to deep social divisions
People who experience discrimination (e.g. women,
gays, disabled, religious minorities)
Typically integrated with other groups
Vary in class position and level of economic deprivation
Group members may disagree about whether oppressed
Specific reform issues
The issue itself is not necessarily a matter of peoples
whole lives
People choose whether to be involved with the issue,
although tied to life circumstances
Victimization of self or family member
Professional involvement
These issues may spin off from other strong
ideological communities, e.g. religious conservatism
or feminism
Or they may be relatively isolated issues not closely
tied to other movements
These branch down into quite specific local campaigns
Interrelations (more later)
Movement issues tend to come in sets, people who
support one issue tend to support others that are seen
as related
Common ideologies such as class conscious social
justice or conservative Christian morality create a
general view, people may move between issues
Other linkages more accidental, who happens to be
allied: the linkages become stronger due to alliance &
conflict structures & patterns, or may shift around over
time.
Movement forms: an empirical inventory 1
Reform campaigns carried by formal organizations
that raise money, lobby legislators, organize
volunteers. Shade into interest groups, charitable
groups. Link to larger pools of public opinion.
Larger movements (e.g. women, Blacks, labor) with
many organizations, strong base, have won presence in
the polity
Nationalist movements: broad upswelling of oppressed
populations, revolutionary if not repressed
Sporadic or unorganized uprisings or resistance by
oppressed people
Movement forms: an empirical inventory 2
Movement sects. Small isolated organizations with
sweeping social change goals but no mass base.
Top-down mass mobilizations. Elites organize
movements for their own ends; may lose control of
them.
Ideological movements whose main goals are creating
& communicating new ideas.
Cultural movements whose main goal is creating new
ways of living or being
Religious movements are ideological & cultural but
seem to have special features

Borderline cases
Special interest groups that lobby but lack mass
actions
Limited mobilizations around highly specific issues
(citizens for a stop sign at the corner)
Self-help movements (depends on definition,
theoretical orientation)
Movements within organizations (e.g. movements
within churches, within businesses)
Small political parties (often movement consciousness,
not really contending for state power)
Institutionalized former movements, e.g. labor
unions, government agencies
The basic questions about movements
Why are there social movements?
How are there social movements?
Why movements? Depends on the question
Why do people need movements? Issues of
disadvantage, power differentials
Why do people think they need movements? Issues of
interests, grievance formation, ideologies.
Why are people able to form movements? Issues of
resources, capacities, opportunities.
Why do movements succeed? Issues of opportunity,
strategy.
Why do movements rise and fall? Issues of
coevolution, dynamics.
We will be discussing all these different issues!
Political Process
The broad orientation of this class is the
political process synthesis with a
coevolutionary twist
A way of integrating different factors into a
common model
Considers structural conditions, the
organization and capacities of a group, the
processes of ideology and social construction,
and strategic and tactical interactions.
Coevolutionary Theory
Builds on political process
Stresses that movements change/evolve not only from
their own internal logic but in interaction with other
actors
Stresses that regimes, opponents, media, etc. ALSO
change/evolve in interaction with movements
Historical trajectories are the consequences not only of
the movements choices but of what others do.
No actor can control outcomes, because the outcomes
are ALSO a product of others actions and choices
AND ALSO sheer luck & external circumstances like
the weather
Linking Structure & Agency in Coevolution
We need to think probabilistically: a particular set of
conditions puts constraints and limits on action but
does not pre-determine it
Some sets of conditions are highly constraining, you
almost always get the same outcomes
Other sets of conditions are less constraining, permit a
wide variety of outcomes depending on luck or
strategy/skill
Even when conditions are highly constraining,
sometimes the low-probability events can happen
Future events are constrained/affected by what actually
happened, an unusual event can start a new path