Social Movements Midterm
Terms
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- Basic Social Movement Model
- Social disorganization-->individual frustration-->aggression/extermism
- Mass Society Theory
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Social Breakdown-->individual alienation-->extermism
-lose sight of "proper" actions
-immediate/direct response - Relative Deprivation Theories
- Perception of RD-->Discontent-->Violence
- Criticisms of Traditional Theories
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-Assume uniformity of action in response to stimuli
-most alienated least likely to get involved - Resource Movilization Theory
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Post WWII Social Movements:
Not due to rise in discontent, but rise of available resources - RM Theory: "Structural Facilitators"
- -increasing affluene, pool of student activisits, pro./managerial jobs/instit. funding
- "Free Rider Problem"
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-assumption of RM theory
-Individuals won't act togeter for the common good - Public good
- Any good, such that if one pesron in the group consumes it, it cannot be withheld from others (clean air, equality, education)
- Selective Incentives
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-Individual, non-divisible goods
-can't get unless you join in
-(Sanctions, rewards) - Core Assumptions of RM Theory
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Rationality
Exernal Support
Organization - Professional SMOS
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-Run by professional staff and leaders
-small/nonexistent membership base
-resources from elite groups
-professional entrepreneurs define, create and manipulate grievances
-Ex. Siera Club, NOW, Planned Parenthood - Criticisms of RM Theory
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-over-emphasis on external support
-under-emphasis on power/ablity of mass base
-optimistic view of political organization (Iron Law) - Iron Law of Oligarchy
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Thesis: Natural tendency for organizations to develop oligarchical leadersip and conservative goals
Logic:
1. Distance between staff and members-->leaders can follow own interests
2. Concern with organizational survival leads to conservative goals and tactics - Civil Rights Movement: Political Opportunity Structure
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-decreased power of Southern elites
-relaxatioin of social control in South
-Increased political influence in North
-Cold War Politics
-Communists cite racism in US as fault of Capitalism
-Urbanization: development of key community institutions -
Civil Rights:
Cognitive Liberation -
-Improved political conditions, community institutions
-"The system" loses legitimacy
-assertion of "rights"
-new sense of efficacy -
Civil Rights
Local Movement Centers -
-ministers/churches
-direct action organizations
-grassroots financing
-weekly mass meetings
-nonviolent direct action - The Sit-In Movement
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-1960
-Key to rapid spread: Church-student networds
-student leadership
-concentration of black colleges
-mobilization via churches/local movement centers - Traditionalists V. Black Power
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NAACP&SCLC VS. CORE&SNCC
-as tactics of mvt. groups become more radical, elite organizations (NAACP, etc.) seen as only legitimate organizations-->outside support, funding of these more traditional groups - "Radical Flank" Effect
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Funding channeled towards more moderate oganizations
-resources to less threatening mvt. groups - "Violence Thesis"
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Media exposes police, natl. guard violence towards black protesters-->public willingness to intervene
*Idea that protesters intentionally provoke violence to manipulate this dynamic -
Birmingham Campaign (1963)
Violence Thesis vs. Strategic Disruption -
-Extensive planning: use of economic/consumer power, plan for extended confrontation
-Peaceful boycott-->more disruptive activities (picketing, etc.)
-Media attn. will provoke violence and sympathy
-build "social drama" that can't be ignored by local power structure or media - Role of 3rd Parties in Civil Rights Movement
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1. Media: coverage once mvt. generates social disorder
2. Fed Govt: Intervenes in negotiating process
**Only help movement in response to social disorder caused by movement - Cycles of protest
- Periods of generalized disorder and heightened conflict across the social system
- Components of cycles of protest
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Rapid diffusion of collective action
-participants people who are not usually thought of as likely to protest
-Different sectors of society - Basic Thesis: Cycles of protest
- Political changes position "early risers" to take advantage of new opportunities
- "Demonstration Effect"
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-successful protest signals vulnerability and responsiveness of authorities/allies
-successful protest broadcasts effecive forms of collective action - Cultural Diffusion and adaptation
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-"Early risers" provoke breakdown in political system
-"Early risers" generate cultural or cognitive signals -
1966-1970
Decline of Insurgency -
1. Protest to politics
2. Northern Strategy and Black Power
3. Backlash and Repression - Civil Rights Act of 1964
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-LBJ
-Racial discrimination in public places illegal
-Equal employment opportunities
-No racial discrimination in federally-funded projects
-Uniform standards for voting rights
- Allows for prosecution of specific states that limit voting rights - Voting Rights Act of 1965
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-Fed. Govt. can oversee voter registration and elections
-Fed. govt. can register voters refused by states
-No literacy tests; expanded rights for non-English speaking Americans
*Many feel goals have been met - Black Power/Naitonalism
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-black self sufficiency, separatism
-Mass unrest, riots, guerilla activity
-Violence legitimized as tactic - Black Panther Party (1966)
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Initial goal: Patrol neighborhoods, watch police treatment of blacks
-develop strong black-controlled institutions
-education ctrs, food dist.
-work with white activists - Black Panter Protest that helps gain attention
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Law against carrying weapons in public-->seen as suppression of black power
-Protest-->media coverage - Backlash and Repression
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-Attempts to infiltrate/sabotage riots
-Panthers blamed for riots
-Govt. Repression: raids, murders, arrests -
Political Opportunity Structure:
Black Power -
-Access to participation
-Unstable political/electoral alignments
-Influential allies
-Conflicts among elites - Initiator Movements vs. Other movements
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Initiator: depend on POS
Other Mvts: take advantage of opportunities opened up by initiator movements
*Diffusion - Hegemony
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-Ruling class domination through ideology, through shaping of popular consent
-engineering of mass consent to the established order
-Those who rule dominant institutions secure power through active social control and by impressing their definitions of the situation onto other people - SDS leaders
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-Leaderless
-No media certification of celebrity leader - End of SDS
- -Radical flank
- Protest Cycle Theory--Women's Movement
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Spin off of Civil Rights Movement
-blacks open door for protest
-Wmn view as own civil rts mvt - Women's Mvt: link to history
- Continuation of earlier struggle--suffrage
- National Women's Party
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-Picket outside white house
-parades
-vigils
-hunger strikes - Post-Suffrage ideas of women
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Will vote as coherent bloc--women use as coherent vote
-this doesn't happen - ERA
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-1923
-Equality of rights under law
-women as offering something new v. women being equal to men
-Not ratified - Abeyance Structure
- Organizational pattern characterized by high LONGEVITY of attachment; intense levels of individual COMMITMENT to movement goals and tactics; igh CENTRALIZATION thatn ensures a relatively advanced level of specialized skills among core acivist; and a rich political CULTURE that promotes continued involvement in the movement"
- Goals of Women's Movement
- ERA--lobbying, letter writing
- NWP demographics
- upper middle class white women
- Constraints of women's movement
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Upper middle class white women
Taylor:
Had organization been more diverse, women's mvt. that followed in 1960s would have been more diverse - Effects of careers on women in social movements
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Work outside home-->structurally available for mvt. recruitment
Skills, contacts, etc. to help with organization of movements - Women: Change in Consciousness
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-Rejection of biological explanations for women's roles
-inherent gender equality
-recognition of gender discrimination
*Makes women available for movements: Majority accept idea of women having new societal role - "Cooptable Network"
- Network of like-minded people whose background, experiences, location in social structure make them receptive to new ideas of incipient movement--Freeman
- Women's Movement as "political insider"
- Movement develops outside political system-->organization, etc.-->becomes part of political system
- Feminist action: 1980s
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organizational dissolution
-few struggling local groups, handful natl. orgs.
-no grassroots
-Reagan anti-fem
-New Right
-Feminist action at local level (mvt. not dead) - Collective Identity
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Shared definition of a group that derives from members' common interests, experiences and solidarity
*Wmns Mvt: continued vitality of collective identity; continuity - Older Branch of Feminism
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Liberal Feminism
-reform through political advocacy, interest groups
-Formal SMOS
-Personal liberty, individual rights, equality
-REFORM
-Civil Rights Movement as inspiration
-still considered radical - Younger Branch of Feminism
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-Radical/militant
-Smaller, decentralized organizations
-build fem. comm. at local level
-some separatists