Social Movements

The role of networks & individuals. List 3 factors.

A large number of people get involved in collective action via personal/familial relationships or by viewing the media (facebook, twitter, etc.) Factors: -number of organizations/people involved -amount of experience -links to other people

Social Movement

Type of large, sometimes informal groupings of individuals or organization which focus on specific political or social issues. They carry out or undo a social change. Tends to be successful in open, democratic societies in which social mobility & social change are accepted concepts

What is Frame Analysis?

Coined by Goffman; he believed that people interpret what is going on around their world through their primary framework. EXAMPLE: When you see issues, consequence of globalization for example (people laid off) it might not make sense at first but once you have predisposition ideas, you begin to understand. For examples, if a large number of people are laid off, it might be because the factory they worked at relocated EXAMPLE: Gezi Protest: w/ your own predispositions you are able to make sense of why it's happening Gezi Protest: began w/ environmentalists opposing the replacement of Gezi park with a shopping mall. Turned into riots when the group occupying the park were attacked with tear gas & water cannons. Also issues w/ freedom of press, expression, assembly, secularism.

Why did the study of social movement emerge? What happening at the time?

Industrial revolution: -Pros: people got good jobs high employment, created middle class; things processed easily & faster -Cons: environmental pollution, low wages, unsafe working conditions *The process of industrialization, gathered large masses of workers in the same region explains why many of those early social movements addressed matters such as economic wellbeing, important to the worker class. Urbanization: led to larger masses of people settling in cities & finding others with similar goals. Henry Ford improved mass production method & developed the assembly line, in which workers worked on a production line, performing specialized tasks repetitively.

RMT (Resource Mobilization Theory) 1970s

Stressed a movement's ability to 1) acquire sources and to 2) mobilize people towards accomplishing the movement's goals. *Resources include, knowledge, money, media, labor, legitimacy, loyalty, networks, & solidarity. Members are recruited through networks; commitment is maintained by creating a collective identity *Comes from Rational Choice Theory (Adam Smith): human beings are selfish, possessive, rational & use resources accordingly for their own interest.

When did social movements emerge? Why did they succeed in the 60s?

The 1960s were a period of transformation in collective action. They succeeded b/c large numbers of people were forming collective action & creates social unrest. EXAMPLES: Public interest movements: environmental movement, anti-nuclear movement, consumer-safety movement, Civil Rights Movement, farm worker movement. Post World War II: women's rights, gay rights, peace, civil rights, anti-nuclear and environmental movements emerged, often dubbed the New Social Movements

What makes any protest, collective action a social movement? Why wasn't the feminist movement a social movement?

The group actions of social movements are not necessarily of primary benefit to individual members, but instead serve the groups' larger goals. *Protests include marches, sit-ins, petitions, demonstrations, suffragette *Social Movements have some repetitive patterns and agenda with clear goals Feminist wasn't a class struggle & the groups goal wasn't to protest against the bourgeoisie class, who ensured their economic supremacy in society. For marxist theory, a social movement is successful only if they're changing property relations.

Marxist Theory

Argues that at all times, societies are divided up between people who own "means of production" and those who do not. Opposite of capitalism. Assumes that all people rich/poor want to work & will work to get what they need. The means of production are not owned by the wealthy but by the producers themselves. It has a pro-human base in that it assumes human nature is to be honest at all times. So by equalizing every person, no individual will possess power that is said to corrupt. For marxist theory, a social movement is successful only if they're changing property relations. Emphasizes social revolution.

NSMT (New Social Movement Theory) 1960s-Post Industrial

Attempts to explain the plethora of new movements that have come up in various western societies since the mid 1960s-Post industrial era Focus not on issues of materialistic qualities (economic welfare, labor movement) but instead focus on issues related to human rights (gay rights, etc.) Emphasizes social changes in identity, lifestyle, culture & VIEWS social aspect more important than economic or political aspects. Takes queue from marxism but differs. It focuses on what social movements are capable of accomplishing & not what they're lacking. EXAMPLE: Problem w/ free-riders; people who aren't actively participating but enjoy the benefits such in environment movements, in which they enjoy cleaner water or air, etc. Participants are against self-interest & aren't looking out for themselves. People who rode buses in civil rights (Freedom Riders who rode buses throughout South to challenge segregation on buses, etc.)

3 waves of feminism?

First wave: 19th-early 20th century: Women's suffrage movement (women's right to vote) Second wave: 1960s-1970s: Personal is political: women's liberation- campaigns for legal & social rights for women Third wave: 1990s-present: reaction to failures of 2nd wave feminism (2 much focus on upper class white women); need to be more inclusive of other women