Social movements exam 1

Be able to explain how social movements emerge according to mass society theory.

"Mass society" refers to the absence of an extensive structure of intermediate groups through which people can be integrated into the political and social life of society. Social Isolation --> Alienation and anxiety --> Extreme behavior (i.e., social movement).

Know the four different methods of accessing resources (aggregation, self-production, co-optation/appropriation, and patronage) and be able to give examples of each.

1) Aggregation: Collecting resources held by individuals. E.g., Money, locations/buildings, skill sets - human resources, labor. 2) Self-production: SMOs, leaders, and/or participants create new resources or add value to existing resources; Cultural products such as: Posters, signs, merchandise, production of other media, SMOs themselves. 3) Co-optation/ Appropriation: Co-optation: Transparent, permitted borrowing of resources held by other groups transportation; Appropriation: surreptitious exploitation of such resources Not permitted. 4) Patronage: Bestowal of resources by individual or organization (Endorsements); Can result in patron gaining measure of control over SMO.

What are political opportunities? Be able to give examples.

Any event or broad social process that undermine the political status quo; Openness and ideology of political party; Changes in public policy; International alliances and pressures on state; Activities of countermovement opponents; Fractures among elite groups

Be able to describe and give examples of both direct and indirect challenges to authority in terms of both individual action and collective action.

Direct: straightforward, overt appeals and demands. Indirect: covert or ambiguous, in terms of claims or actors or both. Direct individual action - individual appeals to authority. Direct collective action - targeted protest. Indirect individual action - everyday forms of resistance. Indirect collective action - divesting of authority. We count indirect collective challenges as types of social movement activity.

What is status inconsistency and how was it thought it could lead to the emergence of social movement activity?

Discrepancy between one's various status rankings: E.g. education, income, occupation. Inconsistent levels (e.g. high education, low income) Causes tension: Cognitive dissonance(world isn't acting the way it should). Engage in movement activity to reduce this dissonance. Severe and widespread Status inconsistency ---> Cognitive Dissonance ---> Social Movements.

Be able to give examples of material, human, and moral resources used by the IFW / South Texas farm workers.

Material: utility bills, legal defense fund, warehouses/meeting spaced, food/water/clothing. Human resources: Labor, attorneys, free health care, leadership, priests, nuns. Moral: celebrities like cesar chavez, endorsements, the virgin, the guadalupe, use of red/black.

What does it mean that movements have temporal continuity? What are cycles of protest?

Movements are not one-shot events, Movement activities are repeated over time(episodic). Movements emerge , die, and come back. Example: womens' movement phases.

What were the consequences of interpreting social movement activity using the classical model?

Need not take the political goals of social movements seriously. Treat participants as psychologically deficient, deviants. Classical model is largely rejected. Superseded by structural models: Resource Mobilization & Political Process.

What is cognitive liberation? Be able to explain why it's necessary for movement emergence and give examples.

People will not usually rebel against the status quo, no matter how wretched they are, unless they feel that it is unjust or illegitimate and that they have the capacity to change it for the better. Together, these feelings of injustice and efficacy constitute what McAdam called cognitive liberation. Political opportunities and organization aren't good enough for a movement to emerge and be successful. Idigenous organizations are key to spreading these ideas. Movement emergence needs a "transformation of consciousness"

Know the five different types of resources (material, human, social-organizational, cultural, and moral) and be able to give examples of each.

1) Material resources: The category of material resources combines what economists would call financial and physical capital. Eg. Money, office space, property, equipment, supplies, etc. 2) Human resources: Labor, experience, skills and expertise ("Human Capital"); Leadership; Lawyers expertise. 3) Social-Organizational Resources: Infrastructure, Social networks, Organizations (intentional and appropriable). 4) Cultural Resources: Specialized knowledge; Includes movement or issue relevant productions like music, literature, magazines, newspapers, and films/videos; Help movements maintain their readiness and capacity for collective action. 5) Moral Resources: Legitimacy, sympathetic support, moral authority, celebrity; Generally bestowed by an outside power(but not always).

Know the four elements in indigenous organizational strength and be able to give examples.

1) Members: Recruited along established lines of interaction; e.g., members people 2) Solidary incentives: Rewards that provide motivation for participation; e.g, emotional fulfillment, access to resources. 3) Communication network: Determines the pattern, speed, and extent of movement expansion; e.g, social media. 4)Leaders: Need centralized direction and coordination; Established organizations can provide recognized leaders

Be able to explain the five fundamental arguments of the resource mobilization tradition.

1) Movement actions are rational. 2) Goals are defined by institutionalized power relations. 3) Grievances are essentially ubiquitous. 4) SMO's tend to be centralized and formally structured. 5) Success of movements is determined by strategic factors.

What are the three main factors in McAdam's political process theory?

1) Structure of Political Opportunities: Opportunities for collective action vary over time 2) Indigenous Organizational Strength: Need organization to exploit political opportunities 3) Cognitive Liberation

Know how anti-nuclear activist organizations responded to political opportunity structures in the United States, France, Sweden, and West Germany. Be able to describe the openness of the political system in each country and how it affected the tactics of the movement organizations in each country.

1) US: Open polity & Weak political output Assimilative movement strategies dominant - Working within established institutions. 2)France: Closed polity & Strong political output Confrontational movement strategies dominant - Disruptive tactics(protests, etc)

What are the two kinds of social organizations? Be able to describe them and how they relate to the acquisition of resources by movement organizations.

1. Intentional social organization and 2. Appropriable social organization.

Be able to describe the four major weaknesses of the classical model

1. Movements as a response to strain. In short, the insistence that strain is the root cause of social movements has resulted in an overly mechanistic model that conceives of social movements as the result of a fixed and linear process rather than as the interplay of both "cost push" and "demand pull" factors. 2. Individual discontent as cause: Asserts that social movements participants somehow abnormal; Assumes collective behavior just emerges out of individual attitudes. 3. Causal linkages between strain and discontent. 4. Movements are seen as psychological, not political phenomena.

What constitutes a system of authority? Be able to give examples.

1. Recognized seat of decisions and regulations that affect people's lives. (Universities, WTO, World Bank, Bible, Governments) 2. Based on underlying sets of values and beliefs that justify the authority.(Provides a vocabulary to justify or challenge that authority).

Be able to explain the three traits of the classical model.

1. Social movements are a response to strain; Creates tension, and when they become severe enough, becomes a social movement. 2. More concerned with psychological effects on individuals 3. Motivation of social movements is not to obtain political goals; Social movements exist to relieve psychological tensions.

What is a social movement organization? What is the relationship between movements and SMOs? Be able to give examples of SMOs.

A smo is an organization that works towards the goals of a social movement. A movement is more than just an organization -they usually consist of many. Examples: Student nonviolent coordinating committee(SNCC), the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE), the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), Southern Christian Leadership Conference(SCLC).

What is the centralized bureaucratic model of social movement organization? Be able to describe both the positives and negatives of these types of organizations.

Arguments for the centralized model: Need bureaucratic organization to challenge other modern, large scale organizations; Large scale, special purpose organizations allow for long range, proactive actions; Most efficient means to gather and direct resources; Facilitated by modern social structures: Liberal democracy well-suited to large-scale organizations; Urbanization and mass media has reduced costs of large scale mobilization. Arguments against the centralized model: SMOs moderate movement goals and tactics; Large SMOs often founded with help from patrons and foundations; Can divert efforts from movement goals to organization maintenance; Professionalization of leadership can push out those the movement is purportedly working to help.

What is the decentralized informal model of social movement organization? Be able to describe both the positives and negatives of these types of organizations.

Arguments for the decentralized model: Allows for specialization among different groups; Facilitates "grass roots" mobilization; Reduce friction through relative group autonomy. Arguments against the decentralized model: Resources are distributed among multiple groups.

What is the pluralist model of politics? Know the key features and assumptions.

Assumption underlying early approaches to social movement. Political power is distributed among many different groups. No one group is all-powerful. Groups are attentive to the interests of other groups. Have to work together to succeed. Coercive power is political suicide. Therefore, everyone works together peacefully. No rational reason to protest under this model.

What constitutes collective action?

Collective action encompasses any goal-directed activity jointly pursued by two or more actors. Multiple levels: Individuals coordinating with each other; Collective organizations; Multiple organizations acting together.

What was the fundamental assumption involved in the classical model of social movements?

Fundamental assumption: Social order and integration is the norm. When society is well integrated and operating smoothly, there won't be any collective action. Social movement activity viewed as spontaneous, highly emotional, contagious. Structural strain ---> Disruptive Psychological State ---> Social movement.

Know the three forms of social-organizational resources and be able to give examples.

Infrastructure, Social Networks, & Organizations.

What is extra-institutional action? How is it distinguished from institutional action? Be able to identify and give examples of both.

Interest groups are embedded within the political system; Social movements, in contrast, are positioned outside the authority structure. Extra-institutional action is acting outside officially sanctioned channels: E.g. protests, sit-ins, boycotts, encampments. Distinct from institutional action: E.g. voting, lobbying, political contributions, lawsuits, etc.

Be able to describe how both the linear model and curvilinear model explain when movements will emerge.

Linear model: As political openness rises, provides opportunity for collective action. Curvilinear model of political opportunity: Mobilization occurs when government is open, but not TOO open

Know McAdam's model of movement emergence and the relationships between the various factors involved.

Starts with broad socioeconomic processes(things happening in society)-> Provide political opportunities; Can affect indigenous organizational strength -> Both lead to cognitive liberation (cognitive opportunities provide cognitive cues). All three are necessary for the emergence of social movements

Be able to explain the elements of the classical (strain) model and how they are related (structural strain, disruptive psychological state, and social movement activity).

The concept of strain becomes a psychological mechanism invoked to explain people's propensity to engage in collective behavior. Starts with a structural strain(something in society causes a strain) -> Creates a disruptive psychological state(people feel angry - alienated) -> Leads to Social Movement Activity.

What does it mean that activists' prospects for success are context-dependent?

What around you in the world effects you; Context around you. Movements are dependent on political process.

What is meant by relative deprivation? How was it thought it could lead to the emergence of social movement activity?

When you feel you should be better off than you are: relative deprivation. Causes psychological strain, triggers collective behavior.

What defines a social movement? Be able to explain the five key elements.(Challenging of existing systems of authority, collective action, acting outside existing institutional channels, organized, and temporal continuity)

a social movement is a collective, organized, sustained, and noninstitutional challenge to authorities, powerholders, or cultural beliefs and practices. 1) Challenging of existing systems of authority. 2) Collective action: any goal-directed activity jointly pursued by two or more actors. 3) Acting outside existing institutional channels: Extra-institutional vs institutional 4) Organized: Movements can be organized formally or informally 5) Temporal continuity: Movements are not one-shot events, they wax and wane.