Introduction to Social Movements

Fall, 2008
James M. Jasper

Mondays, 4.15-6.15, Room ?

This course reviews the history and current directions of research and theory about social
movements. Its premise is that the cognitive-cultural turn in social science has given us
new tools for thinking about political action that were not available to the crowd and
collective behavior traditions that flourished until the 1960s or to the structural paradigms
that vanquished them in the 1970s. I hope to show the pitfalls of research guided by
grand metaphors, theories of history, or normative agendas, compared to research guided
by modest micro-level mechanisms.

There are no formal prerequisites for this course, but some background in contemporary
social theory would be an advantage. Please read Archers Culture and Agency before the
semester begins.

Although students may negotiate written work that is more appropriate to their
circumstances, the normal assignment is for each student to choose a micro-level causal
mechanism, preferably an emotion or strategic dilemma, as the subject of a ten to twenty
page review of the literature on this topic.

Readings marked with an * can be found in Jeff Goodwin and James Jasper, Social
Movements: Critical Concepts in Sociology, 4 volumes. These and other books should be
on reserve.

Week 1: What are social movements? What was the cultural turn in social science?
September 8th
Readings: Margaret Archer, Culture and Agency;
Jasper, Culture, Knowledge, and Politics, in Thomas Janoski et al.,
Handbook of Political Sociology.

Part I: Before-and-After Comparisons

Week 2: Crowds and Collective Behavior. September 15th

Readings: *Gustave Le Bon, The Mind of Crowds, selection from The Crowd;
*Herbert Blumer, The Field of Collective Behavior;
Randall Collins, Social Movements and the Focus of Emotional
Attention, in Passionate Politics.

Week 3: Relative Deprivation and other Grievances. September 22nd

Readings: *James Davies, Toward a Theory of Revolution;
*David Snyder and Charles Tilly, Hardship and Collective Violence in
France;
 Peter Grant and Rupert Brown, From Ethnocentrism to Collective Protest:
Responses to Relative Deprivation and Threats to Social Identity, Social
Psychology Quarterly 58:195-211 (1995).

Week 4: Mass Society and Social Networks. October 6th

Readings: Alexis de Tocqueville, Arendt,
*William Kornhauser, selection from The Politics of Mass Society;
Robert Putnam, Bowling Alone, chs. 1, 6, 8;
*David Snow et al., Social Networks and Social Movements.

Week 5: Personal and Collective Identities. October 14th (Tuesday)

Readings: *Neil Smelser, Social and Psychological Dimensions of Collective
Behavior;
Orrin Klapp Search for Collective Identity, selection;
*Joshua Gamson, Must Identity Movements Self-Destruct?

Week 6: True Believers. October 20th

Readings: Eric Hoffer, The True Believer, selections;
Janja Lalich, Bounded Choice, selections.

Week 7: How people think. October 27th

Readings: Neil Smelser, selection from Theory of Collective Behavior;
Francesca Polletta, Strategy as Metonymy, in It Was Like a Fever;
reread Jasper, Culture, Knowledge, Politics.

Part II: The Economic and Structural Paradigms

Week 8: The Political Process Approach. November 3rd

Readings: Tilly, Does Modernization Breed Revolution? Comparative Politics 5
(1973):425-447;
*J. Craig Jenkins and Charles Perrow, Insurgency of the Powerless;
*Herbert Kitschelt, Political Opportunity Structures and Political
Protest.

Week 9: The Resource Mobilization Approach. November 10th

Readings: *John McCarthy and Mayer Zald, Resource Mobilization and Social
Movements: A Partial Theory;
Aldon Morris, The Origins of the Civil Rights Movement, selections.

Week 10: Culture and Structure. November 17th

Readings: *Alain Touraine, An Introduction to the Study of Social Movements.
*Alberto Melucci, The New Social Movements.

Week 11: Learning from Economics. November 24th

Readings: Mark Lichbach, The Rebels Dilemma, selections.
Part III: Combining Agency and Culture

Week 12: Agency. December 1st

Readings: Mustafa Emirbayer and Ann Mische, What Is Agency? American
Journal of Sociology 103 (1998):962-1023;
Douglas Bevington and Chris Dixon, Movement-Relevant Theory,
Social Movement Studies 4 (2005):185-208.
reread Archer, Culture and Agency.

Week 13: Emotions. December 8th

Readings: Jeff Goodwin et al., Passionate Politics, introduction, conclusion, Parts 3
and 4.

Week 14: Strategy. December 15th

Readings: Marshall Ganz, Resources and Resourcefulness, American Journal of
Sociology ;
*Jasper, A Strategic Approach to Collective Action.

Class Syllabus

Part I. The Sociology of Social Movements: From Pathology to Strategy

Week One. Introduction.

Week Two. Dominant perspectives: Strategy and Organization.

John McCarthy and Mayer N. Zald, "Resource Mobilization and Social Movements: A
Partial theory." American Journal of Sociology 82 (1977): 1212-1241. (Online).
Steven Barkan, "Strategic, Tactical, and Organizational Dilemmas of the Protest
Movement against Nuclear Power," Social Problems 27 (1979): 19-37. (Packet).
Gary Downey, "Ideology and the Clamshell Identity: Organizational Dilemmas in the
Anti-Nuclear Power Movement," Social Problems 33 (1986): 357-371. (Packet).
Suggested readings:

J. Craig Jenkins and Charles Perrow, Insurgency of the Powerless: Farm Worker
Movements (1946-1972), American Sociological Review 42(1977): 249-268.
Marshall Ganz, Resources and Resourcefulness: Strategic Capacity in the Unionization
of California Agriculture, 1959-1966, American Journal of Sociology 105 (2000): 1003-
1062.
John Lofland, Social Movement Organizations
Doug McAdam, John D. McCarthy, and Mayer N. Zald, eds. Comparative Perspectives
on Social Movements (1996)
Sidney Tarrow, Power in Movement (1998).

Week Three. Decisionmaking: Uncertainty and familiarity

Sherryl Kleinman, Opposing Ambitions. (Labyrinth).

James G. March, "Theories of Choice and Making Decisions," Society, Nov/Dec, 1982.
(Packet).
Frank Dobbin "Cultural Models of Organization: The Social Construction of Rational
Organizing Principles," in The Sociology of Culture, edited by Diana Crane. (Packet).
Suggested readings:

Paul DiMaggio and Walter W. Powell, "The Iron Cage Revisited: Institutional
Isomorphism and Collective Rationality in Organizational Fields," American Sociological
Review 48:147-60.
James M. Jasper, "Tastes in Tactics," in The Art of Moral Protest.
Francesca Polletta and James M. Jasper, "Collective Identity and Social Movements,"
Annual Review of Sociology 38 (2001)

Week Four: Political structure and movement strategy

William Gamson, The Strategy of Social Protest, chs. 2,3,6,7. (Packet)

Herbert Kitschelt, "Political Opportunity Structures and Political Protest: Antinuclear
Movements in Four Democracies," British Journal of Political Science 16(1986): 57-85.
(Packet)
Edwin Amenta, Drew Halfmann, and Michael P. Young, "The Strategies and Contexts of
Social Protest: Political Mediation and the Impact of the Townsend Movement in
California," Mobilization 4 (1999):1-23. (Packet).
Suggested reading:

Doug McAdam, "Tactical Innovation and the Pace of Insurgency," American Sociological
Review 48 (1983): 735-54.

Week Five. Strategic repertoires

Charles Tilly, "Contentious Repertoires in Great Britain, 1758-1834," in Mark Traugott,

ed., Repertoires and Cycles of Collective Action (1994). (Packet).
Elisabeth Clemens, "Organizational Repertoires and Institutional Change: Women's
Groups and the Transformation of U.S. Politics, 1890-1920," American Journal of
Sociology 98 (1993): 755-798. (Online).
Julian Groves, "Animal Rights and the Politics of Emotion: Folk Constructs of Emotion
in the Animal Rights Movement," in Goodwin, Jasper, and Polletta, Passionate Politics
(2001). (Packet).
Theda Skocpol, "Associations Without Members," American Prospect 45 (July-August
1999): 66-73 (Packet).
Suggested reading:

Elisabeth Clemens, "Organizational Form as Frame" in Comparative Perspectives on

Social Movements, edited by Doug McAdam, John D. McCarthy, and Mayer N. Zald.
Michael P. Hanagan, et. al. eds., Challenging Authority (1998).

Part II. Organizational Dilemmas

Week Six: Organization and cooptation.

Robert Michels, Political Parties. (Packet).

Frances Fox Piven and Richard Cloward, Poor People's Movements: Why They Succeed:
How They Fail. (Packet).
Donald B. Rosenthal, "Who `Owns' AIDS Service Organizations? Governance
Accountability in Non-Profit Organizations," Polity 29 (1996): 97-118. (Packet).
Suzanne Staggenborg, "The Consequences of Professionalization and Formalization in
the Pro-Choice Movement," American Sociological Review 53 (1988): 585-606. (Online)
Suggested reading:

J. Craig Jenkins, "Nonprofit Organizations and Policy Advocacy." In The Non-Profit

Sector, edited by Walter K. Powell.
Debra Minkoff, "The Organization of Survival." Social Forces 71(1993): 887-908.
Roy Cain, "Community-Based AIDS Services: Formalization and Depoliticization,
International Journal of Health Services 23 (1993): 665-684.
Nancy Matthews, "Feminist Clashes with the State: Tactical Choices by State-Funded
Rape Crisis Centers" in Myra Marx Ferree and Patricia Yancey Martin, eds., Feminist
Organizations: Harvest of the New Womens Movement, 291-305.

Week Seven. Organization and democracy

Wini Breines, "Politics as Community," in Community and Organization in the New Left.
(Packet).
Jo Freeman, "The Tyranny of Structurelessness," in Radical Feminism, edited by Ann
Koedt, Ellen Levine, and Anita Rapone. (Packet).
Paul Lichterman, The Search for Political Community: American Activists Reinventing
Commitment, chs. 2, 4, 6. (Labyrinth).
Francesca Polletta, Freedom Is an Endless Meeting: Democracy in American Social
Movements, chs. 1, 6, 7. (Online -- will post to bulletin board)
Suggested reading:
Suzanne Staggenborg, "Stability and Innovation in the Womens Movement: A
Comparison of Two Movement Organizations," Social Problems 36 (1989): 75-92
Jane Mansbridge, Beyond Adversary Democracy.
Joyce Rothschild-Whitt, "Conditions Facilitating Participatory-Democratic
Organizations," Sociological Inquiry 46 (1976): 75-86.
Rebecca Bordt, The Structure of Womens Nonprofit Organizations.
Joan Cassell. A Group Called Women: Sisterhood and Symbolism in the Feminist
Movement.
Barbara Epstein. Political Protest and Cultural Revolution
Gastil, John. Democracy in Small Groups: Participation, Decision Making and
Communication
Iannello, Kathleen P. Decisions Without Hierarchy: Feminist Interventions in
Organization Theory and Practice.

Week Eight: Claimmaking

David A. Snow and Robert D. Benford, "Ideology, Frame Resonance, and Participant
Mobilization," International Social Movement Research 1 (1988): 197-217
Doug McAdam, Sidney Tarrow, and Charles Tilly, Dynamics of Contention, chs. 1, 5, 6.
(Packet)
Marc Steinberg, "The Talk and Back Talk of Collective Action," American Journal of
Sociology 105 (1999): 736-80. (Online).
James M. Jasper, "Culture and Strategy: States, Audiences, and Success," in The Art of
Moral Protest. (Packet).

Part III. Strategizing. NOTE: The following is subject to change depending on the
interests of seminar participants.

Week Nine: Media

Todd Gitlin, The Whole World is Watching, Introduction, chs. 1-5, 9-11.
Naomi Klein, "The Vision Thing," The Nation, July 10, 2000. (Online:
http://past.thenation.com/issue/000710/0710klein.shtml).
Walter Kirn, "The New Radicals," Time, April 24, 2000. (Packet)
Look at http://www.indymedia.org
Suggested reading:

Jackie Smith et al., "From Protest to Agenda Building: Description Bias in Media
Coverage of Protest Events in Washington, D.C.," Social Forces 79 (2001): 1397-1423.
Charlotte Ryan, Prime Time Activism (1991)
William Gamson and Antonio Modigliani, "Media Discourse and Public Opinion on
Nuclear Power," American Journal of Sociology 95 (1989): 1-37.
Shanto Iyengar. Is Anyone Responsible?: How Television Frames Political Issues (1991)
Richard B. Kielbowitz and Clifford Scherer, "The Role of the Press in the Dynamics of
Social Movements," Research in Social Movements, Conflicts, and Change 9 (1986): 71-
96.

Week Ten: Rights Talk

Peter Gabel, "The Phenomenology of Right-Consciousness and the Pact of the

Withdrawn Selves," Texas Law Review 62(1984): 1563-1599. (Packet).
Patricia J. Williams, "Alchemical Notes: Reconstructing Ideals from Deconstructed
Rights." (Packet).
Michael McCann, Rights At Work, chs. 1, 2, 3, 6, 7, 8 (Labyrinth).
Suggested reading:

Paul Burstein, "Legal Mobilization as a Social Movement Tactic: The Struggle for Equal
Employment Opportunity," American Journal of Sociology 96 (1991): 1201-25.
Alan Hunt, Explorations in Law and Society: Toward a Constitutive Theory of Law.
(New York: Routledge, 1993).
Mark Kelman A Guide to Critical Legal Studies (Cambridge: Harvard Univ. Press, 1987)
Mark Kessler, "Legal Mobilization for Social Reform: Power and the Politics of Agenda
Setting," Law and Society Rev. 24 (1990): 121-143.
Francesca Polletta, "The Structural Context of Novel Rights Claims: Rights Innovation in
the Southern Civil Rights Movement, 1961-1966." Law and Society Review 34 (2000):
367-406.
Elizabeth Schneider, "The Dialectic of Rights and Politics: Perspectives from the
Women's Rights Movement," New York Univ. Law Rev. 61(1986): 589-652.

Week Eleven: Transnational Activism

Margaret Keck and Katherine Sikkink, Activists Beyond Borders, chs. 1, 2, and 6, and
either 3, 4, or 5.
NOTE: Alternative topics for the previous section:

Violence and repression; emotions and protest

identity politics
community organizing
the internet and protest
defeat and setbacks
movement coalitions.

Week Twelve: Project presentations