POSC 358

Comparative Social Movements

Spring 2003

 

MW: 12:30-1:40                                                                                                    Kelly Kollman

F: 1:10-2:10                                                                                                            Willis 415

Willis 204                                                                                                               646-4449

                                                                                                                                kkollman@carleton.edu

                                                                                                                                Office Hours: MW: 2-4, by appt.

 

 

 

Course Objectives:

 

In this course we will examine the role that social movements play in political life.  Although political scientists have spent a great deal of time studying collective action as a general phenomenon, it is only relatively recently that much attention has been paid to the less institutionalized, more amorphous and often fleeting types of collective action practiced within social movements.  The past two decades have seen a great deal of theorizing about social movements both within political science and sociology.  We will explore the roots of these theories as well as the three major contemporary approaches used in the field.  The goal of the course, however, is not to catalogue different theories but rather to familiarize students with the analytical tools they need to engage in independent research.  At the end of the course students will be asked to present the findings of a research project on a specific social movement that they develop and carry out themselves. 

 

Course Requirements:

 

Film Reaction Papers

There will be two required film viewings for the course.  The first, Power to the People, will be shown in class on 4/25.  The second, Only the Emptiness Remains, will be on reserve and students should arrange to see it on their own sometime during the term.  After seeing the films students are to write a 1-2 page, free form reaction paper that highlights what they felt they learned from the film.  Both papers are due by the last day of class.  It would probably make more sense to write these papers directly after seeing the film, however. 

 

Short Critical Essay and Class Presentation

 

Each student will be asked to write a 5-7 page critical essay of one set of class readings (Resource mobilization: 4/14 and 4/16; Political Opportunity Structure: 4/21 and 4/23; Cultural Approaches: 4/28 and 4/30).  Two students will write individual critical essays of the readings for each of the class dates listed above.  In addition to writing an essay, the two students will present their critiques to the class on the assigned date.  These presentations, which should be loosely coordinated by the two presenters before class, will take the form of a modified ‘Brookings debate.’  The first presenter will give a short 10 minute sympathetic summary of the main arguments contained in the readings.  The second presenter will then critique the arguments and point out their weaknesses.  They will end by throwing out at least two discussion questions to the class.  The two presentations together should last approximately twenty minutes.  In the individual essays that the presenters are required to turn in one week after their presentations, students are free to write whatever sort of critique they wish, mostly positive to devastatingly negative.   

 

Final Research Paper

 

As a cumulative exercise for the course each student will write a 15-20 page final research paper.  The paper will be an empirical analysis of the extent to which a particular social movement met or failed to meet one of its stated (or even implied) goals.  Although political scientists often look for concrete political outcomes such as policy or regime change, you can define goals very broadly.  Indeed as we will see not all social movement are explicitly political in nature and many aim at broader cultural change often overlooked by political analysts.  A two-page paper proposal will be due on April 21st.   This proposal should briefly describe the social movement and related goal you plan to research as well as your working hypotheses about what explains the extent of goal achievement or failure observed.  A rough draft of the paper will be due on May 19th.  The final draft will be due on the Friday after classes end, June 13th (I hope none of you are superstitious).   Students will also give a 25-30 minute presentation of their findings.  We will assign dates for these presentations after the proposals have been turned in so we can group similar topics together. 

 

Class Participation

 

This course is designed to be a discussion oriented seminar.  I will not lecture.  In-class discussion is thus an important part of each student’s grade.  Students are expected to come to class having done the reading and prepared to discuss the day’s material.  In addition to participating in regular class discussions, students will be evaluated on their two in-class presentations. 

 

Course Readings:

 

The following required texts are available for purchase at the bookstore:

 

Goodwin and Jasper, 2003, The Social Movements Reader: Cases and Concepts (SMR)

Sidney Tarrow, 1998, Power in Movement (PIM)

Keck and Sikkink, 1998, Activists Beyond Borders

Section I. Defining Our Terms: Mass Society, Collective Action and Social Movements

 

3/31     Introduction

 

4/2       Getting Started: Thinking about Unconventional Politics

·        Vaclav Havel, Power of the Powerless (handout)

·        Erlanger, “Gloom in the Castle; Havel Finds His Role Turning from Czech Hero to Has-Been”, NY Times

 

4/4       No class

 

4/7       Classic Models: Mass Society

·        Kornhauser, “Two Views of Mass Society” (handout)

·        Arendt, “Authority in the Twentieth Century” (handout)

 

4/9       Collective Action As Rational Behavior

·        Mancur Olsen, “Collective Action: The Logic”

·        Tarrow, Introduction and Chapter 1

 

4/11     Social Movements as Historic Phenomena

·        Tarrow, Chapters 2-4

·        Melucci, “A Strange Kind of Newness: What’s ‘New’ in New Social Movements?” (handout)

 

Section II. Approaches to Studying Social Movements

 

4/14     Resource Mobilization Theory

·        SMR, Chapter 16, McCarthy and Zald “Social Movement Organizations”

·        PIM, Chapter 8

·        Piven and Cloward, “Normalizing Collective Protest” (handout)

 

4/16     Resource Mobilization Theory: Networks

·        Friedman and McAdam, “Networks, Choices and the Life of a Social Movement” (handout)

·        Snow, Zurcher and Ekland-Olson, “Social Networks and Social Movements: A Microstructural Approach to Differential Recruitment” (handout)

 

4/18     Resource Mobilization Case Studies

·        SMR, Chapter 6, McAdam, “Recruits to Civil Rights Activism”

·        SMR, Chapter 17, Clemens, “Organizational Repertoires”

·        Hoffman, “The Leadership Secrets of Osama Bin Laden: The Terrorist as CEO”, Atlantic Monthly (handout)

 

4/21     Political Opportunity Structure Theory

·        PIM, Chapter 5

·        McAdam, “Conceptual Origins, Current Problems and Future Directions” (handout)

·        PAPER PROPOSAL DUE

 

4/23     Comparative Political Opportunity Structures

·        Kitschelt, “Political Opportunity Structures and Political Protest: Anti-Nuclear Movements in Four Democracies” (handout)

·        Skocpol, “France, Russia and China: A Structural Analysis of Social Revolutions”

 

4/25     Political Opportunity Structures Cases

·        SMR, Chapter 5, Kurzman, “ The Iranian Revolution”

·        SMR, Chapter 25, Jenkins and Perrow, “Farmworkers’ Movements in Changing Political Contexts”

·        Navarro, “The Personal is Political: Las Madras de Plaza de Mayo” (handout)

 

4/28     Cultural Theories: Framing Issues

·        Tarrow, Chapter 7

·        Benford and Snow, “ Master Frames and Cycles of Protest” (handout)

 

4/30     Cultural Theories: Identity Movements

·        Friedman and McAdam, “Collective Identity and Activism: Networks, Choices and the Life of a Social Movement”

·        Della Porta and Diani, “Collective Action and Identity” (handout)

 

5/2       Culture Case Studies

·        SMR, Chapter 27, Gitlin “The Media in the Unmaking of the New Left”

·        SMR, Chapter 22, Bernstein, “The Strategic Use of Identity by the Lesbian and Gay Movement”

·        SMR, Chapter 30, Gamson, “The Dilemmas of Identity Poltics”

·        Starn, “ ‘I Dreamed of Foxes and Hawks’: Reflections on Peasant Protest, New Social Movements, and the Rondas Campesinas of Northern Peru” (handout)

 

5/7       Transnational Social Movements: An Emerging Approach?

·        Keck and Sikkink, Chapters 1, 2 and 6

·        SMR, Chapter 19, Finnegan, “Affinity Groups and the Movement Against Corporate Globalization”

 

Section III. Social Movement Outcomes and Case Presentations

 

5/9       Studying the Effects of Social Movements

·        PIM, Chapters 9 and 10

·        SMR, Chapter 31, Gamson “Defining Movement Success”

·        SMR, Chapter 33, Eyerman and Jamison, “Movements and Cultural Change”

 

5/12     Transnational Environmental Movement

·        Keck and Sikkink, Chapter 4

·        SMR, Chapter 18, Wapner, “Transnational Environmental Activism”

 

5/14     Guest lecture by Professor Nagel of SOAN

 

5/16 to 5/30 Student Presentations: ROUGH DRAFT OF PAPER DUE 5/19

 

6/2       Towards A Synthesis of Social Movement Theory? (or What Works, What Doesn’t and When? )

 

6/4       Towards a Synthesis cont.

 

6/13     FINAL PAPER DUE