Social Movements and Social Change in Contemporary America

elective courses
proseminars

Classroom and field classes

This research proseminar offers an introduction to social movement theory and methods of research, focusing on the linkages between cultural, political and social spheres. The students will get acquainted with key concepts and theoretical traditions in social movement analysis, as well as basic methods of social movements research. The proseminar is focused as much on content as on research methods and skills, hence each student will have the task of conducting her/his own research project focused on a specific movement. The requirements include doing research on the chosen movement, preparing the presentation and presenting it in front of the class and writing a 15-20 page research paper, as well as other course specific tasks.

This research proseminar offers an introduction to social movement theory and methods of research, focusing on the linkages between cultural, political and social spheres. The students will get acquainted with key concepts and theoretical traditions in social movement analysis, as well as basic methods of social movements research, including frame analysis, qualitative interviews and case analysis. The proseminar is focused as much on content as on research methods and skills, hence each student will have the task of conducting her/his own research project focused on a specific movement (e.g. civil rights movement, women’s movement, gay and lesbian/LGBTQ movement, Occupy, Black Lives Matter, alt-right or ultraconservative mobilizations). The requirements include doing research on the chosen movement, preparing the presentation and presenting it in front of the class and writing a 15 page research paper, as well as other course specific tasks, including conducting an interview, participant observation and analyzing media representations of specific mobilizations.

Selected bibligraphy:

Blee, Kathleen (1996) “Becoming a racist: Women in Contemporary Ku Klux Klan and Neo-Nazi Groups” Gender and Society 10: 680-696.

DeLaure, Marylin and Moritz Fink eds. 2017. Culture Jamming: Activism and the Art of Cultural Resistance. New York University Press: New York.

Garza, Alicia (2016) “A herstory of #BlackLivesMatter Movement,” in: Are All the Women Still White?: Rethinking Race, Expanding Feminisms, Janell Hobson ed. State University of New York Press: New York, 23-28.

Goodwin, Jeff and James M. Jasper. 2004. Rethinking Social Movements. Structure, Meaning and Emotion. Rowman and Littlefield: New York.

Gould, Deborah B. 2009. Politics: Emotion and ACT UP's Fight against AIDS. University of Chicago Press: Chicago.

Klandermans, Bert and Susanne Staggenborg eds. 2002. Methods of Social Movement Research. University of Minnesota Press: Minnesota.

Upon completing this course a student:

KNOWLEDGE:

- knows and understands the trajectory of social movement development in contemporary United States,

- knows and understands key concepts in social movement theory (e.g. resource mobilization, political opportunity structure, framing, collective identity, emotion work);

- has an understanding of the methods in social movement research.

SKILLS

- is able to critically examine public debates on hot issues, taking into account the specificity of the US social and political context;

- can locate most important areas of disagreement between political positions in some of the key public debates;

- is able to gather data on social movements and use a range of theoretical apparatuses in analyzing the data.

COMPETENCES:

- is aware of the impact of social movements on culture, politics and society,

- is open to conflicting opinions concerning the effects that social movements had on contemporary American society and politics;

- is able to cooperate in a group and engage in the debate, formulating and defending his/her opinion with respect of other views.

1. Active participation (which includes preparing notes on assigned readings) - 20%

2. 1 presentation online - 30%

3. 15-20 page research paper - 50%