Social Movements Exam Definitions

Tilly’s definition of a social movement

•  One form of contentious politics (collective claim-making, conflicts with someone else’s interests, involves politics through the involvement of government in one way or another); social movements consist of sustained campaigns that make collective claims aimed at authorities. Typically, they create special-purpose associations or coalitions and engage in tactics such as demonstrations, petition drives, public statements, and meetings. (pg. 4)

Tarrow’s definition of a social movement

• “Collective challenges, based on common purposes and social solidarities, in sustained interaction w/elites, opponents, and authorities.” (7)

McAdam’s definition of a social movement

•  Various public and collective political struggles, such as revolutions, nationalism, and strike waves, as well as social movements.

• Categorizes social movements within contentious politics.

McCarthy and Zald on social movements

•  A set of opinions and beliefs in a population that represents preferences for changing some elements of the social structure and/or reward distribution of a society.

• Preference structures definition of social movements.

  • set of opinions, beliefs, and goals that have the potential to be turned into collective action, depending on pre-existing organization and on opportunities and costs for expressing preference.

  • leads us to focus on SMOs and the interactions of these orgs within the context of a particular social movement.

Staggenborg on Social Movements

•  Movements consist of informal networks as well as formal organizations, and they produce culture and collective identity as well as political campaigns.

Adherents

• Someone who supports a person, party and or a particular set of beliefs.*

Biographical availability:

Absence of personal or social constraints like family or full-time employment responsibilities. More able to participate in risky or potentially costly political activism.

Bureaucratization or formalization:

• The transformation of social movements into solid organizations, typically with some kind of constitution and a list of members (Staggenborg)

Campaigns

•  organized efforts by candidates and their supporters to influence voters choices in an election.

Claims-making performances:

• The process of demonstrating and or articulating a set of ideas in an attempt to persuade an audience. 

Coalitions:

• An alliance for combined action towards a specific political aim

Collective action frames:

Constructed by social movements, collective action frames lay out a set of beliefs, morals, etc. that frame the area in which the movement is opposing, identify problems, solutions, etc. in the collective effort to accomplish the movement’s goals and ambitions efficiently, while uniting the supporters of the movement.

Collective good:

• A good that is not able to be restricted and is inexhaustible. Also known as a public good. Examples include education and clean air. 

Collective identity:

• The sense of shared experiences and values that connects individuals to movements and gives participants a sense of  “collective agency” or feeling that they can effect change through collective action.

Contained contention

•  Public disputes and claim making that operate within a state or regime’s guidelines in an effective, and tolerable manner.

Contentious politics:

A collective or movement that challenges the government or another authority, usually through demonstrations, strikes, campaigns, activities, etc. that help to influence government policy and achieve the goals of the movement.

Constituents

a person within a certain geographical area who is represented by an elected official.

Countermovement

•  social movement that occurs in response to another

Critical events/junctures:

• events that have been utmost influential and have created long lasting precedents that shape future events or actions. Could come in a form of legacy or drastically shaped historical events.

Cycle of contention/ cycles of protest:

• In a retrospective view, first one must find some sort of issue or cause to decipher, then mobilization or some sort of grassroots effort is needed to build up the base to make a movement capable of making noise or change, whether positive or negative. There is a need for collective action or behavior.

Dynamic statism:

An approach to social movement analysis that focuses on the changes in state structure over time and how that affects political opportunities for social movements in that state.

Framing:

• The conscious strategic efforts by groups of people to fashion shared understandings of the world and of themselves, that legitimize and motivate collective action. (David Snow)

Free riders:

Individuals who do not contribute and benefit from the efforts of others

Ideologically structured action

• an action that is guided by a particular ideological stance from the individual partaking in the social movement. 

Material incentives:

• economic benefits or opportunities that motivate people to act.

Solidary incentives:

non-material benefits that individuals receive from participating in collective action or joining interest groups. These incentives are based on the sense of belonging, shared identity, and social connections that come from being part of a group working towards a common goal

Purposive incentives:

 selective incentives that come from the sense of satisfaction at having contributed to the attainment of a worthwhile cause

Infranational movement variations:

• ocial or political movement that operates within a single nation-state but is confined to a specific subnational region or local.

Master frames

• A generic type of collective action frame that is wider in scope and influence than run-of-the-mill social movement frames (Benford).

Mobilization:

• Organizing and preparing for action. 

Mobilizing structures:

Collective vehicles, informal as well as formal, through which people mobilize and engage in collective action.

Movement entrepreneurs:

• Individuals who initiate or organize social or political movements by framing issues, mobilizing resources, and creating strategies to achieve their political goals.

Organizational structures:

• How an organization or movement is run. Could be from hierarchical leadership and formal procedures to informal networks of individuals.

Political opportunity structures:

The external political environment that influences the development, emergence and trajectory of social movements. Opportunities unique to the national context in which they are embedded.

Professionalization (of movements):

•  the act of stabilizing or solidifying the strategies being enacted by a social group, often by introducing trained professionals to aid in the work. 

Recruitment:

• is the process by which individuals are drawn into a movement and persuaded to participate. It is a critical step in a social movement's life cycle, building on the potential pool of sympathizers and turning them into active participants. 

Repertoire of collective action:

• Set of protest related tools and tactics available to a social movement or group to make claim or oppose a public decision they considered unjust.

Resources:

•  Used by movements to achieve their goals. Ex: Capital, Man-power, time, data (estimates).

Social movement community

• Consists of the networks, cultural groups, alternative institutions, institutional supporters, social movement organizations

Social movement industry:

• The collective of social movement organizations within a single movement 

Social movement organization:

an organization that aligns itself with a certain social movement/countermovement and undertakes those goals.

Social movement sector:

The collective of all of the social movement industries

Transgressive contention

protest and contentious politics that challenge established norms and power structures, often by marginalized groups using innovative or unfamiliar tactics to demand deeper inclusion and fundamental reforms within a society's political and social contract. It involves episodic collective action by newly self-identified political actors employing techniques that differ from the institutionalized methods used by established political actors.

Transnational movements:

• social movements in a state of transformation, often driven by grassroots efforts to create new social, technological, or political structures. 

Collective behavior theory

typically posit that collective behavior comes about during a period of social disruption, when grievances are deeply felt, rather than being a standard part of the political process

collective behavior theories share several assumptions (Morris

and Herring 1987: 145). First, they see collective behavior as existing outside of

institutionalized structures, although some theorists note the linkages between

institutional and noninstitutional actions. Various forms of collective behavior

are connected insofar as they are all unstructured situations unbound by estab-

lished norms. Second, collective behavior theorists argue that social movements

and other forms of collective behavior arise as a result of some type of structural

or cultural "breakdown" or "strain" such as a natural disastér, rapid social change,

or dramatic event. Third, collective behavior theorists assign an important role to

the shared beliefs of participants in analyzing the emergence of social move-

ments and other forms of collective behavior.

Resource mobilization and political process theory

the mobilization of social movements requires resources, or-

ganization, and opportunities for collective action. As the label "resource mobi-

lization" suggests, resources are seen as central to successful collective action in

this approach, and a wide variety of studies demonstrate linkages between re-

source availability and collective action (Edwards and McCarthy 2004). Re-

sources include both tangible assets, such as funding, and intangible assets, such

as the commitment of participants (Freeman 1979). Edwards and McCarthy

(2004: 125-128) identify various types of resources used and created by social

movements: moral resources, such as legitimacy; cultural resources, including tac-

tical repertoires and strategic know-how; social-organizational resources, includ-

ing movement infrastructures, networks, and organizational structures; human

resources, such as the labor and experience of activists; and material resources,

such as money and office space.

New social movement theory

new social movement theory emphasized the

new types of social movements that emerged in "postindustrial" or "advanced

capitalist" society, including the peace, environmental, LGBT, student, and women's

movements. New social movement theorists have argued that these move-

ments differ in structure, type of constituents, and ideology from the "old"

movements of industrial society, notably the labor movement. Among their

common characteristics, new social movements rely on a range of networks and

informal, participatory structures rather than on mostly centralized organiza-

tions; they are concerned with the cultural as well as the political sphere; they

appeal to many diverse participants as opposed to a limited number of constitu-

ents motivated largely by economic interests; they involve the construction of

collective identities; and they focus on a broad range of values related to quality

of life

Thin collective identity

hierarchical, collective identity isn’t an organizational priority, seeks to mobilize national constituencies regularly, rarely seeks to mobilize local ones, supporters aren’t interested in fostering a collective identity

Thick collective identity

horizontal structure of communication, collective identity is an organizational priority, seeks to primarily mobilize local constituencies, supporters are interested in creating collective identity and political community

McAdam’s comparative perspectives on social movements

Goal is to bring together three analytic concepts: structure of political opportunities, forms of organization, and collective process of meaning-making and identity formation 

• This approach treats social movements as rational and strategic
  

1. Political opportunities: “social movements are shaped by the broader set of political constraints and opportunities unique to the national context in which they are embedded.” (3)  

2. Mobilizing structures: “collective vehicles, informal as well as formal, through which people mobilize and engage in collective action” (3)

3. Framing – creation of shared meaning, collective identity → emphasizes ideational dimensions of collective action (5)

Synthetic model

The synthetic resource mobilization/political process model views social

movements as political entities aiming to create social change. Scholars have ana-

lyzed various features of the movement environment and of movement organiza-

tions and strategies that influence the mobilization and outcomes of collective

action. The approach initially downplayed grievances and ideology because these

were thought to be overemphasized by collective behavior theorists, who focused

on individual discontent as the driving force behind collective action. As the

newer approach developed, however, this lacuna began to be addressed.

Scheingold’s myth of rights

• Assumes that litigation can evoke declaration of rights from courts, this declaration will result in a realization of rights, and that the realization is tantamount to meaningful change;

• Law furnishes American politics with most important symbols of legitimacy;

• Symbols reflect values that are building blocks of (liberal) political ideology.

Politics of rights

• The politics of rights is concerned with the redistribution of power

• “[Rights] must be thought of, on the one hand, as authoritatively articulated goals of public policy and, on the other, as political resources of unknown values in the hands of those who want to alter the course of public policy…the politics of rights takes into account the contingent character of rights in the American system.”

Right

“A right is best treated as a resource of uncertain worth, but essentially like other political resources: money, numbers, status, and so forth. The value of a right will therefore depend in all likelihood on the circumstances and on the manner in which it is employed.”

Myth of rights/ideology of the law

• Confers legitimacy through fictional separation from the political

• Orders political institutions

• Political imagination is limited/set by terms of the Constitution

• Language of the law becomes tool for justifying the unjustifiable (read Tocqueville quote on p. 18)

• Produces a “legal theory of governance”

• “Rests on a faith in the political efficacy and ethical sufficiency of law as a principle of government”

Liberal rights framework

• Lockean obsession with private property

• Understanding of the state as limited and in service of private property

• Presumption that if property is protected than state is doing its job

Melucci on forming collective identity

Collective identity formation involves: 

1. the construction of a shared discourse,   

2. the creation of a "network of active relationships between actors who interact, communicate, influence each other, negotiate, and
   make decisions,"  

1. and "emotional investment" on the part of individual actors.  

What does collective identity do?

ensures the continuity and permanence of the movement over time, it establishes the limits of the actor with respect to its social environment. It regulates the membership of individuals, it defines the requisites for joining the ‘movement,’ and the criteria by which its members recognize themselves and are recognized

Melucci on collective identity

“an interactive and shared definition produced by a number of individuals (or groups at a more complex level) concerning the orientations of their action and the field of opportunities and constraints in which such action is to take place.”

3 categories of black power ideologies

Pluralists:

Counter-Communalists:

Separatists:

Shared meanings of black power

1. self-determination and self-definition

2. self-determination of one’s destiny

Waddington on significance of riots

Waddington argues that to better understand the political significance of riots and to conceptualize riots as a form of political action/contentious politics, we need to identify and examine the links between the prevailing socio-political context, the triggering incident, and the meaning/motives underlying participants’ emotions and behaviors.

• “The daunting task confronting academics is therefore to try and pinpoint the underlying political motives and rationality of the riots without ignoring their spontaneity, emotionality, and destructiveness.”

How to analyze a riot

Identify preconditions, summarize triggering event, analyze political context (what other avenues exist? is the system responsive?), identify motives and meanings (is the action issue-less or issue-oriented)

Bosi and Malthener definition of political violence

actions oriented at inflicting physical, psychological, and symbolic damage to individuals and/or property with the intention of influencing audiences in the pursuit of affecting or resisting political, social, and/or cultural change

Forms of political violence

Property damage, bodily assault, bombings, assassinations, taking hostages

BLM Actors

• Not incubated by older activists; biographical availability of young, college educated Black activists; scholars

BLM Factors

• police violence; systemic racism; intersectional praxis; high unemployment; substance abuse; misogyny; poverty and disinvestment; Covid-19 (2020); mass incarceration + generational trauma

BLM triggering events

• Trayvon Martin, Michael Brown, Freddie Gray, Breonna Taylor, George Floyd

BLM strategies

•  Bottom up movement; horizontal and diffuse; direct action – protests in wake of police shootings; utilized social media; local political organizing and campaigns; community networks and community mobilization

BLM aims

• social transformation; Black-led mass struggle for liberation; BREATHE Act; First Step Act

3 main categories of right-wing extremism in the U.S

Racist extremism, nativist extremism, and anti-govt extremism

Frances Fox Piven and Richard Clowards PPM main points

• Institutionalization of insurgency leads to the co-optation of PPM and their eventual demise

• Extraordinary circumstances/disturbances in larger society are required to mobilize the poor and transform them from apathy to hope

• People cannot defy institutions to which they have no access.

• The effectiveness of protest can essentially be determined by the disruptive effects of mass defiance on institutions and the political effects of such defiance

• Elites/govt will propose limited reforms to neutralize disruptive strategies and demobilize movements.

Alinsky: Means and Ends

1. One’s concerns of the ethics of means and ends varies inversely with one’s personal interest in the issue

2. The judgment of the ethics of means is dependent upon the political position of those sitting in judgment

3. In war, the ends justify almost any means

4. Judgment must be made in the context of the times in which the action occurred and not from any other chronological vantage point.

5. Concern with ethics increases with the number of means available and vice versa.

6. The less important the end to be desired, the more one can afford to engage in ethical evaluations of means.

7. The ethics of means and ends is that generally success or failure is a mighty determinant of ethics.

8. The morality of a means depends upon whether the means is being employed at a time of imminent defeat or imminent victory.

9. Any effective means is automatically judged by the opposition as being unethical.

10. You do what you can with what you have and clothe it with moral garments.

11. Goals must be phrased in general terms like "Liberty, Equality, Fraternity," "Of the Common Welfare," "Pursuit of Happiness" or "Bread and Peace."

Alinsky’s Tactics

1. Power is not only what you have but what the enemy thinks you have.

2. Never go outside the experience of your people.

3. Wherever possible go outside of the experience of the enemy.

4. Make the enemy live up to their own book of rules.

5. Ridicule is man's most potent weapon.

6. A good tactic is one that your people enjoy.

7. A tactic that drags on too long becomes a drag.

8. Keep the pressure on.

   9. The threat is usually more terrifying than the thing itself.

   10. The major premise for tactics is the development of operations that will maintain a constant pressure upon the opposition.

   11. If you push a negative hard and deep enough it will 

   break through into its counterside.

   12. The price of a successful attack is a constructive alternative.

   13. Pick the target, freeze it, personalize it, and polarize it.

collective action frames

capturing the importance of meanings and ideas in stimulating protest (Benford and Snow 2000).

framing perspective

emphasizes the role of move-

ments in constructing cultural meanings, as movement leaders and organizations

frame issues in particular ways to identify injustices, attribute blame, propose

solutions, and motivate collective action.

master frames,

generic types of

frames available for use by a number of different social movements, and movement-

specific collective action frames, which can be derived from master frames.

Political process theory

The political process approach emphasizes the interactions of social move-

ment actors with the state and the role of political opportunities in the mobiliza-

tion and outcomes of social movements. Political process theorists argue that

social movements are most likely to emerge when potential collective actors per-

ceive that conditions are favorable.

MLK’s Nonviolence Principles

1. Non-violence resistance is physically passive but spiritually active

2. Doesn’t seek to defeat or humiliate opponents but win friendship and understanding

3. Directed at forces/systems of evil rather than person doing evil

4. Accepts suffering without retaliation and is prepared to accept his offense’s punishment

5. Avoids external physical violence and violence of the spirit

6. Belief that the universe is on the side of justice

Hamilton and Black Power Categories

• Political Bargainer 

  • conforms with established political processes

  • equalizing opportunities

• Moral Crusader

  • Saving soul of society

  • Non-violent

  • Not averse to status quo

• Alienated Reformer

  • Cynical about change through existing systems

  • Supports black control of black communities

  • Transformation of black society

  • Premised on revitalized black community

  • Interested in bread-and-butter issues

• Alienated Revolutionary

  • Cynical

  • Progressive change can only come through calculated acts of instrumental violence

  • Calls for separate black nation

  • Usually starts out as another category but is pushed by traumatic defeat