Sociology of Social Movements: Practice Flashcards

Comprehensive vocabulary flashcards covering the key definitions and conceptual chains from the first seven weeks of the social movements lecture series.

Social movement

A network of informal interactions between individuals, groups and organizations that share a collective identity and engage in conflict in order to promote or resist social change.

Collective identity

A shared sense of “we” among movement participants, where individuals perceive themselves as belonging to the same collective and connect personal experiences to a broader shared struggle.

WUNC displays

As argued by Tilly, these are public demonstrations of Worthiness, Unity, Numbers and Commitment used by movements to communicate strength and legitimacy.

Worthiness

The presentation of movement participants as respectable, legitimate and deserving of attention through peaceful behavior or respectable appearance.

Unity

The public demonstration that participants stand together, communicated through common slogans, symbols, clothing or coordinated behavior.

Numbers

The demonstration of how many support a movement, signaling that a grievance has substantial social support, such as a protest attracting $100,000$ participants.

Commitment

The demonstration that participants are willing to continue supporting the movement despite costs, risks, time or effort.

Diagnostic framing

The identification and interpretation of a social problem, including what is wrong and who or what is responsible for it.

Prognostic framing

The identification of possible solutions and strategies for addressing a problem identified by the movement.

Motivational framing

The construction of a “call to action” providing reasons why people should actually participate in collective action.

Social Movement Organization (SMO)

A formal organization that identifies with the goals of a social movement and attempts to contribute to achieving those goals.

Repertoire of contention

The limited and historically shaped set of protest tactics (e.g., strikes, boycotts) that people know and can draw upon when making collective claims.

Resource Mobilization Theory (RMT)

A theoretical approach arguing that grievances alone cannot explain movement emergence; success depends on the ability to acquire and use resources like money, time and leadership.

Movement entrepreneurs

Individuals who organize collective action by gathering resources, creating organizations, recruiting participants and developing strategies.

Political Opportunity Structure (POS)

Relatively stable features of the external political environment, such as institutional openness or elite divisions, that affect the possibilities for collective action.

New Social Movement Theory (NSM)

An approach emphasizing movements organized around identity, culture, autonomy and post-materialist values rather than economic redistribution.

Synergy perspective

The idea that different theoretical traditions (resources, opportunities, framing, identity) should be combined to understand social movements.

Injustice

The perception that a situation is unfair or illegitimate, which acts as a motivator for movement participation.

Relative deprivation

The perception that one's situation or group's status is unfairly worse compared to a certain standard or another group.

Collective efficacy

The belief that a group acting together has the capacity to influence a situation or achieve its goals.

Grievance-participation gap

The observation that experiencing dissatisfaction or injustice does not automatically result in collective action.

Mesomobilization

The coordination of different groups, organizations and networks around a shared cause through a mesomobilization actor.

Strong ties

Close interpersonal relationships (friends, family) that are highly effective for persuading individuals to participate due to trust.

Weak ties

Acquaintances or distant contacts that are valuable for connecting individuals to new information and social circles outside their immediate network.

Brokerage

The creation of a new connection between previously unconnected actors, groups or networks by a broker.

Scale shift

The expansion of collective action from a limited level to a broader geographical, organizational or social scale.

Modularity

The capacity of a tactic (like a demonstration) to be used by many different movements and causes.

Transgressive tactics

Actions that move beyond routinely accepted forms of political participation and may violate institutional regulations, such as unauthorized occupations.

Tactical moderation

A shift from confrontational or disruptive tactics toward more conventional or institutionalized forms of action.

Target vulnerability

The specific ways an institutional target can be pressured, such as a corporation's vulnerability to consumer boycotts affecting profit.

Clicktivism

A critical term for low-cost online participation (liking, sharing) that may produce feelings of participation without deeper engagement.

Technological determinism

The assumption that technology itself directly produces specific social or political outcomes regardless of context.

Political threat

A condition where people perceive that existing rights or benefits may be lost if they do not act, as opposed to an opportunity to gain something.

Organizational holdovers

Almeida's term for organizations created during political openness that survive after opportunities decline, providing capacity to resist later threats.

Policy stringency

The degree to which government measures (e.g., Covid-19 containment) restrict behavior and everyday activities.

Problem-solution mismatch

A perceived discrepancy between a problem's severity (e.g., low mortality) and the response's severity (e.g., high stringency), increasing mobilization.

Procedural consequences

Changes in a movement's access or recognition within decision-making processes, essentially 'getting into the room.'

Substantial consequences

Concrete changes or benefits resulting from movement activity, such as policy changes or material improvements.

Access

The first stage of the policy process where a movement gains entry to decision-making or is recognized as an actor authorities will listen to.

Agenda

The stage where a movement's issue receives serious attention and formal debate from political decision-makers.

Output

The stage of the policy process where an adopted law or regulation is actually implemented in practice.

Impact

The final stage of the policy process where implementation actually changes the underlying social condition or grievance.

Acceptance

The recognition of a movement as a legitimate political actor or representative of particular interests.

New advantages

Concrete benefits obtained for the movement or its constituency, such as improved legal protections.

Backlash

A negative reaction to social movement achievements from groups that perceive the movement as a threat to their interests or values.

Political mediation model

The argument that movements influence outcomes not through pressure alone, but through mediation by political allies and institutional actors.

Protest as a public opinion signal

The idea that politicians interpret demonstrations as information regarding which issues citizens care about and their specific positions.

Salience

The perceived priority or importance of a particular issue to a politician or the public.

Causal attribution problem

The difficulty in determining if a movement actually caused a specific political change or if other factors (like elections) were responsible.

Temporal displacement

The idea that movement effects may occur much later than the actual protest making them difficult to identify in the short term.