THEORIES OF SOCIAL MOVEMENTS

Fall, 1999

James M. Jasper

This course will examine the main approaches to the study of social movements over the last forty years, with an emphasis on theoretical assumptions rather than on empirical or methodological aspects.

Each student will also read an empirical study, selected from the list below. Weekly memos will address the applicability of the readings to that case, using empirical evidence to launch an evaluation of the approach. I have tried to pick case studies that are relatively free from heavy theoretical selection of the materials presented. Let me know if you have other cases you would prefer to use. You need to start reading these immediately.

Taylor Branch, Parting the Waters. (On the civil rights movement) Craig Calhoun, Neither Gods nor Emperors. (Chinese student movement) James Jasper and Dorothy Nelkin, The Animal Rights Crusade. David Meyer, Winter of our Discontent. (The freeze movement) Jonathan Rieder, Canarsie. (Backlash against affirmative action and civil rights) Verta Taylor, Rock-a-Bye Baby. (Post-partum depression self-help movement) Nancy Whittier, Feminist Generations.

Week 1. Economic Models, Rational Individuals.

Mancur Olson, The Logic of Collective Action (Harvard University Press, 1965).

Week 2. Models: Political and Economic Versions.

Charles Tilly, From Mobilization to (Addison-Wesley, 1978).

John McCarthy and , "Resource Mobilization in Social Movements," American Journal of 82 (1977). 2

Week 3. Political Process Models.

Sidney Tarrow, Power in Movement, second edition (Cambridge, 1998).

Herbert Kitschelt, "Protest Strategies and Policy Impacts of Social Movements: A Comparison of Anti-nuclear Movements in Four Countries," British Journal of Political Science 16 (1986).

Hanspeter Kriesi et al., "New Social Movements and Political Opportunities in Western Europe," European Journal of Political Research 22 (1992).

Week 4. Cultural Identity Processes in "New Social Movements."

Alberto Melucci, Challenging Codes (Cambridge, 1996).

Jean Cohen, "Strategy or Identity," Social Research 52 (1985).

Week 5. Dissatisfaction with Dominant Models; Efforts at Synthesis.

Aldon Morris and Carol Mueller, Frontiers of Theory (Yale, 1992): chapters by Ferree, Gamson, Snow and Benford, Zald.

Jeff Goodwin and James M. Jasper, "A Winding, Snarling Vine: The Structural Bias of Political Process Theory," Sociological Forum 14 (1999).

Week 6. Culture, Emotions, and Strategy.

James Jasper, The Art of Moral Protest (Chicago, 1997): parts 2, 3, 4.

Jeff Goodwin, "The Libidinal Constitution of a High-Risk Social Movement," American Sociological Review 62 (1997).

Marshall Ganz, "Resources and Resourcefulness." Forthcoming, American Journal of Sociology.