Political Sociology - Social Movements

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Social movements - a type of collective behavior

Collective behavior also includes:

* Crowd Behavior –

gatherings – stopping to watch someone in the street – at a concert – protest

Gustave le Bon – contagion theory – mob mentality – football

hooligans, riots

* Mass behavior –

people engaged in similar activities without necessarily being in the same

place.

Fads – practices followed enthusiastically for a relatively short time

period – Atkins diet, certain phrases

Fashions - style of behavior or

appearance widespread

Social Movements :

Sociologists begin studying movements in the 40s/50s

What were they concerned about? Fascism/communism –

Mass society theory – need to find meaning/belong to something bigger than themselves. (DOESN”T explain earlier either but challenged by 60s, civil rights)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NLW_T8nFWwo (Enclavar)

Civil rights movement– tactics, strategies, leaders….

Not people with a weird psychological need – rational

response to oppression/ exclusion

Activism as a rational response by oppressed groups to

address their circumstances:

Relative deprivation theory....

What else might this explain? Labor movements, suffrage….

Women’s vote 1920.... (other examples...)

So sociologists started to think about social movements as

rational actors – what did they need to do to win? Resources, volunteers,

organizational capacity -

Resource Mobilization Theory

(later) Political Process Model - importance of 'political

opportunity structure' – favorable internal and external constraints – expanded

political opportunities, indigenous organizational strength, shared cognitions

(ideas about injustice). Focuses heavily on structure, downplays emotions and

culture.

New Social Movement theory (mainly European)

- What is different

about social movements now?

Wave of protest in the 60s – anti-war, new left, women, lgbt,

free speech

Identity, environment – Broader concerns –

POST-materialism – not just material conditions a la Marx,

relative deprivation

DISAGREE about how ‘NEW’ – BUT just looking at resources

doesn’t explain how or why people get involved….

http://www.lse.ac.uk/middleEastCentre/Events/events2014/New-Social-Movements-and-the-Question-of-Org...

Postmaterialism - related to Maslow's hierarchy of needs -

New Social Movements concerned with more abstract values

rather than basic material needs

Social Movements