Social movements historically emerged as labor protests with direct material demands. Such collective behavior was viewed as a form of mass deviance that threatened the status quo. During the second half of the twentieth century, analyses acknowledged that movements are much more complex social organizations that are deeply affected by the web of social arrangements in which they arise and toward which they are often directed. Recent work on social movements, as such, takes into account the important role of technology, media, meaning, culture, and identity. Rather than asking how rash mob mentality can be contained, we ask how various social movements represent expressions of "identity" and efforts to attain political power? How do organizational resources, political opportunities, and culture affect movement "success"? What are the latent communicative functions of public protest around specific goals such as barring the construction of a nuclear power facility or acquiring the legal right to marry among lesbians? This course tracks both structural and cultural approaches to movement analysis using James Jasper's Art of Moral Protest as well as several case studies; including Amy Binder's cultural analysis of afro-centric versus creation science curricula and Naomi Klein's critique of the global garment industry. Format: seminar. Enrollment limit: 20 (expected: 15).

Hour: STANCZAK