Social Movements
- Autumn 2024
Syllabus Description:
POL S 334: Social Movements
Fall 2024 Class Meeting: Wednesday 10:30pm-12:20pm
Thomson Hall (THO) 335
Office Hours: Wednesday (in person) 9:15am-10:25am by Calendly Appointment:
calendly.com/margaret-tbrower/office hours
Course Description:
Through the lenses of power, resistance, and identity, this course provides an introduction to American social movements. Drawing from history, sociology, and politics, it examines a range of social movements, including: Civil Rights, Black Lives Matter movement, Occupy Wallstreet, second and third wave feminism, gender-based violence movement, LGBTQ+ movements, and Right-wing mobilization. Throughout the course you will learn how to (1) identify social movements, (2) understand movement tools for mobilization, (3) learn leadership roles and infrastructure that make movements possible, (4) evaluate the effectiveness of contentious politics and (4) build your own movement. Along the way, we will have deep discussions that draw from frameworks of intersectionality to delve into the complexities of organizing around issues and topics that affect groups across different identities.
Course Assignments & Grading:
|
Assignment |
Description |
% of Grade |
|
Class Participation |
You are expected to complete the readings and actively engage in class discussions where you will examine, critique and build on the ideas from course readings |
15% |
|
Paper (3-4 pages) |
Ask ChatGPT to write you a paper on what a social movement is, review the paper, and explain what it missed and why it is important drawing on class readings. |
15% |
|
Midterm |
A take-home midterm. You will have 24 hours to complete and submit the midterm. |
20% |
|
Response Paper |
You will write a response paper responding to one of the readings in class and present your response at the beginning of the class. Each student will sign up for a different reading slot the first week of class. |
10% |
|
Final Project |
You will build your own social movement addressing an issue you care about. Using a course template provided to you, you will build a strategic plan to launch your own movement and evaluate how it will address this issue. |
30% |
|
Final Project Presentation |
You will present to the class a brief presentation on your social movement and get feedback before submitting the final project. |
10% |
All writing assignments must follow these guidelines:
▪ Use Times New Roman 12-point font
▪ At the top of the first page indicate your name and the date
▪ Double space with 1-inch margins
▪ Number all pages
▪ Follow ALL instructions on assignment prompts
▪ Appropriately cite source
Late Submission Policy
- Must ask for extensions in advance
- Late assignments will be penalized; each day the assignment is late 2 points will be deducted from the final grade (e.g., a 95 grade on a paper will be 93 if it is a day late)
- Failure to submit the take-home midterm by the deadline will result in an F
Course Texts:
All texts will be available on Canvas for download
University Policy on Academic Misconduct:
The University takes academic integrity very seriously. Behaving with integrity is part of our responsibility to our shared learning community. If you’re uncertain about if something is academic misconduct, ask me. I am willing to discuss questions you might have.
Cheating (working collaboratively on quizzes/exams and discussion submissions, sharing answers and previewing quizzes/exams) and plagiarism (representing the work of others as your own without giving appropriate credit to the original author) will not be tolerated. University policies and guidelines regarding cheating and plagiarism will be followed strictly and a report will be filed with the Student Conduct Office, https://www.washington.edu/cssc/facultystaff/academic-misconduct/
Access & Accommodations:
Your experience in this class is important to me. It is the policy and practice of the University of Washington to create inclusive and accessible learning environments consistent with federal and state law. If you have already established accommodations with Disability Resources for Students (DRS), please activate your accommodations via myDRS so we can discuss how they will be implemented in this course.
If you have not yet established services through DRS, but have a temporary health condition or permanent disability that requires accommodations (conditions include but not limited to; mental health, attention-related, learning, vision, hearing, physical or health impacts), contact DRS directly to set up an Access Plan. DRS facilitates the interactive process that establishes reasonable accommodations. Contact DRS at disability.uw.edu.
University Religious Accommodations Policy:
Washington state law requires that UW develop a policy for accommodation of student absences or significant hardship due to reasons of faith or conscience, or for organized religious activities. The UW’s policy, including more information about how to request an accommodation, is available at Religious Accommodations Policy (https://registrar.washington.edu/staffandfaculty/religious-accommodations-policy/). Accommodations must be requested within the first two weeks of this course using the Religious Accommodations Request form (https://registrar.washington.edu/students/religious-accommodations-request/).
Course Outline
- What’s a Movement?
9/25 Syllabus, Expectations, and Course Introduction
- No assigned reading
9/30 What is a Social Movement?
- Read: The concept of social movement
10/2 How do we identify Movements:
- Read: Contentious Repertoires in Great Britain, 1758-1834
- Identity & Leadership
10/7 Identity & Movements
- Read: External Political Change, Collective Identities, and Participation in Social Movement Organizations (Chapter 15)
10/09 Leadership & Micromobilization
- Read: African-American Women in the Civil Rights Movement, 1954-1965: Gender, Leadership, and Micromobilization
- Read: Black Lives Matter Is Democracy in Action
10/ 14 Leadership & Professionalization
- Read: The Consequence of Professionalization and Formalization in the Pro-Choice Movement
10/16 Leadership Structures & Movement Roles
- Read: Should You Agitate, Innovate, or Orchestrate?
- Read: Occupying Wall Street: Places and Spaces of Political Action
- Movement Tool Kits & Strategy
10/21 Movements, Preferences & the Tea Party
- Who Wants to Have a Tea Party? The Who, What, and Why of the Tea Party Movement
10/23 Digital Movements & Hashtag Activism
- Read: Narrative Agency in Hashtag Activism: The Case of #BlackLivesMatter
*** Paper Due on Canvas by Start of Class ***
10/28 Frames & Mobilization
- Read: Frame Alignment Processes, Micromobilization, and Movement Participation
10/30 Sustaining Movement Building
- Read: Trumpism, Citizenship, and the Future of the LGBTQ Movement
- Advocacy & Transformations
11/4 Organizations & Collective Identity
- Read: More Than One Feminism: Organizational Structure and the Construction of Collective Identity
11/6 Organizations & Intersectional Advocacy
- Read: Redrawing Policy Boundaries Around Race, Gender & Class: Chapter 2 & 3
11/11 Veteran’s Day—No CLASS
- No Readings:
11/13 *** 24 HOUR TAKE-HOME MIDTERM EXAM ***
11/18 Social Movements & Transformations
- Read: Redrawing Policy Boundaries Around Race, Gender & Class: Chapter 4
11/20 Social Movements & The University
- Read: Opportunity Structures for Student Activism, Diversity, and Institutional Change
11/25 At Home- Assignment (No in-person class)
- At Home Assignment: Work on your final project
11/27 Day Before Thanksgiving (No In person Class)
- At Home Assignment: Submit a rough draft of class presentation on canvas (Pass/ Fail goes towards presentation grade)
12/2 In-Class Presentations
12/4 In-Class Presentations
12/11 FINAL PROJECT DUE