Learning Objectives

By the end of the course, you will:

1. Understand and clearly explain how social movements communicate and why;

2. Analyze and evaluate the relationship between social movements and the media;

3. Demonstrate knowledge of how technology structures social movements; and

4. Apply the theoretical and methodological tools of social movement research to the analysis of contemporary and historical social movements.

Required Readings

All required course texts will be provided for you on Canvas; there are no texts that you are required to purchase. It is expected that you will come to each course meeting having thoroughly read the assigned reading and that you are ready with comments and questions to contribute to our group discussions.

Note: Please do the readings in the order I’ve listed them on the syllabus. I have deliberately put them in the order in which they will be easiest to understand as you read.

Assignments

Group Case Study Presentation (20%)

At one point in the quarter, you will be responsible for presenting a case study of a social movement of your choosing. The case study should apply the readings for that day to your movement, showing how some of the key concepts and ideas are evident in and/or challenged by the case you selected. Your presentation should between 10–15 minutes. After the presentation, you should provide me a written summary of what each group member contributed to the presentation. Dates for presentations will be selected during the first week.

Final Paper (70%)

Your main course assignment is the final paper. This paper should analyze a social movement in light of course theories, advancing an argument about the relationships between communication and the movement. It should use Chicago style for formatting and citations. The paper will be broken up into several sub-assignments due over the course of the quarter, as follows:

Social Movement Summary

Pick a social movement, with my approval. Write up a brief summary (approximately 250–500 words) of your chosen movement. How did it begin? What are/were its aims? What has it achieved/did it achieve? How has it been/was it responded to by political institutions/the press/rival movements or opponents/the public? Cite at least two legitimate sources.

Problematique

What about this movement do the theories we’ve discussed in class not quite explain? What doesn’t yet make sense about how this movement works/worked? Why does it not make sense? Write approximately 500 words, though more are fine if necessary.

Thesis and Outlined Arguments

What is your core thesis of what would make sense instead? What is your answer for why this movement works the way it does, even though past theory doesn’t offer one? What 3 to 5 arguments support the truth of your thesis? Write out your thesis in 1 to 3 sentences and each of your supporting arguments in 1 or 2 sentences.

Scaffolded Outline with Evidence

Bullet list the evidence for your supporting arguments within your outline (in full sentences). Arrange your arguments and evidence into an order that increases the coherence of your argument and builds support for your thesis in a compelling manner. Cite at least two legitimate sources for each argument.

Final Paper

Now bring it all together by writing through the outline you’ve created and drawing on your summary and problematique to frame your analysis. The final paper should be approximately 3,000–5,000 words, though it may be longer depending on the sophistication of your argument and evidence.

In-Class Activities (10%)

In order to sharpen both your analytical and your practical skills, we will have in-class activities most class meetings. You should come to every meeting prepared to engage in these activities and to be kind, compassionate, and encouraging colleagues who provide honest and helpful feedback to one another.

Grading

Written assignments are graded without numbers. You will not get a grade percentage or a letter grade. Your assignments will be returned to you with one of four designations: Accepted (meaning your assignment is strong as it is), Minor Revisions (meaning your assignment is decent, but you have some areas for improvement), Major Revisions (meaning your assignment needs significant improvement), and Rejected (meaning your assignment is entirely unacceptable). These designations will be provided alongside substantive feedback, and you can revise and resubmit assignments as many times as you like until you receive a designation of Accepted. Assignments receiving a designation of Minor Revisions do not need to be revised; however, assignments receiving a designation of Major Revisions or Rejected must be revised to at least a level of Minor Revisions.

Course Schedule

Week 1, Class 1: An Introduction to Social Movements, Part 1

No readings

Week 1, Class 2: An Introduction to Social Movements, Part 2

Diani, Mario. 1992. “The Concept of Social Movement.” The Sociological Review 40 (1): 1–25.

Touré. 2017. “A Year Inside the Black Lives Matter Movement.” Rolling Stone, December 7. https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-news/a-year-inside-the-black-lives-matter-movement-204982/

Week 2, Class 1: How to Read Readings and Take Notes

Raff, Jennifer. 2017. “How to Read and Understand a Scientific Paper: A Step-by-Step Guide for Non-Scientists.” Huffpost, December 6. https://www.huffpost.com/entry/how-to-read-and-understand-a-scientific-paper_b_5501628.

Week 2, Class 2: How to Research and Write Papers

Elmira College. n.d. “How to Do Research: A Step-By-Step Guide: Get Started.” https://libguides.elmira.edu/research/.

Schrag, Zachary. 2021. “Organization.” In The Princeton Guide to Historical Research. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.

Week 3, Class 1: Theories of Social Movements, Part 1

McCarthy, John D., and Mayer N. Zald. 1977. “Resource Mobilization and Social Movements: A Partial Theory.” American Journal of Sociology 82 (6): 1212–1241.

Buechler, Steven M. 1995. “New Social Movement Theories.” The Sociological Quarterly 36 (3): 441–464.

Week 3, Class 2: Theories of Social Movements, Part 2

McAdam, Doug. 1999. “The Political Process Model.” In Political Process and the Development of Black Insurgency, 1930–1970, 36–59. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

Armstrong, Elizabeth A., and Mary Bernstein. 2008. “Culture, Power, and Institutions: A Multi-Institutional Politics Approach to Social Movements.” Sociological Theory 26 (1): 74–99.

Week 4, Class 1: The Importance of Framing

Ryan, Charlotte. 1991. “Getting Framed: The Media Shape Reality.” In Prime Time Activism: Media Strategies for Grassroots Organizing, 53–74. Boston, MA: South End Press.

Benford, Robert D. 1993. “Frame Disputes within the Nuclear Disarmament Movement.” Social Forces 71 (3): 677–701.

Week 4, Class 2: The Importance of Media

Ryan, Charlotte. 1991. “Understanding the Role of Media.” In Prime Time Activism: Media Strategies for Grassroots Organizing, 3–30. Boston, MA: South End Press.

Rohlinger, Deana A. 2015. Introduction to Abortion Politics, Mass Media, and Social Movements in America, 1–15. New York: Cambridge University Press.

Week 5, Class 1: The Movement Press

DiCenzo, Maria. 2003. “Gutter Politics: Women Newsies and the Suffrage Press.” Women’s History Review 12 (1): 15–33.

Streitmatter, Rodger. 1995. “Creating a Venue for the ‘Love that Dare Not Speak Its Name’: Origins of the Gay and Lesbian Press.” Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly 72 (2): 436–447.

Week 5, Class 2: Movement–Media Relations

Gitlin, Todd. 1980. Introduction to The Whole World is Watching: Mass Media in the Making & Unmaking of the New Left, 1–20. Berkeley: University of California Press.

Barker-Plummer, Bernadette. 1996. “The Dialogic of Media and Social Movements.” Peace Review 8 (1): 27–33.

Week 6, Class 1: Media Activism

Sobieraj, Sarah. 2011. “What if the Whole World Isn’t Watching?” In Soundbitten: The Perils of Media-Centered Political Activism, 1–22. New York: New York University Press.

Lopez, Lori Kido. 2016. Introduction to Asian American Media Activism: Fighting for Cultural Citizenship, 1–34. New York: New York University Press.

Week 6, Class 2: Movements and Identity

Taylor, Verta, and Nancy E. Whittier. 1992. “Collective Identity in Social Movement Communities: Lesbian Feminist Mobilization.” In Frontiers in Social Movement Theory, edited by Aldon D. Morris and Carol McClurg Mueller, 104–129. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.

Goss, Kristin A., and Michael T. Heaney. 2010. “Organizing Women as Women: Hybridity and Grassroots Collective Action in the 21st Century.” Perspectives on Politics 8 (1): 27–52.

Week 7, Class 1: Movements and Narrative

Polletta, Francesca. 2006. “Why Stories Matter.” In It was Like a Fever: Storytelling in Protest and Politics, 1–31. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

Week 7, Class 2: Movements and Popular Culture

Eyerman, Ron, and Andrew Jamison. 1995. “Social Movements and Cultural Transformation: Popular Music in the 1960s.” Media, Culture & Society 17 (3): 449–468.

Milner, Ryan. 2013. “Pop Polyvocality: Internet Memes, Public Participation, and the Occupy Wall Street Movement.” International Journal of Communication 7: 2357–2390.

Week 8, Class 1: Networked Movements

Tufekci, Zeynep. 2017. Introduction to Twitter and Tear Gas: The Power and Fragility of Networked Protest, xxi-xxxi. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.

Week 8, Class 2: Digital Technologies and Digital Strategy

Earl, Jennifer, and Katrina Kimport. 2011. Introduction to Digitally Enabled Social Change: Activism in the Internet Age, 3–20. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.

Bennett, W. Lance, and Alexandra Segerberg. 2012. “The Logic of Connective Action: Digital Media and the Personalization of Contentious Politics.” Information, Communication & Society 15 (5): 739–768.

Week 9, Class 1: Social Movements in a New Media System

Chadwick, Andrew. 2011. “The Political Information Cycle in a Hybrid News System: The British Prime Minister and the ‘Bullygate’ Affair.” International Journal of Press/Politics 16 (1): 3–29.

Billard, Thomas J. 2021. “Movement-Media Relations in the Hybrid Media System.” International Journal of Press/Politics 26 (2): 341–361.

Week 9, Class 2: Social Movements in the Attention Economy

Costanza-Chock, Sasha. 2012. “Mic Check! Media Cultures and the Occupy Movement.” Social Movement Studies 11 (3–4): 375–385.

Tufekci, Zeynep. 2013. “‘Not This One’: Social Movements, the Attention Economy, and Microcelebrity Networked Activism.” American Behavioral Scientist 57 (7): 848–870.

Week 10, Class 1: New Movements, New Ways of Speaking

Jackson Sarah J., and Brooke Foucault Welles. 2016. “#Ferguson is Everywhere: Initiators in Emerging Counterpublic Networks.” Information, Communication and Society 19 (3): 397–418.

Richardson, Allissa V. 2019. “Dismantling Respectability: The Rise of New Womanist Communication Models in the Era of Black Lives Matter.” Journal of Communication 69 (2): 193–213.

Week 10, Class 2: Social Movements and Platform Politics

Tufekci, Zeynep. 2017. “Platforms and Algorithms.” In Twitter and Tear Gas: The Power and Fragility of Networked Protest, 132–163. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.

Youmans, William Lafi, and Jillian C. York. 2012. “Social Media and the Activist Toolkit: User Agreements, Corporate Interests, and the Information Infrastructure of Modern Social Movements.” Journal of Communication 62 (2): 315–329.