Social Movements in the Americas 4219-SH0040
This course explores the academic approaches, debates, and theoretical frameworks surrounding social movements across the Western Hemisphere.
In recent years, social mobilisation in the United States have seen a notable increase. Scholars debate the nature of this trend, with some suggesting it reflects widespread dissatisfaction with the functioning of democratic institutions, while others argue it underscores the enduring importance of protest as a vital form of political participation in democratic life. Regardless, concerns have emerged about the ability of democratic institutions to effectively address the growing social tensions at play.
In Latin America, the study of social movements is an important topic of sociological, political, and anthropological scholarship. The democratic transitions of the 1980s, along with the implementation of neoliberal policies followed by waves of protests in the 1990s, have significantly shaped the study of social movements in the region. In the last decades, academic debates have focused on a variety of topics, including institutional and informal politics, cultural identity, geographical processes, as well as economic structures and processes of change.
To deepen the discussion on contentious collective action, the course examines key social movements from the late 20th and early 21st centuries. In addition to examples from the United States, such as #MeToo and MAGA, the course explores movements from countries such as Canada, Bolivia, Cuba, Chile, Haiti, and Mexico, focusing on topics like environmental justice, gender equality, LGBTQ+ rights, human rights, and identity issues. By doing so, the course aims to familiarize participants with grassroots social and political activism across the Americas.
Moreover, the course examines the transformative role of technology, particularly in the context of online activism, with the objective of understanding how digital platforms have reshaped social movements. While the phenomenon of 'clicktivism' (i.e. online activism) and the spread of the use of social media have demonstrated how technology has become an effective tool for organising, mobilising, and socialising various causes, the evidence for transformative effects on public policy, institutional behaviour and design, and social cohesion is less visible.
The main goal of this course is to provide the student with analytical tools to understand forms of contentious collective action. Course participants will be introduced to a broad range of theoretical perspectives on forms of contentious collective action. Participants will study social movements’ processes, dynamics, and relationships with political institutions.
Type of course
Mode
Prerequisites (description)
Course coordinators
Learning outcomes
KNOWLEDGE
Upon completing the course, the student:
- understands key concepts and theories on the course topics.
- recognises relevant issues in the area of studies.
- identifies historical and contemporary issues related to the topics of the course.
SKILLS.
Upon completing the course, the student:
- is able to critically use theories and concepts to explain issues related to the course.
- will formulate critical arguments.
- will draw conclusions and formulate synthetic summaries.
SOCIAL COMPETENCES
Upon completing the course, the student:
- is able to formulate her own opinion about contemporary affairs.
- understands the importance of inter-cultural relations and cooperation to address social problems.
- improves her knowledge of the continent of America.
Assessment criteria
Student assessment is based on
Class participation (15%)
Mid-term essay: 2,000 words (35%)
Final essay: 2,500 words (50%)
100-88 = 5
87-73 = 4
72-57 = 3
56- 0 = 2
Bibliography
Almeida, Paul and Mark Lichbach (2003) ‘To the Internet, from the Internet: Comparative Media Coverage of Transnational Protest’. Mobilization, 8(3): 249–272.
Anderson, Benedict (1983) Imagined Communities: Reflection on the Origin and Spread of Nationalism. London: Verso.
Arendt, Hannah (1958) The Human Condition. Chicago, IL: The University of Chicago Press
Coser, Lewis (1956) The Functions of Social Conflict. Glencoe, IL: The Free Press
della Porta, Donatella, and Mario Diani (eds), The Oxford Handbook of Social Movements (2015; online edn, Oxford Academic, 4 Aug. 2014),
della Porta and Mario Diani (1999) Social Movements: An Introduction. Oxford: Blackwell.
Diani, Mario (1992) ‘The Concept of Social Movement’. The Sociological Review, 40(1): 1–25.
Ferdinand, Peter (2007) ‘The Internet, Democracy and Democratization’. Democratization, 7(1): 1–17.
Giddens, Anthony (1984) The Constitution of Society. Cambridge: Polity Press.
Horowitz, Donald L. (1975) ‘Ethnic Identity’, in Nathan Glazer and Daniel P. Moynihan (eds.), Ethnicity. Theory and Experience. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 111–140.
McAdam, Doug (1982) Political Process and the Development of Black Insurgency, 1930–1970. Chicago and London: University of Chicago Press.
McAdam, Doug, Sidney Tarrow, and Charles Tilly (2001) Dynamics of Contention. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
McCarthy, John D. and Mayer N. Zald (1977) ‘Resource Mobilization and Social Movements: A Partial Theory’. American Journal of Sociology, 82(6): 1212–1241.
Melucci, Alberto (1980) ‘The New Social Movements: A Theoretical Approach’. Social Science Information, 19(2): 199–226.
Mills, C. Wright (1959) The Sociological Imagination. New York and Oxford: Oxford University Press
Nye, Robert A. (1975) The Origins of Crowd Psychology: Gustave Le Bon and the Crisis of Mass Democracy in the Third Republic. London: Sage.
Oberschall, Anthony (1973) Social Conflict and Social Movements. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall
Rossi, Federico M. (ed.), The Oxford Handbook of Latin American Social Movements (2023; online edn, Oxford Academic, 22 May 2023),
Rucht, Dieter, Social Movements: A Theoretical Approach (Oxford, 2023; online edn, Oxford Academic, 22 June 2023),
Scott, James (1985) Weapons of the Weak: Everyday Forms of Peasant Resistance. New Haven: Yale University Press.
Snow, David A., Sarah A. Soule, and Hanspeter Kriesi (eds.) (2004) The Blackwell Companion to Social Movements. Malden, MA: Blackwell.
Tarrow, Sidney (1994) Power in Movement: Social Movements, Collective Actions and Politics. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Tilly, Charles (1978) From Mobilization to Revolution. Reading, MA: Addison–Wesley.
Additional information
Additional information (registration calendar, class conductors, localization and schedules of classes), might be available in the USOSweb system: