Throughout history and across continents, social movements have functioned as powerful catalysts for social, political, and cultural transformation on a global scale. These organized efforts raise public consciousness and influence mass opinion; mobilize people through coordinated action, including labor stoppages, public demonstrations, and advocacy campaigns; and sometimes employ confrontational and occasionally violent forms of resistance to challenge established systems.
Whether bringing together varied groups around intersectional frameworks or concentrating attention on the specific concerns of particular communities, movements such as ACT UP, Black Lives Matter, Extinction Rebellion, La Via Campesina, Occupy Wall Street, Sex Workers Rights initiatives, the Landless Workers Movement, and innumerable others offer platforms amplifying the voices of affected and marginalized persons and communities. These movements simultaneously work toward establishing alternative mechanisms for achieving institutional transformation and enacting change outside traditional political structures. Despite the considerable diversity in their objectives and tactical approaches, what common elements define a social movement? Under what conditions and for what reasons do social movements emerge and gain momentum? How can we meaningfully assess their success in reducing systemic oppression and addressing social inequality?
This course provides a comprehensive examination of historical and contemporary perspectives on collective action, exploring how social movements have catalyzed change while tracing how our theoretical understanding of social movements has itself evolved. We will study specific historical movements and particular moments of collective action, ranging from nineteenth-century rebellions and labor organizing through twentieth-century debates about crowds and collective behavior, from globally significant movements during the 1960s to twenty-first-century movements facilitated through digital technology and online networking.
Simultaneously, we will engage the substantial and growing body of theoretical scholarship addressing social movements as engines of social change. Throughout our investigation, we will examine critical questions: What role does grievance play in sparking and sustaining movements? How does identity formation influence movement emergence and development? What significance does class position hold within social movements? What internal and external obstacles do movements face? What psychological and social factors motivate participation in collective action? Can we trace clear causal relationships, such as perceived injustice, that explain movement trajectories? Readings will examine numerous historical cases and draw on influential scholarly work by Eric Hobsbawm, Frances Fox Piven, Richard Cloward, Charles Tilly, Sidney Tarrow, Francesca Polletta, James Jasper, Alain Touraine, Donatella della Porta, Ruth Milkman, Jo Freeman, Aldon Morris, and Manuel Castells.
The Brooklyn Institute is not a physical location. Classes are held throughout Brooklyn and Manhattan in diverse alternative venues, including bar back rooms, independent bookstores, and institutional spaces, including the Center for Jewish History, the Goethe-Institut, and the Barnard Center for Research on Women. We transform any space into an active classroom environment. You will receive the specific class location when you register.
