POLS-667 Comparative Social Movements
How do we explain the appearance or absence of social movements? What social or individual factors explain their development and decline? Who joins social movements? Who does not? Why? What ideas or ideals animate those who do participate? What is it like to be part of a social movement? What effect do they or have they had on politics, power and efforts at social change? These are some of the questions that have traditionally shaped debates over social movements, both domestically and internationally. They will form the analytical core of the work in this course. By critically evaluating several competing schools of thought in social movement theory and history we will attempt to highlight the social forces that have, at varying points in times, facilitated, maintained, as well as blocked the development of social movements in the US and beyond.