POSC304 Social Movement Notes PDF

Social Movement in Asia \[POSC304\] Week 1, Class 1: Introduction to Social Movements Content - Helps us to understand how societies change through collective action. E.g., climate protests, Black Lives Matter demonstrations and strikes by workers. This shapes the global landscape, such...

Social Movement in Asia \[POSC304\] Week 1, Class 1: Introduction to Social Movements Content - Helps us to understand how societies change through collective action. E.g., climate protests, Black Lives Matter demonstrations and strikes by workers. This shapes the global landscape, such as: - Labor Movements Eight-hour workday; - Women Suffrage movements Voting rights through campaigns; - US Civil Rights Movements End of legal segregation; - LGBT Movements Marriage Equality. - Social Movements: **Conscious, concerted**, and **sustained** efforts by **ordinary people** to **change** some aspect of their society using **extra-institutional means**. (Jeff Goodwin and James M. Jasper) - US Civil Rights Movements brief: - Mass Struggle for Racial Equality, peaked in the 1950s -- 1960s - Systemic discrimination, Southern states - Jim Crow laws enforced segregation in schools, restaurants, public transport, and other public places - Black citizens faced voting restrictions, violence and discrimination. - Montgomery Bus Boycott (1955 -- 1956): Sparked by Rosa Parks' refusal to give the seat to a white passenger. This resulted in protests and ended bus segregation, MLK Jr. as the national leader. - March on Washington (1963): Drew 250K people, featured King's "I Have a Dream" speech. built momentum for legislation. - Selma to Montgomery Marches (1965): protested voting discrimination, TV coverage showed police violence, shocked national audience. - **Conscious, concerted:** Carefully planned actions from boycotts to marches - **Sustained:** Persistent struggle across many years - **Ordinary people:** Mass participation of everyday African Americans - **Change:** The sought transformation of legal, political, and social systems - **Extra-institutional means:** Used boycotts, demonstrations, sit-ins, and civil disobedience - Pre-1960s - Movements viewed with fear, suspicions, dangers, and mobs acting irrationally. - Frameworks persisted through: - 19^th^ Century European worker's protests - Early voting rights movements - Nazi movements - 1960s Transformation - Shift in an academic perspective. First-time privileged groups aligned with protest movements. Universities began supporting demands for social change from marginalized groups - Theoretical Development in Understanding Social Movements - Economic Turn: - Mancur Olson, Rational Choice Theory -- People weigh benefits, costs, and impact. Created "free-rider problem" in collective action. - Movement participation is explained by -- Selective benefit, social rewards, Moral satisfaction, and Skill development. - Resource mobilisation theory emerged -- Movements as organizational structures, focus on resources and staffing, and strategic messaging. - Political Turn: - Analysed state-movement interactions - Reframed protest as alternative politics - Emphasized strategic rights claims - Cultural Turn: - Focused on symbolic and identity aspects -- creating meaningful symbols; Building solidarity; and Framing issues effectively. - Emphasized collective identity -- Politicizing existing identities, and creating new movement-based identities - Recent Developments: - Global Movement coordination - Focus on emotional dynamics: Anger and outrage, fear, and anxiety and joy and excitement - Climate movement example: Cross-border organisation, emotional engagement and global identity formation - Understanding social movements helps to understand human nature and society; Movements are crucial drivers of political change, and central to social change. Social Movement in Asia \[POSC304\] Week 1, Class 2: Structural Theories -- Resource Mobilization and Political Process Theory Content Early Movement Theory - Collective Behaviour Theory -- (1920s -- 1970s), is no longer primary but still influences modern day thinking. - Core Elements: - Examined how people act outside established institutions - Movements arise from disruption and structural breakdown - Viewed as a unique phenomenon outside regular channels - 3 key elements -- Extra-institutional nature; Social breakdown; Shared beliefs - Chicago Schools Symbolic Interactionist Perspective: (Robert Park, and Ernest Burgess) - Introduce symbolic interactionism to social movement study - Park & Burgess showed how meaning systems breakdown and reform - "Emergent norms" coordinate collective action - Example: Environmental movement shared ecological understanding - Smelser's Value-Added Model 6 Sequential Conditions for Movements - Structural Conduciveness - Structural Strain - Development of Shared Beliefs - Precipitating events trigger action - Leadership emerges to mobilize - Authority response shapes movements Too focused on the strain and incorrectly saw movements as abnormal rather than normal social activity. - Alternative Explanations: - Mass Society Theory - Focused on Social Isolation -- social connections matter more - Relative Deprivation Theory - Examined rising public expectations -- lack empirical evidence for claims - Conclusion: - Collective Behaviour Theory made lasting contributions - Meaning-making and shared beliefs remain influential - The 1970s revealed theory limitations through civil rights movement - However, understanding these early theories helps us understand theoretical evolution in the field Resource Mobilization - Shift in the 1970s in understanding social movements from psychological to political understanding of movements. Resources Mobilization Theory emphasises resources over grievances. - Established by McCarthy and Zaid (1977), emphasised the role of movement entrepreneurs and organizations. Shifted its focus from individual participation to organisational sustainability. Shows movement requires strategy, not just spontaneous grievances. - Five types of resources: - Material - Tangible assets i.e. money, property, equipment. Money is crucial as it easily converts to other resources - Human - Skills, expertise, and labour from individuals. Different movements need different types of expertise - Social -- Organizational - Includes infrastructures, networks, and coalitions. Access varies from open to exclusive. Can reinforce existing social inequalities. - Cultural - Shared ideas, beliefs, and tactical knowledge. Include protest techniques and organisational know-how. It can be transferred between movements. - Moral - Includes legitimacy and influential support. Celebrity endorsements and institutional recognition. Controlled by those who grant them. - Four main ways to acquire resources 1. Self-production through existing organizations 2. Aggregation from supporting individuals and groups 3. Co-optation from existing organizations 4. Patronage from external actors with conditions - Critiques and Refinements - Downplayed role of aggrieved mass based - Over-emphasized formal organizations - Neglected cultural and political context Lead to the development of Political Theory Political Process Theory - Demonstrates how social movements and political systems influence each other. - Emerged from **Lipsky and Eisinger's** 1970s insights on how movements become active when authorities are vulnerable or receptive. - **Tilly and McAdam** showed how changes in political systems shape movement outcomes. - McAdam Framework - Published landmark1982 book on political process theory - 3 essential factors: - Favourable political opportunities (changes in the political system that make it more likely for movements to succeed E.g. changes in access to power, alignment of elites, or state capacity) - Indigenous organizational capacity (existing networks and resources within communities that can be mobilized) - Cognitive liberation (a shared belief that change is both necessary and possible through collective action) - Emphasised the importance of activist interpretation of opportunities - Showed consciousness must combine with opportunities for mobilization - Civil Rights Movement Case Study, 3 factors - Cotton decline and the Cold War created new political opportunities - Black churches and colleges provided Indigenous organizational capacity - These institutions fostered cognitive liberation (belief in the possibility of change) Revealed interaction between structures and human agency. - 5 Features of Regimes that shape political opportunities for movements - Multiple power centres - System openness - Political Alliances - Influential Allies - State Responses - Destabilizing Events that can shape opportunities - Wars initially suppress protest but can spark resistance to drafts and sacrifices - Economic crises can weaken labour but also generate new grievances that fuel new movements. Periods of disruption often spark multiple movements simultaneously, as seen in the 1960s civil rights, women, and anti-war movements. - Key Criticisms: - Applied too mechanically ignoring activist interpretation - Too focused on state rather than other targets - Overemphasized opportunities vs threats - Became isolated from broader social contexts - Conclusion - Political Process Theory revealed how movements and political systems shape each other - McAdam Framework showed that success needs opportunities, organization, and shared beliefs - The theory was strengthened by adding resource and framing insights - Helps analyse how movements interpret their environment, mobilize resources, and construct compelling narratives. - Social Movement in Asia \[POSC304\] Week 2, Class 1: Cultural Theories: New Social Movement Theory and Connective Action Content New Social Movements Theory - Cultural approaches emerged as an alternative to Resource Mobilization and Political Process Theories - The 1980s -- 90s scholars shifted focus from resources and strategy to collective action frames, identity, and emotions - New Social Movements prioritized cultural and identity issues over traditional economic concerns - Collective action frames were introduced to explain how movements inspire participation - 2011 Occupy Wall Street Movement slogan, "We are the 99%" showed the power of effective movement framing - Master frames -- multiple movements can adopt (e.g. Women's Rights) - Movement-specific frames (e.g. Abortion debate: "Pro-choice" or "Right to Life") - Framing can become competitive (e.g. "choice" vs "life") - Scholars combined resource mobilization and political process approaches with a new focus on how movements frame their messages Connective Action - Bennet and Segerberg examine how social movements operate in a globalised world with new ICT. The research found that ICT changes movement formation and organisation. - Argues that traditional social movement theory focused primarily on solving the free rider problems - Olson addressed this by emphasising coercion and selective incentives, highlighting the need for formal organisations in coordination. This shaped Resource Mobilization Theory -- stressed the professionalisation of movement organisations. - Cultural factors were incorporated, and formal organization remained central - Bennet and Segerberg argue that modern communication technologies enable a new form of self-motivated participation through personally expressive content shared online -- Connective Action. - Traditional Collective Action Network: - Type of Action: Follows traditional logic of collective action - Role of organizations: Organizations and leaders spend years developing interpersonal networks and coordinating collective action among members - Collective Identities: Recruit new members and foster a strong collective identity around organisation cause - Technology: Use social network technologies to manage participation and coordinate their goals - Action frames: Promotes exclusive, ideologically rigid action frames that help create collective identities "Eat the Rich" - Examples: Civil Rights Movement and Anti-Capitalist Groups at G20 London Summit protests. - Connective Action Networks - Type of Action: Individual participation through digital platforms - Role of organizations: Minimize organizational involvement in favour of decentralized coordination using digital tools, leaderless - Collective Identities: Create loose networks that allow participants to express personal motivations rather than adopt rigid collective identities - Technology: Leverage social media platforms for rapid mobilisation and adaptation to changing circumstances. - Action Frames: Use inclusive personal action frames that resonate with individual experiences and values "We are the 99%" - Examples: Indignados and Put People First - 2 Types of Connective Action Networks - Self-Organizing -- Los Indignados Movement - Emerge in 2011, Spain as a response to global financial crisis (austerity and corruption) - Relied on digital platforms, similar to Democracia real YA! -- no traditional hierarchy - Leaderless, enabled personal expression through social media - Employed inclusive frames that united diverse participants without ideological constraint - Influence global movements like occupy wall street through large-scale mobilization. - Organizationally Enabled -- Put People First Movement - Emerge in 2009, during G20 in London. - Represented an organizationally enabled network combining institutional support with grassroots participation. - Addressed anti-capitalist, environmental, and global justice concern through inclusive messaging - Created a platform for personalised engagement while maintaining organizational resources - Critiques: - Overlook roles of grievances, emotions, and collective identities in movement formation - Fails to address challenges of maintaining long-term engagement and achieving concrete political outcomes - Assumes democratic contexts and widespread ICT access, limiting applicability in authoritarian settings Social Movement in Asia \[POSC304\] Week 2, Class 2: Authoritarianism and Social Movements Content Authoritarian Regimes - Traditional Theory viewed protests as impossible. 2 Key Development Challenge this view: - Authoritarian regimes now incorporate some democratic practices - Organized protest and social movements have emerged in authoritarian contexts - Chen and Moss (2019), 5 factors to consider: - Variation in Authoritarianism - Authoritarian regimes exist in a complex spectrum: totalitarian like NK, seek complete control. However, most authoritarian regimes have some tolerance for pluralism. While stabilising regimes, but also creates opportunities for social movement - Variation in Repression - Modern authoritarianism creates a safe space for activism. They avoid using extreme violence to avoid provoking resistance and international condemnation. Usually, they employ mixed tactics. - Soft approaches -- Surveillance, Censorship, and Legal Persecution. - Innovative -- Subcontracting repression. - Variation in Institutional Access - Creation of formal channel for grievance venting. I.e. China XinFang petition system. Offer limited effectiveness, but crucial for regime stability. They manage civil society through: Government-organized NGOs and Controlled participatory structures. Allows of airing of grievances while maintaining control - Variation in Electoral Competition - Even tightly controlled elections can create opportunities for social movements. More open discussion during electoral periods and rise in protest. In regime with no elections, dissatisfied elites may support protest movements, i.e. China 1989 student movement. - Decentralized Power Structures - Chinese central government uses citizen protests to monitor local officials. Local officials can also extract resources from central governments. A decentralised system offers more avenues for social movements - Authoritarian Regimes and Transnational Dynamics - Social movements leverage international allies and advanced technology. - Helps spread protest awareness - Enables regime surveillance - Authoritarian states have developed sophisticated transnational repression networks. Control extends to diaspora communities abroad. Media Freedom - Post 1970s transformation. ICT provides new opportunities. - Rohlinger and Corrigal-Brown argue that how activist use media depends on the openness of media and their intended audience. - 2 key limitations: - Narrow focus on Mainstream Media - Scholars have traditionally focused too heavily on mainstream media coverage and mobilization metrics - Should focus on: - Niche audience communication - Artistic activist expression - Messaging content - Use of multiple media channels - Limited Case Studies - Existing research primarily focuses on individual cases, most in the west. - Limiting because: - Media strategies may be ineffective outside the west - Protest techniques must adapt to local media environments - Social movements now operate on global networks. - Open System: - Challenging the status quo - Target Public: use public platforms for recruitment, educate the broader public, and challenge the elite perspective. - Target Supporters: use private forums -- authentic communication and develop collective identities - More obstacles than risks - Competing for media attention - Media bias, focus on dramatic events - Online harassment, potential state surveillance, and digital disruption by trolls. - Closed Systems - Engaging from the Shadows - Target Public: Due to censorship, activists often use satire and double meanings, memes, and humour. May get their message out through polite protests - Target Supporters: Internal communication can be done face to face or on the dark web - More Risks than Obstacles - Severe consequence for media activism - Includes potential imprisonment and risk of torture - Must balance impact against personal safety Social Movement in Asia \[POSC304\] Week 3, Class 1: Tactics Content Protest Politics - Refer to deliberate and public expression of dissent to influence political decisions. Actors include loosely structured groups, campaigns, and social movements. Forms of protest range from writing petitions to attending marches to more confrontational action. Organizations vary from spontaneous activity to carefully crafted, long-term planned events. - Ethnographic fieldwork -- analysis through observation - Protest event analysis -- examines a large number of protests using media reports and police archives - Survey research -- understand public attitudes and individual participation patterns - Case studies -- specific campaigns - Substantial increase in protest events, particularly in Western Democracy, is part of the normal part of politics. - Has spread across all social strata in established democracy. Education levels and protest participation, have a positive correlation. - Issues have been expanding. - Forms of protest have diversified beyond traditional methods, including media campaigns to boycott. Most protests remain peaceful, with the growing use of civil disobedience. - WVS shows the highest participation rates in the West. Southern countries show higher rates of confrontational protest forms. - The simple assumption that greater grievances lead to more protests has been disproven. There exists multiple factors that interact with each other -- Perception of grievances, expected impact, resources, organisation, and context. - Protest is facilitated by affluence, open political institutions, and post-materialist values - Influence Public Opinion, Voting behaviour, and policy changes. - The size of the protest doesn't matter in determining success - Disruptive protest may trigger concessions but can split protesters - Other factors affect success, such as media coverage, protesters' credibility, and cultural resonance. Nonviolent Protest - A common form of mass protest in the modern era. The majority of movements between 1900 -- 2019 are non-violent. 2010 saw an increase in non-violent campaigns. - ICT enables learning from successful movements and better coordination across the nation. - The end of the Cold War reduces external state support for armed rebel groups. - Grow human rights awareness and make non-violent alternatives more appealing - International NGOs help spread knowledge about nonviolent resistance techniques. - Positive: growing recognition that nonviolent methods can be powerful tools for social change. - Negative: indicates a deep dissatisfaction with existing political institutions, stems from -- democratic backsliding; failure of institutions to address inequality, racial justice, and climate change. - Historical records showed the **effectiveness** of non-violent resistance, but have been dropping since early 2000 - Attract broader participation across society more representative; Better positioned to cause defections among regime supporters; Government repression often backfires; Success depends more on broad coalitions and nonviolent discipline than opponents' characteristics. - Effectiveness has decreased in recent years, dropping from over 40% (the 1960s to 2010) to 34% in the 2010s. The decline stems from external and internal factors. - External: The regime is more sophisticated in countering movements through infiltration and surveillance, and they secure diplomatic cover from powerful allies. Decline in international support and US Democracy - Internal: Over-reliance on street protest and neglecting other tactics; Digital organising creates vulnerability while challenging sustainability. - The pandemic revealed government incompetence and inequalities, strengthened through relationship building. - Innovation in tactics including socially distant protest and digital organizing. Essential worker's action demonstrate the power of economic non-cooperation Social Movement in Asia \[POSC304\] Week 3, Class 2: Impacts Content Impact of Social Movements - Success used to be determined based on whether a movement achieved stated goals. Modern scholars take a different approach. 1. Structural/Democratic Changes a. Lasting changes, i.e. expanding democratic rights for disenfranchised groups. Change the rules of the game, not just winning within existing rules. 2. Policy Changes b. Movement may fail to achieve core demands but win concessions. Symbolic victories can lay the groundwork for more substantial changes later. 3. Political Access and Representation c. Gaining seats at the table through government appointments or establishing ongoing relationships with political parties. Provide long-term channels for influence in elections and policymaking. 4. Cultural Change d. Legal changes that spark social transformation. Public awareness campaigns help people re-evaluate values. Language evolution through new terms reshapes cultural understanding. e. Van Dyke and Taylor 3 ways in which social movements create lasting cultural change; i. Public Performances -- Protest, behaviour shifts, and organizational change create new cultural meanings ii. Changing Minds -- Movements shape beliefs, language, and how we understand ourselves iii. Cultural Objects & Symbols -- Art, music, and symbols carry movement messages through times - Unintended Consequences - Positive: achieve benefits they weren't explicitly seeking - Negative: backlash for constituents - Short- and Long-term Influence - The movement might appear to fail in immediate goals but can plant seeds for changes that happen years or decades later. - Amenta et al. analysed outcomes of US Social movements - Movements are influential, - Larger movements were most effective. - Most research on Policy changes, only a few on sttcutural changes. Limited evidence of electoral outcome impact - More impact on Early-stage policy developments, less impact on final outcomes and implementation Factors in Social Movements Success - Size does not determine success. Political influence requires multiple elements working together. 6 Essential Factors and 4 Additional Factors: 1. **High Levels of Movement Mobilization** -- Need people to show up, speak out, and take action. Paradox: mobilising tactics can undermine political influence. Radical rhetoric may energize base but alienate potential allies 2. **A Favourable Political Environment** -- Well-organized movements need political openings. Hostile climate can block even strong movement 3. **Demand framed in Appealing Ways** -- Must master dual framing for a different audience, the message must energize supporters while persuading policymakers. Radical demands need to be logical 4. **Strategic Political Action** -- Must mobilise supporters and engage institutions and policymakers. Different expertise is needed for negotiating and organizing. Balance street activism with legislative engagement. 5. **Effective Electoral Strategies** -- The movement should engage with electoral politics; support friendly candidates-oppose hostile ones and influence the party. Movements need to demonstrate the ability to affect electoral outcomes. Sustained influence requires ongoing relationships with political parties. 6. **Public Opinion Support** -- Universal support is not required but need significant public backing for their goals. 1. **Pre-existing agenda** -- Easier to advance issues already on the agenda 2. **Strong Organizational Infrastructure** -- Need stable organizations to sustain activity 3. **Tactical Diversity** -- Use multiple approaches simultaneously (protest, lobby, legal) 4. **Sustained Pressure** -- Change requires extended efforts over years or decades