Short answer questions. The short answer questions mostly emphasize material from since the midterm. However, you can bring in examples from throughout the course for many of them. You will choose three of the following short answer questions from this list. Each short answer will be worth 10 per cent, for a total of 30 per cent. You should double space your answers. As with the midterm, there will be a 300 word page limit on the answers. Please keep to the word limit! I will be stricter with this than I was with the midterm and stop reading after 300 words.
1. Explain and give examples from the course material of 3 kinds of protest, those using the “logic of numbers”, “the logic of material damage” and “the logic of bearing witness”, as described in the Dellaporta and Diani reading on “Forms, Repertoires and Cycles of Protest” (Brightspace Week 9). Discuss the pros and cons of each kind of protest. (Note: this question is based only on the reading; we have not discussed this material in class, although you should definitely take examples from what we have discussed in class).
3. What are some reasons why the anti-Vietnam war movement in the 1960s became increasingly radicalized? What differences did it make that the movement became more radicalized? What effects did the movement have? (Week 9 and 10 videos, lectures, and discussion; see also Week One Meyer reading “How Social Movements Matter”).
4. What factors led to the rise of the second wave of the women’s movement in North America in the 1960s? (Week 10 videos and lecture notes, two Week 10 readings on the women’s movement, by Freeman, and by Staggenborg and Ramos).
6. The great unsung Canadian thinker Harold Innis (Week 8 lecture) argued that throughout history, the development of new forms or media of communication, for example the rise of the printing press, television, the Internet, and now social media and Web 2.0, has created new openings for movements to challenge established authority. Evaluate Innis’s argument using various examples from throughout the course, the slides from Week 8 and Week 9, and the readings and Youtube videos from Week 8.
7. Outline the arguments of both sides in the violent-non-violent protest debate. That is, first lay out the strongest argument you can for the use of only strictly non-violent protest and then, after you finish, switch roles and lay out the argument for the rejection of non-violence and the necessity of violent approaches to protest. Try to present both sides as convincingly as you can, regardless of your own view. You should draw in part on the Week 9 readings on the violence non-violence debate, and the lecture notes, especially week 9 and week 12, but you should also use other examples from the course material. Be careful to spell out what you are counting as violence in your answer.
8. “During demonstrations, both police and protesters face a set of problems that are the mirror image of one another”. Explain, using examples from the course, a number of ways in which this statement is true as well other ways in which it might not be true. In other words, in what ways are the problems facing police and protesters similar and in what ways are they different? In your answer, consider how and police strategies for dealing with protest have evolved since the 1960s, and what the consequences are of this (Week 13 lecture notes, for discussion of recent police strategies see the Week 12 Fernandez reading, other course material).
10. Discuss the successes and failures of attempts to repress social movements, both in the 1960s and more recently, including both methods of repression that are highly public and those that are secret. When, how and why can repression backfire? (One place the answer should definitely draw from is the Gary Marx reading at the link posted in Week 13.“External Efforts to Damage and Facilitate Social Movements”. You can also draw on a number of other examples from throughout the course. Look at the lecture notes from before the midterm about the consequences of attempts to repress the Free Speech Movement at Berkeley).
11. What challenges have Indigenous activists faced in Canada? How did resources, political opportunities, and collective identities help Indigenous people organize in this country? How did Indigenous activists take advantage of “critical events” (eg the White Paper, patriation of the constitution) to advance their cause? (This question is drawn from the Week 13 Indigenous protest reading)
12. What challenges do groups like the Criminalization and Punishment Education Project (CPEP) face in pushing for human rights for prisoners and trying to reduce the use of incarceration? What are some steps that the Criminalization and Punishment Education Project has taken, or could take, to overcome these challenges? (Week 11 lecture, guest speakers and readings)
13. Of recent social movements, LGBTQ+ movements have faced some of the most difficult obstacles in working toward equality. What are some things that made it particularly difficult for LGBTQ+ activists to organize? What factors have helped LGBTQ+ activists? (Week 12 lecture and videos, Week 13 lecture, week 12 readings by Staggenborg and Ramos and by D’Emilio)
No formal citations are required for the short answer or essay questions. Instead you are encouraged to let me know you are drawing on the course readings, by saying something like, for example, “In the reading by D’Emilio on the LGBTQ+ movement, it said”
The ESSAY QUESTION will be worth 70 per cent of your exam mark. 1500 words (you can write a little longer if you want but 2000 words is a suggested maximum). You should double-space your answer. You can organize your answer under subheadings.
A strong answer will draw on a number of readings as well as on the in-class material.
Hint: This is a two part question. Your answer to part two will be a lot longer than part one. Most of your answer should be part two.
ESSAY QUESTION: Discuss the following using concepts and examples throughout the course. Use examples from the various movements we have looked at in the course.
People who join social movements in democracies like Canada make a deliberate choice to try to bring about social change through their own activism, rather than casting their votes and then leaving politics up to the elected politicians. Taking action yourselves is known as “direct democracy” or “participatory democracy”. This question has two parts. Part 1) What kinds of people are more likely to join and support social movements and why? Part 2) What factors make a social movement likely to emerge, to rise, and to succeed and why?
Hints: Part 1 draws material from different points in the course. From the readings especially look at the Della Porta and Diani reading “Social Networks and Individual Participation” in the Week 9 readings. Also take a look at the Marx and McAdam reading posted in the Weeks Two and Three module, pages 86-92, the Dobson reading from Week 13, and the piece called “Who Joins or Supports Movements,” which is posted in Week 13 on Brightspace. Also look at the Week 10 Powerpoint to help you answer Part 1 as well as the “Additional Slides for Part One of Essay Question” I have posted in the Final Exam Instructions/Brief Additional Readings module on Brightspace.
Part 2: Definitely use the theories and plenty of examples from the course to answer Part 2 of the essay question. This question is very broad and your answer should be long and you should be able to use this to discuss a lot of the course material. The Dobson reading from Week 13, “Social movements: A summary of what works,” is very helpful for Part 2 as it summarizes a lot of key points for the essay question. Consider why social movements might be more likely to arise at some points in history (eg the 1960s, 2010s). Don’t fall into the trap of focusing too much on bad social problems as a cause of social movements. A key point in this course is that the existence of a problem on its own is not enough to explain the appearance and rise of a social movement. You need more than a problem to have a social movement. Also look at the brief reading on Brightspace (Week 13) by Christiansen titled labeled “Four stages of social movements.” Think about what success means and how it is difficult to define success for social movements. Look at the Meyer reading (week one) and the brief Week 13 Gamson reading “Defining Movement Success” in relation to this.
Get in touch with me for help. You can text me at 613-799-1954.
Here are some more tips/ answers to Frequently Asked Questions about the social movements exam that have come up in previous years.
1. How much background do we have to give on particular social movements when we use them as examples, say in the essay question? You can assume who ever is marking your exam knows the basic history of the movements you are referring to, so you don’t need to spend pages retelling everything happened in the civil rights movement for example. It is better if you use lots of examples without going into tons of detail about each example. Only go into enough detail you need to make your points and then move on.
2. How much can we use examples from our term papers in the exam? You can use them but I would do it very briefly. When you use something from your essay that is not something that is part of the course material, you should say something like “As I discussed in my essay….”. Don’t eat up too much space with material from your essays – you will get a little bit of credit for it, but anything you say past a couple of sentences is probably unnecessary as it won’t get you additional marks.
3. Should I discuss the theories in the essay question?
Yes, definitely in part two. One good point to make about the theories is that none of the theories by itself is very good at explaining social movements so you need to combine them. Also, all theories over-simplify and only tell part of the story so there are also some important things might be going on in every movement that are not covered by any of the theories. Each theory might tell part of the story and even all of them together don’t tell the whole story.
