Respond to any TWO of the following prompts:
One of the primary arguments that the authors make is that “formal” organizations often hinder the development of lasting social transformation. In thinking about the case study that you read, how do the creation of formal organizations do this?
The authors claim that social transformations only occur during moments of structural unrest. Thinking about ONE of the case studies (one chapter), what were the structural factors that led to the movement?
What are some differences between TWO of the case studies? What are the interests of the oppressors that might explain these similarities? That is, how are the oppressions faced by different marginalized groups still in the interest of the oppressor?
What are some differences between TWO of the case studies? What do you think attributed to these differences? How can the idea of “intersectionality” help us think about these differences?
The authors claim that during “normal times,” the interests of the political and economic elites merge. In thinking about your own social transformation project, how do the interests of the political and economic elite merge to create the problem you want to address?
In thinking about your own social transformation project, what is a “formal” organization that is currently attempting to address the problem and what is one of their major policy push? BRIEFLY discuss this policy push within the framework used by the authors. If there are no “formal” organizations attempting to address this problem, BRIEFLY discuss (again using the framework used by the authors) why such an organization might not exist.
Using the framework used by the authors, is a “mass movement” that specifically addresses the problem that you are examining possible? BRIEFLY discuss why or why not.
For this week, we will be reading Poor People’s Movement by Frances Fox Piven and Richard A. Cloward to provide us with a new paradigm in thinking about social movements. (I will attach the a copy of the full book in the attachments.)
Module 6 Objectives:
LO1 – To examine a large scale effort that once had wide-spread support and assess why the effort has not been very successful.
LO2 – To begin making connections between a “real world” social transformation effort and the theories, concepts, ideas covered in class.
