Social Change & Social Movements (title)
Sociology 238, Fall 2006, Queens College of the City University of New York
Instructor: Mikaila Mariel Lemonik Arthur

Download the up-to-date, complete syllabus in .pdf

Imagine being sent back in time a hundred years. How different would social life be? How would you fit in to your transformed surroundings? And why would this historical period look so different from the world to which you are accustomed? This course will begin by exploring the dynamics of social change in the modern world, particularly those types which might account for some of the differences between social life today and social life a century ago. For the second two-thirds of the course, we will focus on the dynamics of collective action in order to develop an understanding of how people come together in an attempt to create change in their social environments. We will examine how movement organizations form, what strategies they employ, and what the results of collective action can be.
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Course Links:
Course schedule
Copies of writing assignments (remember to submit all writen work to Turnitin -- email me for enrollment info)
Course Blackboard site (useful for group collaboration--please update your email address there; also has a direct link to Turnitin for assignment submission)
Course readings: Jaswin book; Ritzer book; reading packet table of contents; e-reserves (password: art238)
Sociology writing guide and guides to choosing sources and finding peer-reviewed journal articles
Tips for working in groups
Links to useful websites on social change and social movements

March on Washington, 1963


Course Schedule:
Writing and reading assignments must be completed prior to the beginning of the course under which they are listed.
Date
 Topic & Assignments
8/31
 Introduction to Class (nothing due)
9/5
 McDonaldization & Bureaucratization
Ritzer Ch. 1 & 2
9/7
 Rationalization
Ritzer Ch. 3 & 4
9/12
 Industrialization
Ritzer Ch. 5 & 6
9/14
 Globalization
Ritzer Ch. 8
9/19
 Demographic & Environmental Change
Weinstein; Goudie (in reading packet or on reserve)
9/21
 Urbanization & the Environment
Worth; McMichael (in reading packet or on reserve)
9/26
 Responding to Social Change
Ritzer Ch. 9 & 10
9/28
 SOCIAL CHANGE EXAM
10/3
 NO CLASS
10/5
 Collective Behavior & Revolution
Visano; Goodwin (in reading packet or on reserve)
10/10
 Social Change & Social Movements
Jaswin 1-14; Della Porta (in reading packet or on reserve)
10/12
 Movement Ideologies
Jaswin 64-80 & 134-146
10/17
 Building and Maintaining Membership
Jaswin 49-63, 89-93, & 116-128
10/19
 Emotions & Identity
Jaswin 153-165 & 229-233
10/24
 Theoretical Perspectives on Movements
Jaswin 169-186; Smesler, Goodwin & Jasper, & Melucci (in reading packet or on reserve)
10/26
 Movement Organizations
Jaswin 187-218
10/31
 Strategy & Tactics
Jaswin 219-233, 249-254, & 283-300
11/2
 Media & Discourse
Jaswin 301-312; Benford & Snow (in reading packet or on reserve)
11/7
 Responding to Movements
Jaswin 315-317 & 345-352
11/9
 Movement Impacts
Jaswin 353-370
11/14
 Studying Movements: Methodologies
Mahoney (in reading packet or on reserve)
11/16
 The Music of Protest
Jaswin 367-369 (review) & Rosenstone, "The Music of Protest" (in reading packet or on reserve)
11/21
 Guest Lecture: The Labor Movement
Jaswin 318-328 & 373-374
11/23
 NO CLASS: Thanksgiving
11/28
 Make-Up Day
11/30
 Group Presentations I
12/5
 Group Presentations II
12/7
 Special Topics in Social Movements
12/12
 Course Review & Conclusion
FINAL PAPERS DUE
12/21
 Final Exam 11:00 AM




Page contents copyright 2006 Mikaila Mariel Lemonik Arthur.
email Mikaila DOT Arthur AT nyu DOT edu