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Fall 2012

Social Movements and Contentious

PoliticsPol 451

Mondays 10:00 AM - 12:00 PM

Instructor: William Hurst

Office Hours: Fridays 1:00 - 2:00 PM

Office Location: SS 3301

Email: william.hurst@utoronto.ca

This course is designed as an overview of the main strands in the contentious politicsand social movements literature. By the end of the semester, students should have agood grounding to pursue research on questions related to disruptive an non-institutionalized politics.

Requirements:All students are expected to attend and participate in the seminar each week. Studentswill also be expected to write a 5000-word final paper on a contentious politics topic oftheir choosing. This paper will be due by 12:00 Noon on Thursday December 6.Finally, each student will give a 5-10 minute presentation on their paper topic during thefinal class session.

Grades will be determined as follows:

Participation: 40%Presentation (in-class on Wednesday December 5): 5%Final Paper (due Thursday December 6): 55%

Special Rules of Note:

1) *No* electronic devise use in class (i.e. NO COMPUTERS OR CELL PHONES), only

exception is for documented disability needs.2) *No* late work, make-up assignments, or deferrals, regardless of the reason.3) *Please* do not come to into class late or leave early.

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mailto:whurst@austin.utexas.edumailto:whurst@austin.utexas.edumailto:whurst@austin.utexas.edumailto:whurst@austin.utexas.edu

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Class Meeting Agenda:

Week 1 (September 10): Introduction and Ground Rules

Week 2 (Septemebr 17): Conceptualizing Contention and MovementsReadings: Jocelyn A. Hollander and Rachel L. Einwohner, ConceptualizingResistance, Sociological Forum 19:4 (2004): 533-54ANDDoug McAdam, Conceptual Origins, Current Problems, Future Directions, inMcAdam, McCarthy, and Zald, Comparative Perspectives on Social Movements(Cambridge, 1996), pp. 23-40 (available on blackboard)ANDMichael Lipsky, Protest as a Political Resource, American Political ScienceReview 62:4 (1968): 1144-58

Week 3 (September 24): The Classical Resources-Opportunities ParadigmReadings: Sidney Tarrow Power in Movement: Social Movements and ContentiousPoliticsCambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2011 (3rd Edition).

Week 4 (October 1): Older VariantsReadings: Theda Skocpol States and Social RevolutionsCambridge: CambridgeUniversity Press, 1979.ANDTed Gurr A Causal Model of Civil Strife: A Comparative Analysis Using New Indices

The American Political Science Review 62:4 (1968): 1104-1124.ANDTed Gurr Psychological Factors in Civil Violence World Politics 20:2 (1968): 245-278.

[OCTOBER 8 = THANKSGIVING]

Week 5 (October 15): Culture, Agency, and Contingency: Lacunae in Studies ofContentious PoliticsReadings: James Jasper The Art of Moral Protest, Culture, Biography, and Creativity inSocial MovementsChicago: University of Chicago Press, 1997.AND

Aminzade et al. Silence and Voice in the Study of Contentious PoliticsCambridge:Cambridge University Press, 2001.

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Week 6 (October 22): Rationalist AlternativesReadings: Macur Olsen The Logic of Collective ActionCambridge MA: HarvardUniversity Press, 1965.ANDMark Lichbach The Rebels DilemmaAnn Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 1998.

Week 7 (October 29): A New Paradigm?Readings:McAdam, Tarrow, and Tilly The Dynamics of ContentionCambridge:Cambridge University Press, 2001.

Week 8 (November 5): Frames, Framing, and New Room for GrievancesReadings: Hank Johnston and John Noakes eds. Frames of Protest: Social Movementsand the Framing PerspectiveLanham: Rowman & Littlefield, 2005 (Chapter 1, and atleast 3 other chapters).

ANDSnow, Rochford, Warden, and Benford Frame Alignment Processes, Micromobilization,and Movement Participation American Sociological Review 51:4 (1986): 464-481.ANDDavid A. Snow et al., Disrupting the Quotidian: Reconceptualizing theRelationship Between Breakdown and the Emergence of Collective Action,Mobilization 3:1 (1998): 1-22.ANDWilliam Hurst Mass Frames and Workers Protests in OBrien (ed.) Popular Protest inChinapp. 71-87 (available on blackboard).AND

William Hurst & Kevin OBrien China

s Contentious Pensioners The China Quarterly

170 (2002): 345-360.

[NOVEMBER 12 = FALL BREAK]

Week 9 (November 19): Mobilizing Structures, Cognitive Liberation, & the Politics ofSpace and PlaceReadings: Dingxin Zhao, "Ecologies of Social Movements: Student Mobilization duringthe 1989 Prodemocracy Movement in Beijing," American Journal of Sociology 103:6(May 1998):1493-1529AND

Doug McAdam Political Process and the Development of the Black Insurgency,1930-1970Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1999 (2nd edition).ANDAll articles in Special Issue of Mobilization 8:2 (2003) on space and contentiouspolitics.

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Week 10 (November 26): Elite Allies and Strategic DivisionsReadings: Vincent Boudreau Resisting Dictatorship: Repression and Protest inSoutheast AsiaCambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2004.AND

Kevin OBrien & Li Lianjiang Rightful Resistance in Rural ChinaCambridge: CambridgeUniversity Press, 2003.

Week 11 (December 3): Tactics, Repertoires, and State ResponsesReadings: Charles Tilly Regimes and RepertoiresChicago: University of ChicagoPress, 2006.ANDDoug McAdam, Tactical Innovation and the Pace of Insurgency, AmericanSociological Review 48 (December 1983): 735-54

Make-Up Session (December 5): Presentations

PAPERS DUE (HARD COPY IN DEPT. MAILBOX) BY 12:00 NOONON THURSDAY DECEMBER 6

**LATE PAPERS NOT ACCEPTED**

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