Required Readings
Online ResourcesFour Stages of Social Movements
Despite all of the differences in social movements (left vs right ideologies), there are analytic similarities that sociologists have distinguished, especially with regard to the life cycle of a social movement. Social movement development is composed of four stages: emergence, coalescence, bureaucratization, and decline. Sociologists have a better understanding of the social movements by examining these stages, despite variances in movement ideology and scope. Social Movements: Evolution, Definitions, Debates and Resources The chapter gives a simple background on social movements. It discusses the ways that movements emerge and develop. It also includes a brief map of social movement theory, with examples on contemporary social movements from all around the world like the Greenbelt Movement in Kenya the Zapatistas in southern Mexico and South Africa’s guerrilla movement Umkhonto we Sizwe. The March was More than a Speech Social movements are not just a story of individual heroes, but of countless of ordinary people of all ages who stepped up, often at great danger to their lives. Many were brutally beaten and killed along the way. It is right to remember Dr. King's dream, but social change did not happen because leaders like him spoke and people came to listen. Change happened because of the thousands of common people who stepped up, spoke out, marched, and kept at it day after day for weeks, months, even years. How Change Happens: The Real Story of Rosa Parks and the Montgomery Boycott We know Rosa Parks and the Montgomery Bus Boycott as a story of individual heroism. Mrs. Parks, tired after a hard day at work courageously sat down in that bus, and change happened. But this is not the case. Other black people were asked to move in the past, and did not give their seats. And they were taken to jail. The difference made by Parks was that she was an experienced civil rights leader. Her leadership strategy was becoming a figure and talking about the incident all over the country. Social change came from the leadership and understanding of many. Extra Resources
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