Sociology 435: Social Movements - Information on Paper Assignments

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The Article Analyses Paper and Presentation (20%)

You are required to find six articles, write analyses of three of them, and present one of them.

(1) Edited volumes on reserve in the library. Jump to list below.

(2) Professional sociology journals: By far the best way to start looking for articles is to begin in Sociological Abstracts, a searchable database that contains abstracts (short summaries) of most articles in sociology journals (and some that are not sociology too).

In my view the best professional sources for your purposes include the following: Mobilization, Social Problems, Social Forces, Sociological Forum, Sociological Perspectives, and The Sociological Quarterly. There are several other journals that also sometimes publish good stuff on social movements. Many of these journals are available in stacks at the Salmon Library. Others are not, and will requires that you request an interlibrary loan copy (which usually takes about 10 days). There is also an excellent edited series called Research in Conflict, Social Change and Social Movements; unfortunately our library does not carry it and will require ILL.

The top two journals in sociology - American Journal of Sociology and American Sociological Review - are also sources of good articles (and available in our library), but these journals' article tend to be much longer, more technical, and therefore more difficult. Generally not recommended.

Try to focus on articles published within the past thirty years.

First, I suggest that you try to find a theme, however vague. This can be a:

• •topic (e.g. Latin American women's movements)
• •theory (e.g. Resource Mobilization Theory)
• •concept (either a piece of a theory or not - e.g. recruitment, outcomes, frame resonance)
• •methodological approach (e.g. ethnography of movements, analysis of discourse)
• •etc.

Themes can be general or specific, but for general topics, but do not choose themes that are already emphasized in course readings and lectures - most specifically the Civil Rights Movement, the Women's Movement, and Gay and Lesbian movements in the United States.

HOWEVER, it is perfectly fine, and to some degree encouraged (if you are interested) to look more closely as some specific aspect within those movements, or some theoretical approach to understanding them.

HINT: One way to help you find articles that are interrelated is to key on one very good piece, and read through it carefully, paying special attention to those articles and authors being cited and listed in the "references" section of the paper (i.e. the bibliography).

Other points:

• Some articles are quantitative (i.e. present statistical data) and some are qualitative (historical, theoretical, or ethnographic). You might ask: "What if the article has statistics in it that are beyond my abilities?" This is likely going to be the case for all but the most basic statistics, but this does not mean that an article that you find topically interesting cannot be used. Sometime the statistics presented are very simple, sometimes not. In many cases even though the statistics are complex, it may be quite possible to glean the important information from the text, where the authors should explain in English what they have found. If you read and find that you can get a satisfactory interpretation of the data from the text, then that will be fine.
 
• You might ask: "What if the article I find is not in a sociology journal, or is not particularly sociological?" The article you choose will have to be clearly within the purview of the sociology of social movements. Articles on other aspects of sociology, or on a movement but not on its sociology, will not be accepted. We want to avoid excessive indulgence in stories or ideologies. Use your judgment and when in doubt speak to me.



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DEADLINES: There are two deadlines associated with this articles analysis paper:

First, you must get approval for your "top six" choices, This is due on Sept 21.

• •From these you will select the four that you will write on. You must explain in writing the process: why/how these six? You need to show that these were not simply the first six things that you looked at on Sept 20, but that you were involved in a culling process that was thoughtful and careful.
 
• •All choices must be approved; you should expect that I will reject a few of your choices, and you will have to quickly submit new ones. It would not hurt to have a couple of "back ups."
  
• •You will read each of the six articles and choose three from which to build a paper.
 
• •Note: After your six are finally approved, you may change any or all of your articles until October 12. But you will be required to resubmit a top six list, with written explanation, every time you make a change. If you do not do this you will be penalized.
 
• •After October 12 no changes can be made without a significant penalty to your grade. If you have not had six articles approved by then, you will incur some penalty

SUBMISSION REQUIREMENTS:

    In a legal size file folder with your name on the tab, you will include:

(a) A cover sheet which lists the six articles and their bibliographic information;

(b) an attached page that explains your culling process.

And (c) separate and clean (no highlights etc.) photocopies of each of the six articles. I will keep those copies, so you will need to make two copies of each in order to have one for yourself.

Second, the full articles analysis paper is due on October 19.

• •Late papers are penalized one-third letter grade per working day (e.g. A- becomes B+)..
• •No papers will be accepted after October 26.
• •Most papers will be about 12-15 pages long
• •All submissions in this course are expected to be typed.
• •12-point fonts are preferred. Submissions must be double-spaced and left-justified; they must have 1" margins (no more or less). They should be stapled, not bound.
• •At this level, a professional presentation is expected.

(A) Cover page with list of three articles chosen and their bibliographic information.

For each, on the first page, simply summarize the key points of each article. Put a heading at the top of the page so that I know which article you are talking about.

Address these three things in one paragraph each:

• •what are the main questions addressed here (what do they set out to do?)
• •how are those questions answered (what are the key findings or arguments?)
• •How does the article add to our understanding of important themes in the study of social movements - specifying here how and to what extent we have looked at these themes to this point in the course.

On the following pages critique the paper:

•Do the authors actually do what they set out to do, or do they fail to deliver on their promise(s)?

•How can the paper be improved?

•What themes in sociology of social movements that we have discussed in this course are missing and could or should be integrated with the material in this paper?

•What new research questions arise from this paper - what does it make us think about?

•etc.

(C) Section II: (as many pages as needed) How do the papers relate to each other? Include actual connections as well as possible connections that you develop yourself based on your study in this course.

(D) Section III (the shortest section): At the end of your paper, you will choose one of these as the one you will suggest we read together, as a class, in the last few weeks of the semester. You should expect to make a presentation of this article (in any presentation format you choose) on the date that it will be assigned for class reading. The time allotted for each presentation will depend in part upon the number of students registered in the course toward the end of the semester.

• In one paragraph, explain how you got from your original six to three articles - what features of the articles led you to reject the three that you rejected and to work with the three presented here.

• In a second paragraph choose one of the final three as a potential class reading. Explain why you chose that one as the better article for this purpose, and why the other two were not chosen.

   Note that in case I disagree with your choice I always reserve the right to assign you a separate article to present, which may or may not come from your list.

Grading:

Assignments will not be considered complete, and you will not receive a final grade for it until you have presented your article. However, when I return the papers I will give you a tentative grade, based on submissions to that point. Most of your grade will be based on the written material, but you must complete the assignment to receive a grade for it.

Edited Volumes on Reserve at the Salmon Library Reserve Desk

Alvarez, Sonia E. et al. (eds.)	Cultures of Politics, Politics of Cultures	1998	Westview Press
Buechler, Steven and F. Kurt Cylke (eds.)	Social Movements: Perspectives and Issues	1996	McGraw Hill
Eckstein, Susan, and Manuel A. G. Merrino (eds.)	Power and Popular Protest	1989	U of California Press
Giugni, Marco, et al. (eds.)	How Social Movements Matter	1999	U of Minnesota Press
Goldstone, Jack A., et al. (eds.)	States, Parties, and Social Movements	2003	Cambridge U Press
Goodwin, Jeff, et al. (eds.)	Passionate Politics: Emotions and Social Movements	2001	U of Chicago Press
Jaquette, Jane S. (ed.)	The Women's Movement in Latin America	1994	Westview Press
Jasper, James and Jeff Goodwin (eds.)	The Social Movements Reader	2003	Blackwell
Jenkins, J. Craig, and Bert Klandermans (eds.)	The Politics of Social Protest	1995	U of Minnesota Press
Johnston, Hank and Bert Klandermans (eds.)	Social Movements and Culture	1995	U of Minnesota Press
Klandermans, Bert (ed.)	International Social Movement Research	1992	JAI Press
Mansbridge, Jane and Aldon D. Morris (eds.)	Oppositional Consciousness	2001	U of Chicago Press
McAdam, Doug and David A. Snow (eds.)	Social Movements: Readings ...	1997	Roxbury
McAdam, Doug, et al. (eds.)	Comparative Perspectives on Social Movements	1996	Cambridge U Press
Meyer, David and Sidney Tarrow (eds.)	The Social Movement Society	1997	Rowman & Littlefield
Meyer, Whittier and Robnett	Social movements: identity, culture and the state	2002	Oxford U Press
Morris, Aldon and Carol McClung (eds.)	Frontiers of Social Movement Theory	1992	Yale U Press
Rochon, Thomas and David Meyer (eds.)	Coalitions & Political Movements	1997	Lynne Rienner
Smith, Jackie, et al. (eds.)	Transnational Social Movements and Global Politics	1997	Syracuse U Press
Stryker, Sheldon, et al. (eds.)	Self, Identity, and Social Movements	2000	U of Minnesota Press
Wallman, Isidor, et al. (eds.)	Research in Social Movements, Conflict, and Change 1994	JAI Press

Term Paper (30%)

As with the other paper there are specific deadlines associated with the term paper (proposal, progress report, and paper), and penalties associated with missing those deadlines.

Term papers, especially at the 400-level, require independent research. That is, you are responsible for finding your own appropriate source materials. These materials should generally be sociological in approach, similar to materials we read in the course.

There are at least five general types of papers you can write - (a) a paper on a movement, (b) a paper on a social movement organization, (c) a paper on a theory/perspective, (d) a paper on an aspect of a specific movement, or (e) an analysis of a movement using primary (i.e. your own) data sources.

• (a) A paper on a movement: This is the easiest to understand conceptually at the beginning of the course. If you chose this avenue, you will select a specific movement and analyze it using the themes, theories, and techniques broached in the course readings and lectures. The goal of the paper is to provide the reader with a satisfying account of a movement from a sociological perspective. You will therefore wish to address several (but not all!) of the following (overlapping) questions:

• •what is the initial mobilization history of your movement?
• •how do you know that this is indeed a "social movement"?
• •what are the grievances that are claimed by the activists and - most importantly - why do those grievances get translated into activism when they do?
• •what are the key SMO's in place prior to movement activism? during movement activism?
• •what are the relationships among SMO's? how important are relationships among various movement leaders?
• •what organizational issues are important to the success of this movement?
• •how does the movement recruit new participants? who are they?
• •what identities are drawn upon in order to recruit, and what identities are created in the process of activism?
• •does the movement have a coherent ideology or are there multiple ideologies and how does that impact the success of the movement?
• •what are the movements "successes" and "failures"? impacts? Linear? Fluid?
• •in what social and political context does the movement operate and how is that important?
  

• This is a very limited set of all possible questions you can address. In general, this professor is impressed when you cleverly, effectively, and clearly apply course concepts in whatever you write.
  

(b) SMO: Another basic option is to write a paper on a specific SMO: This paper would be a little more involved than choice (a) in that you will need to explain the social movement first, and then contextualize the SMO within that movement. That is, your task will be to situate the SMO within the overall movement and use course concepts to explain its role and importance (or lack of importance, as the case may be). In addition to the above list, there are many readings in this course that should help with orienting questions.

(c) Approach/theory/perspective: A more advanced paper could involve analyzing a specific approach to social movements (i.e. a theory or perspective). This should become conceptually easy to understand as the course progresses. But, basically, there are a series of themes and theories central to the literature on social movements, several of which form the structure of this course - e.g. resource mobilization theory, political process theory, frame-analysis, relative deprivation theory. You may choose to write a paper that looks at a series of articles or books written about or from one of these perspectives, and provide a comprehensive overview.

(d) Apply an approach to a movement: Another advanced possibility involves a detailed analysis of a specific aspect of a specific movement, perhaps from a specific perspective (e.g. a framing analysis of the anti-war movement; a political opportunity interpretation of the Civil Rights Movement).

(e) Primary research: Perhaps the most advanced option would be to engage in primary research - i.e. to collect your own data in order to shed light upon an existing theory in social movements. If the topic you choose is a very current and new movement, you may be restricted to primary sources. This approach is not suggested for any but the most advanced sociology students, and even then, could (some would say "should") be an overwhelming task to effectively accomplish within the span of one semester.

Caveat: For whatever you choose to do, if you are discussing a topic or theory that we address in class, you had better go well beyond what we address in the class. Simply rehashing class material and readings is not the equivalent of in depth research.

a) Stage 1: Working Title and Brief Agenda due October 26. A couple of typewritten paragraphs with your name, proposed topic/working title, and a brief explanation of what research you did (this semester) to determine that this is an appropriate topic, as well as a brief on what you would specifically like to do with the paper (based on the material in this course). This will contribute 5% to your paper grade. You will lose ½ of one percentage point for every weekday that the topic is late, up to one week. If you are concerned about being in class on October 26^th, please feel free to hand your proposal in early. Proposals will not be graded (but will be read) after November 2^nd; if a proposal is not turned in by then you will lose 5%.

• Proposals must be approved and you cannot submit progress reports for which proposals have not been approved.
  

b) Stage 2: Progress report: (approx. one page, double-spaced): due November 16. A few typewritten paragraphs specifying clearly what you have achieved to this point and how you plan to complete the project by Dec. 2. This will contribute 15% to your paper grade. You will lose one percentage point for every weekday the progress report is late. If you are concerned about being in class on November 11^th, please feel free to hand in your progress report in advance of that date. Progress reports will not be graded (but will be read) after November 23^rd, and if a report is not turned in by then you will lose the full 15%.

• Progress reports must be approved, and you cannot submit papers for which progress reports have not been approved.

c) Stage 3: Final paper: (15-30 pages, double-spaced): due Friday December 3 at 11:30 a.m..

The final paper must be submitted in two formats: (a) regular hard copy and (b) on disk in WordPerfect or Word format. It will be checked for plagiarism using turnitin.com and other means.

At this level, a professional, articulate, scientific, and insightful presentation is expected.

Incoherent writing is not acceptable.

Neatly present your term paper on clean paper, stapled. Please do not use fancy bulky folders, fancy pictures, etc: It is what you have written that is my concern.

Organize your paper as a college term paper usually is - title page; sections (introduction, heading1, heading2, etc... conclusion); bibliography.

Cite all materials from which you have taken ideas or quotations, in a way similar to how the authors do in our course readings. Use quote-marks where you make use of someone else's words, and minimize the degree to which you do that (i.e. the paper must be your own). Again, plagiarism of any sort will not be tolerated.

The final paper is worth 80% of your term paper grade. You will lose 5 percentage points for every weekday that the progress report is late (except for the first day that means until 5pm). If you are concerned about being on campus before 11:30 a.m. on December 3^rd, then please feel free to hand in your final paper in advance of that date. No papers will be accepted after Friday, December 10^th.

Final note: for everything you submit in this course: standard 12-point type; double-spaced and left-justified; 1" margins (no more or less).