Lecture 3

Question 1

Similarities and differences between black panther movement and black lives matter

Answer 1

Similarities

• Both were a response to police brutality. Police brutality was the mobilizing grievances, it was the spark
• Both SM focus on networks to emerge

Differences

• Black Panther used violence, black lives did not
• Black Panther did more community outreach
• Black Panther had formal rules and processors but black lives do not
• Black panther included only people of color but black lives include multiracial people

Question 2

Where do mobilizing grievances come from?

Answer 2

1) Grievances are ubiquitous and irrelevant
- Basically arguing that grievances are not meaningful and do not lead to mobilization
- Instead of fucusing on grievances we should focus on a structural part of a SM
- not really about the grievances but if they have the resources to really mobilize.
- Individual grievances warrant collective action, we just put up with these individual grievances
- Don’t really talk about the grievance itself but rather talk about the resources

2) Grievances are a function of material conditions

conflict/ inequality: mobilizing grievances start from an unequal distribution of some kind of reward
- Mobilizing grievances are done because of the uneven distribution of some kind of reward that impacts our opportunities and life chances in society

Strain theory: grievances flourish because of social change, underlying grievances lead to change
- Developed by Durkheim

Breakdown thesis: SM emerge from breakdown of existing social patterns

• that disruptive social changes loosen the threads of social constraint, the social fabric of our lives are weakened
• The things that bring us together that bring solidarity, so that social changes weaken the social fabric
• When we feel that strain that our society is not cohesive we go in to social movements. This strain turns into grievances which lead to the emergence of social movement
• Rather than emerging from two groups in conflict with each other, social movements emerge from existing social patterns

Absolute deprivation thesis: argues that it is horrible conditions that produce social movements, things are so bad that people mobilize

• Research on this has been mixed:
• It’s hard to mobilize if you are at an absolute zero
• Maybe certain ones create these social movements

Quotidian disruption thesis: argues that when pattern of everyday life are disrupted, this leads to a SM

• Developed by sociologist David Snow
• He argues that some disruptions may be more likely than others to create a movement. That there are some certain grievances that come together to create a social movement
• When our routines are disrupted that’s when it’s a problem
• Ex kids at Parkland High, shootings are disrupting their everyday routine of going to school without being scared about getting shot. Be able to do these normal things that people are able to do without getting shot

3) Grievances as a function of social psychological factors
- This calls attention to certain psychological perspective
- Structural and material conditions are ignored.
- Its general, some people have access to some things others not
- If a certain psychological state is realized, then that’s when a mobilizing grievance
- When a certain level of frustration is reached, it will seek release, even if the target of the problem isn’t used
- Ex a series of lynchings after the civil war that was unexplained, scholars found that it was due to the cotton farmers who lost their slave labor, so cotton prices began to fall, instead of farmers being frustrated on the market, they took it out on free slaves and would lynch them
- These farmers were so frustrated but they took it out on an easy groups i.e. the slaves

Question 3

Where do mobilizing grievances come from? (just terms, basic) (3 ideas)

Answer 3

1) Grievances are ubiquitous and irrelevant
- Basically arguing that grievances are not meaningful and do not lead to mobilization

2) Grievances are a function of material conditions

conflict/ inequality: mobilizing grievances start from an unequal distribution of some kind of reward

Strain theory: grievances flourish because of social change, underlying grievances lead to change

Breakdown thesis: SM emerge from breakdown of existing social patterns

Absolute deprivation thesis: argues that it is horrible conditions that produce social movements, things are so bad that people mobilize

Quotidian disruption thesis: argues that when pattern of everyday life are disrupted, this leads to a SM

3) Grievances as a function of social psychological factors

Question 4

conflict/ inequality

Answer 4

mobilizing grievances start from an unequal distribution of some kind of reward

Question 5

Strain theory

Answer 5

grievances flourish because of social change, underlying grievances lead to change

Question 6

3 subtypes of strain theory thesis

Answer 6

breakdown thesis
absolute deprivation thesis
quotidian distribution thesis

Question 7

Breakdown thesis

Answer 7

SM emerge from breakdown of existing social patterns

Question 8

Absolute deprivation thesis

Answer 8

argues that it is horrible conditions that produce social movements, things are so bad that people mobilize

Question 9

Quotidian disruption thesis

Answer 9

argues that when pattern of everyday life are disrupted, this leads to a SM