Soc 329
Class #2: Tarrow’s Political Opportunities
Wednesday, September 7, 2021
1) Today
a) Lecture/discussion:
i) What is a social movement?
ii) How do political opportunities work?
b) Breakout groups: Applying the theory
c) Sharing conclusions
2) Coming up:
a) Monday:
i) Read Freeman, Hirsch
3) [D]--Tarrow’s definition of a social movement: LARGE GROUP DISCUSSION/SLIDES
a) “Collective challenges by people with common purposes and solidarity in sustained
interaction with elites.” (pp. 3-4) WRITE IT DOWN
i) “Collective challenges”
(1) What does he mean by this?
(a) Interrupting/obstructing the status quo, withdrawal of consent to the way
things are, willingness to resist
(2) How could movements do this?
(a) Through overt, political means, such as strikes, boycotts, and protests,
(b) Or through the use of culture and symbols: clothing, the use of language,
visual symbols, constructing different kinds of social relations
(3) Why do they become contentious?
(a) Lack resources or other ways to solve problems
(4) What do they accomplish?
(a) Make another point of view visible, draw in supporters
ii) What holds a movement together, makes people willing to take risks, make
sacrifices?
(1) Common purposes=shared interests, grievances, values, goals, issues
(2) Feelings of solidarity -- role of emotions
(a) Feelings of commonality—not just sympathy or charity but sense of being
part of the same struggle and a willingness to sacrifice for one another
(b) Or a shared identity—religion, ethnicity, nationality, gender etc.
iii) Sustained action
(1) Goes beyond a one-time outburst
b) Not as broad as any group of people with common interests (ie, who oppose racism);
nor as narrow as specific organizations
i) People with shared goals or values, acting together in an ongoing way
c) Would Tarrow’s definition include interactions within an alternative community, such as
the trans community? What is the boundary? Would veganism (always? sometimes?) be
a social movement in this definition?
4) [L]--Political opportunities
a) Why and when do social movements emerge?
i) People often think that social movements are a response to oppressive conditions.
(1) Grievances are necessary but not sufficient
(2) As T argues in Ch. 5, grievances are not enough to explain the existence of
movements.
ii) Poverty, exploitation, racism, homophobia, sexism—have all existed for a long time,
yet only at certain moments, do masses of people come together to protest or
create other ways to live.
(1) Civil Rights movement is a good example of this
iii) Repression is not enough either; it can go either way
b) Instead, T points to what he calls “Political opportunities”
i) “Consistent--but not necessarily formal or permanent--dimensions of the political
environment that provide incentives for people to undertake collective action by
affecting their expectations for success or failure” (p. 85)
(1) More likely to take action if you have hope of making a difference
(2) But…Shift over time, doors may open and close
ii) 4 kinds of changes—How do they work? Examples?
(1) New means of access to participation; mix of open and closed channels
(a) After the Great Depression, the New Deal program of the 1930s opened the
door halfway with relief programs for the poor
(b) But programs not enough--workers mobilized into unions by the tens of
thousands to demand more than what was being offered.
(2) Shifts in ruling alignments
(a) Ex—New, apparently sympathetic president in the White House in 2016,
encouraged white nationalists to mobilize
(3) Emergence of influential allies; doesn’t create mvmt but helps make success
more likely
(a) Eg—Civil Rights—favorable Supreme Court decisions, middle class white
supporters
(b) Other kinds of allies?
(4) Development of splits among elites
(a) Eg—Divisions over Vietnam—some who took an ideological position against
what they saw as a communist threat; others who saw it as bad for business
and a threat to domestic stability
(b) Helped stimulate the anti-war movement
iii) These factors all very top-down;
(1) T also points out that once movements are established, they can create their
own opportunities.
(2) Eg--Black Power, feminist and other movements of the 1960s inspired gay
activists to organize openly as well.
5) Breakout groups: applying the theory to BLM
a) Download assignment and instructions from this week’s Moodle
b) Create and share a Google Doc
c) Put group # and everyone’s name on it
d) Take notes on the GD
e) Choose a couple of people to report back
