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COMM 131*
Communication, Dissent, and Social Movements
Spring, 2014
MW 5:00 – 6:20 Mandeville B-150
Gary Fields gfields@ucsd.edu
Office Hours: Wednesdays 2:30 – 4:00 (MC 101) or by appt.
Course Description
Dissent and protest are profoundly important phenomena influencing the development of societies. This
course examines the emergence of dissent in both historical and contemporary political environments, and
the relationship of dissent and movements of protest to social change.
The course has four aims. First, the course is designed to provide students with a theoretical foundation for
understanding the role of dissent in broader processes of social transformation. Second, the course seeks to
explore a diverse range of actors with dissenting ideas who critique certain social situations as unjust and
challenge existing institutions of society. Third the course examines the role of media and communication
networks in circulating dissenting ideas and helping build movements of popular protest. Finally, the
course seeks to assess the impacts of protest on the development of society. The overall aim of the course
is to examine the relationship of ideas about human rights to collective action and its outcomes.
The opening sessions of the course focus on establishing a theoretical and analytical framework for dissent
and collective action. The bulk of the course will survey actual experiences of social movements, both
historical and current focusing on themes of power, consent, and resistance to power. The course is
intended to be theoretically rigorous, historically rich, and topically interesting while exposing students to
different arguments about social movements and social change.
Course Format and Requirements
Students are expected to attend all class sessions and to complete all readings. Absences must be reported
in advance of class. Each student will be responsible for two, 3-page reflective essays. The first essay will
cover material from weeks 1-2. This first essay should examine the primary themes from the readings and
lectures / discussion. For the second essay, students will focus on a social movement from weeks 3-8 and
analyze what enabled the movement to be successful and what were its shortcomings. The primary
assignment for the course will be a paper of roughly 10 pages on a social movement, either from the course,
or one outside the course. The instructor will provide students with a prompt for this final assignment
which will be due on the date of the scheduled final exam for the course. Finally, all students are required
to read the “World” and “U.S.” sections of the New York Times on Mondays and Wednesdays before
coming to class to find articles of interest related to the course material and to bring that material into class
on those days. There may be one unannounced quiz during the term. For certain selected sessions,
students will open the class with 15-minute summaries of the arguments in the readings and pose questions
about the readings. Such summaries will be part of class partcipation. Grades will be determined as
follows: final essay (50 %), two reflections (20 %), class participation (20 %), quiz (10 %).
Course Readings
Readings for the course are available from e-reserves at the library or from links on this syllabus. The
password for access to the readings is GF131. Sessions and readings are organized as follows:
* Syllabus subject to change
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COMM 131 WEEKLY SCHEDULE
Weeks 1
DISSENT, SOCIAL MOVMENTS, AND SOCIETY
3/31
Overview: Dissent, Protest Movements, and Society
Film: A Force More Powerful
Meyer, David S. (August 12, 2011). “Americans are Angry. Why aren’t they Protesting?” Washington Post.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/americans-are-angry-why-arent-theyprotesting/2011/08/11/gIQAlLQTBJ_print.html
4/2
Conceptualizing Dissent and Social Movements
Snow, David and Soule, Sarah (2010). Conceptualizing Social Movements. A Primer on Social Movements. New
York: W.W. Norton [pp. 1-23].
Corrigall-Brown, Catherine (2010). Patterns of Protest: Trajectories of Participation in Social Movements.
Stanford: Stanford University Press [pp. 1-11]. Read book online from Library website
Chatfield, Charles (1999). Nonviolent Social Movements in the U.S: A Historical Overview. Non-Violent Social
Movements: A Geographical Perspective. Stephen Zunes et al., eds. Malden: Blackwell [pp. 283-301].
Freeman, Jo (1999). On the Origins of Social Movements. Waves of Protest: Social Movements Since the Sixties.
Lanham: Rowan and Littlefield [pp. 7-14].
Week 2
THE SPREAD OF DISSENT: MEDIA, NETWORKS, AND SOCIAL MOVEMENTS
4/7
Media and the Framing of Dissent, Protest, and Social Movements
Gamson, William A. and Wolfsfeld Gadi (1993). “Movements and Media as Interacting Systems.”
Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science. Vol. 528: 114-125.
http://www.jstor.org/stable/pdfplus/1047795.pdf?acceptTC=true&acceptTC=true&jpdConfirm=true
Gitlin, Todd (2003). The Whole World is Watching: Mass Media in the Making and Unmaking of the New Left.
Berkeley: University of California Press. [pp. 249-282]
Koopmans, Ruud (2004). “Movements and Media: Selection Processes and Evolutionary Dynamics in the Public
Sphere.” Theory and Society. Vol. 33 (3-4): 367-391. [Addresses the Gamson / Wolfsfeld article; anti-immigrant]
http://www.jstor.org/stable/pdfplus/4144877.pdf?acceptTC=true&jpdConfirm=true
4/9
The Ties that Bind: Networks, Social Ties and Social Activism
Corrigall-Brown, Catherine (2010). Patterns of Protest: Trajectories of Participation in Social Movements.
Stanford: Stanford University Press [pp. 82-104]. Read book online from Library website
Tremayne, Mark (2014). “Anatomy of Protest in the Digital Era: A Network Analysis of Twitter and Occupy
Wall Street.” Social Movement Studies. Vol. 13 (1): 110-126.
http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/14742837.2013.830969
Castells, Manual (2012). Networks of Outrage and Hope: Social Movements in the Internet Age. Cambridge:
Polity Press [pp. 1-19]
Video of Manual Castells (2013). Networks of Outrage and Hope.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X8m66tNPUb0
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Week 3
SITTING IN / RIDING BUSES: THE CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENT
4/14
The Coming of the Lord: Religious Impulses of Civil Rights
Film: Eyes on the Prize (Parts I and II)
Chappell, David L. (2004). A Stone of Hope: Prophetic Religion and the Death of Jim Crow. Chapel Hill:
University of North Carolina Press. [1-8, 44-66, 87-104]
Green, Robert P. Jr. and Cheatham, Harold E. eds. (2009). The American Civil Rights Movement: A
Documentary History. Manchester: Manchester University Press. [3-11, 16-21, 24-29, 49-55, 78-88]
Statement of Alabama Clergymen (1963). http://www.stanford.edu/group/King//frequentdocs/clergy.pdf
King, Martin Luther (1963). Letter from Birmingham Jail in Response to the Statement of Alabama Clergymen.
http://www.stanford.edu/group/King/frequentdocs/birmingham.pdf
4/16
Riding Buses: Non-Violence and Civil Rights
Film: Freedom Riders (PBS)
Klareman, Michael J. (2007). Brown v. Board of Education and the Civil Rights Movement [Abridged Version of
From Jim Crow to Civil Rights: The Supreme Court and the Struggle for Racial Equality]. Oxford: Oxford
University Press. [Read from Library website first 3 pages of Chapter 3 and Chapter 6].
Arsenault, Raymond (2006). Freedom Riders: 1961 and the Struggle for Racial Justice. Oxford: Oxford
University Press. [1-55].
Week 4
BOYCOTT: FARMWORKERS AND THE CHICANO MOVEMENT
4/21
The Roots of the Chicano Farmworker Movement
Film: The Fight in the Fields: Cesar Chavez and the Farmworkers’ Struggle
Jenkins, J. Craig (1999). The Transformation of a Constituency into a Social Movement: Farmworker Organizing in
California. Waves of Protest: Social Movements Since the Sixties. Lanham: Rowan and Littlefield [pp. 277-299].
Shaw, Randy (2010). Beyond the Fields: Cesar Chavez, the UFW, and the Struggle for Justice in the 21st Century.
Berkeley: University of California Press [pp. 13-50].
http://www.ucpress.edu/content/chapters/10835.ch01.pdf
Rose, Margaret (1998). From the Fields to the Picket Line: Huelga Women and the Boycott, 1965-75. No Middle
Ground: Women and Radical Protest. Kathleen M. Blee, ed. New York: NYU Press [pp. 225-250].
4/23
The Enduring Legacy of the Farmworkers and Chicano Movement
Guest Lecturer: Jorge Mariscal, UCSD Department of Literature
Mariscal, Jorge (2012). Cesar and Martin, April 1968. The Struggle in Black and Brown: African American /
Mexican American Relations During the Civil Rights Era. Brian Behnken, ed, Omaha: University of Nebraska Press.
Mariscal, Jorge (2005). ‘To Demand that the University Work for our People.’ Brown-Eyed Children of the Sun:
Lessons from the Chicano Movement, 1965-1975. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press [pp. 210-46].
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Week 5
BACKLASH: CONSERVATIVES AND THE RICH REASSERT THEIR RIGHTS
4/28
The Rich Fight Back
Guest Lecturer: Issac Martin, UCSD Department of Sociology
Martin, Issac (2013). Rich People’s Movements: Grassroots Campaigns to Untax the 1%. Oxford: Oxford
University Press [pp. 1-23, 195-204].
4/30
American Conservatism From the Old to the Tea Party
Guest Lecturer: Robert Horwitz, UCSD Department of Communication
Horwitz, Robert B. (2013). America’s Right: Anti-establishment Conservatism from Goldwater to the Tea Party.
Malden: Polity Press. [157-160, 166-184].
Williamson, Vanessa, Skocpol, Theda, and Coggin, John, (2011). “The Tea Party and the Remaking of Republican
Conservatism.” Perspectives on Politics. Vol. 9 (1): 25-43.
http://journals.cambridge.org/download.php?file=%2FPPS%2FPPS9_01%2FS153759271000407Xa.pdf&code=64050
8e3f3c52f8b1339879b90c07d0c
Week 6
THOU SHALT NOT KILL: THE MOVEMENT AGAINST CAPITAL PUNISHMENT
5/5
“Death Penalty: Just Punishment or Immoral?
Rush, Benjamin (1792). On Punishing Murder by Death.
http://press-pubs.uchicago.edu/founders/documents/amendVIIIs16.html
Sherrill, Robert (January 8/15, 2001). “Death Trip: The American Way of Execution.” The Nation.
http://www.deathpenaltyinfo.org/node/670 [PDF to be distributed from “Death Trip on F Drive]
Boudreau, Katherine (2006). The Spectacle of Death: Populist Literary Responses to American Capital Cases.
New York: Prometheus Books. [pp. 207-224].
Amnesty International (March 27, 2014). “Death Penalty 2013: Small Number of Countries Trigger Global Spike
in Executions.”
http://www.amnesty.org/en/news/death-penalty-2013-small-number-countries-trigger-global-spike-executions-2014-03-27
Van den Haag, Ernst (1986). “The Ultimate Punishment: A Defense.” Harvard Law Review. Vol. 99: 1662-1669.
http://www.cas.umt.edu/phil/documents/CAPITAL_PUNISHMENT_VANDENHAAG_BEDAU.pdf
5/7
Unjustly Convicted: Death Row and the Movement to Exonerate the Innocents
Guest Speaker: Justin Brooks, California Innocence Project
The American Prospect (July, 2004). “Reasonable Doubts: The Growing Movement Against the Death Penalty.”
http://prospect.org/magazine/special-report/july-2004-reasonable-doubts-growing-movement-against-death-penalty
[Read All the Articles]
Figuroa, Teri (April 30, 2013). “Innocence March’ headed from SD to Sacramento.” San Diego Union Tribune.
http://www.utsandiego.com/news/2013/Apr/30/innocence-project-march-san-diego-sacramento/
California Innocence Project (2014). A 712 Mile Walk To Free Twelve Innocent Clients. [Read the various pieces
on the website] http://innocencemarch.com/
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‘I DO THEE WED’: THE MOVEMENT FOR MARRIAGE EQUALITY
Week 7
5/12
Court Decisions, Movements and Counter-Movements
Klarman, Michael (2013). From the Closet to the Alter: Courts, Backlash and the Struggle for Same Sex Marriage.
Oxford: Oxford University Press. [ix-xii, 3-29, 55-74, 165-192].
5/12
Marriage Equality and Social Transformation
Baker, Peter (may 11, 2012). “Same-Sex Marriage Support Shows Pace of Social Change Accelerating.” New York
Times. http://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/11/us/same-sex-marriage-support-shows-pace-of-social-changeaccelerating.html?_r=0
TPF Student Action (2014). “Ten Reasons Why Homosexual ‘Marriage’ is Harmful and must be Opposed.”
http://www.tfpstudentaction.org/politically-incorrect/homosexuality/10-reasons-why-homosexual-marriage-isharmful-and-must-be-opposed.html
Week 8
BOYCOTT! THE MOVEMENT AGAINST ISRAELI OCCUPATION OF PALESTINE
5/19
Why Boycott Israel? Debate and Arguments from Both Sides
BDS Movement Call (July 9, 2005). http://www.bdsmovement.net/call
Barghouti, Omar (2012). The Cultural Boycott: Israel vs. South Africa. The Case for Sanctions Against Israel.
Andrea Lim, ed. London: Verso [pp. 25-38; selection should be under Andrea Lim].
Taraki, Lisa and Le Vine, Mark (2102). Why Boycott Israel? The Case for Sanctions Against Israel. Andrea Lim,
ed. London: Verso [pp. 165-174; selection should be under Andrea Lim]
Gordon, Neve (August, 20, 2009). “Boycott Israel: An Israeli Comes to the Painful Conclusion that it is the Only
Way to Save His Country.” Los Angeles Times. http://articles.latimes.com/print/2009/aug/20/opinion/oe-gordon20
Foxman, Abraham H. (June 2, 2013). “An Open Letter on Academic Freedom and University Responsibility.” New
York Times.
http://www.adl.org/assets/pdf/press-center/NYT-Ad.pdf
Editorial. (February, 22, 2013). “Is BDS Hate Speech?” Jewish Daily Forward.
http://forward.com/articles/171165/is-bds-hate-speech/
5/21
Boycott, Divest and Sanction: The Movement Grows
Guest Speaker: Nasser Barghouti, American Civil Liberties Union and San Diego BDS Coordinator
Pearl, Judea (March 16, 2014). “BDS, Racism and the New McCarthyism.” Los Angeles Review of Books.
https://lareviewofbooks.org/essay/bds-new-mccarthyism
Erakat, Noura (March 16, 2014). “Structural Violence on Trial: BDS and the Movement to Resist Erasure.” Los
Angeles Review of Books. https://lareviewofbooks.org/essay/structural-violence-trial-bds-movement-resist-erasure
(February 8, 2014).
“A Campaign that is Gathering Weight.” The Economist.
http://www.economist.com/news/middle-east-and-africa/21595948-israels-politicians-sound-rattled-campaign-isolate-their-country
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Sherwood, Harriet and Kalman, Matthew (May 7, 2013). “Stephen Hawking Joins Boycott of Israel.” The
Guardian. http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/may/08/stephen-hawking-israel-academic-boycott
Blistein, Jon (March 20, 2013). “Roger Waters Calls for Boycott of Israel: Pink Floyd Rocker Accuses Government
of Running Riot: Rolling Stone. http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/roger-waters-calls-for-boycott-of-israel-20130320
[Second Assignment Distributed]
Week 9
ARAB AWAKENING: NEW MEDIA AND TAKING TO THE STREET
5/28
Communication Technology and the Arab Uprisings
Brecher, Jeremy, Costello, Tim and Smith, Brendan (February 2, 2009). “Social Movements 2.0.” The Nation.
http://www.thenation.com/article/social-movements-20
Kohn, Sally (June 30, 2008). “Real Change Happens Offline.” Christian Science Monitor.
http://www.csmonitor.com/Commentary/Opinion/2008/0630/p09s01-coop.html
Gladwell, Malcolm (October 4, 2010), “Small Change: Why the Revolution will not be Tweeted.” The New Yorker.
http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2010/10/04/101004fa_fact_gladwell?currentPage=all
Abdulla, Rasha A. (2011). “The Revolution Will Be Tweeted.” The Cairo Review of Global Affairs. Vol. 1 (3):
http://www.aucegypt.edu/gapp/cairoreview/pages/articledetails.aspx?aid=89
Lim, Merlyna (2012). “Clicks, Cabs, and Coffeehouses: Social Media and Oppositional Movements in Egypt, 2004–
2011.” Journal of Communication. Vol. 62 (2): 231–48.
BBC News (July 8, 2012). How Facebook Changed the World – the story of the Arab Spring.
http://vimeo.com/45410957
6/2
Reclaiming Public Space: The Square and the Street
Film: The Square (Selections)
Elshahed, Mohamed (2011). “Tahrir Square: Social Media, Public Space,” Design Observer.
http://places.designobserver.com/feature/tahrir-square-social-media-public-space/25108/
Sanburn, Josh (May 17, 2011). “Square Roots: How Public Spaces Helped Mold the Arab Spring,” Time.
http://content.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,2071404,00.html
Frederique Paraskevas (2011). Tahrir Square and Haussmann’s Paris: Physical Manifestations of Political
Doctrines. http://www.aaschool.ac.uk/downloads/awards/Frederique_Paraskevas.pdf
Week 10
6/4
WAS IT WORTH IT? THE LEGACY OF ACTIVISM AND SOCIAL MOVEMENTS
Summation: Was It worth the Effort?
Giugni, Marco (1998). “Was it Worth the Effort? The Outcomes and Consequences of Social Movements.” Annual
Review of Sociology. Vol.24: 371-93.
http://infotrac.galegroup.com/itw/infomark/839/85/56049284w6/purl=rc1_EAIM_0_A21211269&dyn=5!xrn_15_0_A
21211269?sw_aep=uc856info