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Fall 2012
Social Movements and Contentious
Politics
Pol 451
Mondays 10:00 AM - 12:00 PM
Instructor: William Hurst
Office Hours: Fridays 1:00 - 2:00 PM
Office Location: SS 3301
Email: william.hurst@utoronto.ca
This course is designed as an overview of the main strands in the contentious politics
and social movements literature. By the end of the semester, students should have a
good grounding to pursue research on questions related to disruptive an noninstitutionalized politics.
Requirements:
All students are expected to attend and participate in the seminar each week. Students
will also be expected to write a 5000-word final paper on a contentious politics topic of
their choosing. This paper will be due by 12:00 Noon on Thursday December 6.
Finally, each student will give a 5-10 minute presentation on their paper topic during the
final class session.
Grades will be determined as follows:
Participation: 40%
Presentation (in-class on Wednesday December 5): 5%
Final Paper (due Thursday December 6): 55%
Special Rules of Note:
1) *No* electronic devise use in class (i.e. NO COMPUTERS OR CELL PHONES), only
exception is for documented disability needs.
2) *No* late work, make-up assignments, or “deferrals”, regardless of the reason.
3) *Please* do not come to into class late or leave early.
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Class Meeting Agenda:
Week 1 (September 10): Introduction and Ground Rules
Week 2 (Septemebr 17): Conceptualizing Contention and Movements
Readings: Jocelyn A. Hollander and Rachel L. Einwohner, “Conceptualizing
Resistance,” Sociological Forum 19:4 (2004): 533-54
AND
Doug McAdam, “Conceptual Origins, Current Problems, Future Directions,” in
McAdam, McCarthy, and Zald, Comparative Perspectives on Social Movements
(Cambridge, 1996), pp. 23-40 (available on blackboard)
AND
Michael Lipsky, “Protest as a Political Resource,” American Political Science
Review 62:4 (1968): 1144-58
Week 3 (September 24): The Classical Resources-Opportunities Paradigm
Readings: Sidney Tarrow Power in Movement: Social Movements and Contentious
Politics Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2011 (3rd Edition).
Week 4 (October 1): Older Variants
Readings: Theda Skocpol States and Social Revolutions Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press, 1979.
AND
Ted Gurr “A Causal Model of Civil Strife: A Comparative Analysis Using New Indices”
The American Political Science Review 62:4 (1968): 1104-1124.
AND
Ted Gurr “Psychological Factors in Civil Violence” World Politics 20:2 (1968): 245-278.
[OCTOBER 8 = THANKSGIVING]
Week 5 (October 15): Culture, Agency, and Contingency: Lacunae in Studies of
Contentious Politics
Readings: James Jasper The Art of Moral Protest, Culture, Biography, and Creativity in
Social Movements Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1997.
AND
Aminzade et al. Silence and Voice in the Study of Contentious Politics Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press, 2001.
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Week 6 (October 22): Rationalist Alternatives
Readings: Macur Olsen The Logic of Collective Action Cambridge MA: Harvard
University Press, 1965.
AND
Mark Lichbach The Rebelʼs Dilemma Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 1998.
Week 7 (October 29): A New Paradigm?
Readings: McAdam, Tarrow, and Tilly The Dynamics of Contention Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press, 2001.
Week 8 (November 5): Frames, Framing, and New Room for Grievances
Readings: Hank Johnston and John Noakes eds. Frames of Protest: Social Movements
and the Framing Perspective Lanham: Rowman & Littlefield, 2005 (Chapter 1, and at
least 3 other chapters).
AND
Snow, Rochford, Warden, and Benford “Frame Alignment Processes, Micromobilization,
and Movement Participation” American Sociological Review 51:4 (1986): 464-481.
AND
David A. Snow et al., “Disrupting the Quotidian: Reconceptualizing the
Relationship Between Breakdown and the Emergence of Collective Action,”
Mobilization 3:1 (1998): 1-22.
AND
William Hurst “Mass Frames and Workersʼ Protests” in OʼBrien (ed.) Popular Protest in
China pp. 71-87 (available on blackboard).
AND
William Hurst & Kevin OʼBrien “Chinaʼs Contentious Pensioners” The China Quarterly
170 (2002): 345-360.
[NOVEMBER 12 = FALL BREAK]
Week 9 (November 19): Mobilizing Structures, Cognitive Liberation, & the Politics of
Space and Place
Readings: Dingxin Zhao, "Ecologies of Social Movements: Student Mobilization during
the 1989 Prodemocracy Movement in Beijing," American Journal of Sociology 103:6
(May 1998):1493-1529
AND
Doug McAdam Political Process and the Development of the Black Insurgency,
1930-1970 Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1999 (2nd edition).
AND
All articles in Special Issue of Mobilization 8:2 (2003) on “space and contentious
politics”.
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Week 10 (November 26): Elite Allies and Strategic Divisions
Readings: Vincent Boudreau Resisting Dictatorship: Repression and Protest in
Southeast Asia Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2004.
AND
Kevin OʼBrien & Li Lianjiang Rightful Resistance in Rural China Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press, 2003.
Week 11 (December 3): Tactics, Repertoires, and State Responses
Readings: Charles Tilly Regimes and Repertoires Chicago: University of Chicago
Press, 2006.
AND
Doug McAdam, “Tactical Innovation and the Pace of Insurgency,” American
Sociological Review 48 (December 1983): 735-54
“Make-Up Session” (December 5): Presentations
PAPERS DUE (HARD COPY IN DEPT. MAILBOX) BY 12:00 NOON
ON THURSDAY DECEMBER 6
**LATE PAPERS NOT ACCEPTED**