Chapter 17 Social Movements and Revolutions True or False 1. Occupy Wall Street claimed to speak for 99 percent of U.S. citizens in poverty. Answer: False 2. Social movements are more conscious and organized than fads. Answer: True 3. Social movements, when seen as a whole, are a uniquely American institution. Answer: False 4. It could be said that social movements help societies to transform ideas and intuitions into principles, and political demands. Answer: True 5. The earliest scholars and sociologists to study social movements feared that they might lead to mob rule and societal collapse. Answer: True 6. The gay rights movement got its start thanks to clandestine social media technologies. Answer: False 7. Cultural-approach theorists map out standard desires and fantasies that are common to crowds and then locate them in individuals. Answer: False 8. The early view was that protesters came from the marginalized sectors of society. Answer: True 9. The followers of Osama bin Laden are primarily post material in outlook. Answer: True 10. Saul Alinsky was a famous community politician. Answer: False 11. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is not a movement that was institutionalized. Answer: True 12. The strike of air-traffic controllers in 1981 led to their firing. Answer: True 13. When a movement is "pre-empted," it can be considered a total failure. Answer: False 14. Roe v. Wade was a defeat for the antiabortion countermovement. Answer: False 15. Most social movements do not achieve their goals. Answer: True 16. The way that many movements help articulate new ways of thinking and feeling about the world is an unintended outcome. Answer: True 17. A coup is the same thing as a revolution. Answer: False 18. A revolution simply means a change of the regime. Answer: False 19. A coup d'état can become a "revolution from above" that requires no participation by anyone else but the country's military and/or political elites. Answer: False 20. The Arab Spring was triggered for economic reasons as much as a desire for democracy. Answer: True 21. To Lenin, the upper classes play no part in a revolutionary situation. Answer: False 22. An example of an institutional collapse during a revolution can occur when, for example, the police refuse to carry out orders and arrest rioters. Answer: True 23. The Arab Spring revolt in Morocco resulted in the overthrow of its monarchy. Answer: False 24. An example of the kind of leverage needed by common people is the denial of their labor. Answer: True 25. Because the United States is a liberal democracy, there may be little chance that the Occupy movement will become a revolutionary movement. Answer: True Multiple Choice 1. Which of the following would not fit a fundamental definition of a social movement? A. The members of a social movement are conscious of their need to form a movement. B. Social movements are always led in some way by leaders who are (or are directed by) elite members of society, people who are not "ordinary." C. Social movements use some form of extra institutional means. D. The members of a social movement desire to change or prevent change. Answer: B 2. What are extra institutional means? A. collective actions undertaken outside existing institutions, like courts and legislatures B. collective actions undertaken within an existing institution, such as a religious group C. collective force necessary to carry out a social movement D. collective fads and fashions Answer: A 3. Which of the following statements about social movements is true? A. A social movement could be made up of a single protest or riot. B. Formal organizations play no part in social movements. C. Movements are more conscious and organized than fashions or fads. D. All social movements are explicitly political. Answer: C 4. In addition to the wealth of information about politics, human action, social change, and the moral basis of society, what else can we learn about from studying social movements? A. how societies decline and fall B. that social movements may one day not just include humans C. that people are not just motivated by basic wants and needs D. human diversity Answer: D 5. The seventeenth-century English philosopher Thomas Hobbes had a grim view of humankind. He posed an intriguing question about why people __________. A. cooperate with each other when they could achieve what they need selfishly B. were so frightened and could act only when they had safety in numbers C. mistrusted the crown when the leaders of the mob would rule them just as harshly D. we’re willing to exchange one form of misery for another Answer: A 6. Why are corporations rarely agents of change in values or social arrangements? A. Capitalists desire stability. B. They prefer a routine social life in order to prevent the unexpected. C. They resist changes in property relations. D. all of the above Answer: D 7. What purpose does a social movement serve in a civil society, especially in light of its leadership? A. A social movement is a warning sign of revolution. B. A social movement allows for a release valve for dissatisfied people. C. A social movement forces elites to recognize new fears and desires in a specific social group. D. A social movement can train youth for future leadership roles. Answer: C 8. Social movements are similar to __________ because they express feelings and thoughts that have not been formalized into language by journalists, lawmakers, and the like. A. sculptures B. art C. paperback novels D. aesthetic responses Answer: B 9. The United States was founded with a Bill of Rights in place. However, throughout U.S. history social movements have focused on bringing about more __________. A. constitutional amendments B. rights C. freedoms D. social justice Answer: B 10. According to certain sociologists, the __________ seas social movements as primarily concerned with __________. A. Hobbesian point of view; altruistic benefits B. socioeconomic perspective; day-to-day, immediate needs C. change theory school; revolution D. political process perspective; politics Answer: D 11. During the 1960s and after, not all social movements were about civil rights or antiwar. These movements were uniquely concerned with __________. A. the environment B. lifestyle change and remaking the culture C. animal rights D. conservative rights Answer: B 12. Which of the following would most likely represent a movement that seeks to change a human emotional response or redirect empathy? A. veganism B. animal rights C. antifracking D. Tea Party Answer: B 13. Sociologists study a wide range of factors that explain why a movement emerges when and where it does. What are the primary categories? A. economic conditions B. political factors C. cultural factors D. all of the above Answer: D 14. A theoretical perspective called __________ emphasizes the importance of resources, like labor and money, for generating and sustaining social movements. A. the NGO process B. the resource mobilization approach C. mainstreaming D. bureaucratization Answer: B 15. Another aspect of more formalized movements, especially when the society becomes __________, is the formation of __________. A. more radicalized; social movement organizations B. discontent; political action committees C. more diverse; resource mobilization organizations D. wealthier; social movement organizations Answer: D 16. The Civil Rights movement benefited from what kind of SMO for support and organization, especially in the South? A. black churches B. liberal book clubs C. Negro colleges D. the U.S. Supreme Court Answer: A 17. __________ are webs of connections that link individuals and organizations to one another for communication and other exchanges, such as funding. A. Political action cells B. Social networks C. SMOs D. Social media Answer: A 18. Following the Stonewall riots of June 1969, a gay and lesbian liberation movement developed that relied on __________ to organize a militant response and quickly spread to other cities. A. the Internet B. straight sympathizers in the armed forces C. a covert urban subculture D. transgender allies Answer: C 19. How do researchers who study social movements explain why some social movements are linked to one another? A. They point to the power of political action committees. B. They attribute the link to the money raised by social movement organizations. C. They note that leaders and participants shift from one movement to another or share social networks, and also the fact that political conditions encourage many movements to form at the same time. D. They attribute the link to biographical availability. Answer: C 20. To a sociologist taking the cultural approach to the rise of social movements, why would there be no real support for an animal rights movement in the United States 200 years ago? A. The majority of people worked on farms and saw animals as living tools. B. Children did not grow up watching films and cartoons that made animals behave like people. C. Religions and philosophies that treated animals with respect had not yet been transplanted from Asia. D. all of the above Answer: D 21. According to Charles Kurzman (1996), what perception motivated Iranian protesters who toppled the shah's regime in the late 1970s? A. Their faith would protect them from bullets. B. The sudden belief that they could and would win. C. The sheer number of protestors gave them the illusion of safety. D. The shah's army and police would come over to their side. Answer: B 22. When studying the motivations of a protest movement, why is it necessary to consider what the protestors think and feel? A. Perceptions reveal the interactions among ideas, mobilization, and the broader environment, which provide the goals. B. The protests are works in progress, indeed, a form of art. C. Grievances cannot be manufactured, that is, preconceived. D. Because people don't really know what they want, leaders step forward and exploit what they "think and feel." Answer: A 23. Research suggests that __________ committed antiabortion activists had ambiguous views about abortion or even considered themselves "pro-choice" when they initially joined the movement; it was only after they spent some time in the movement, interacting with long-term activists, that they came to emphatically oppose abortions. A. almost all B. 40 percent C. 75 percent D. 25 percent Answer: B 24. Early theorists in the nineteenth century more often studied protesters in crowds as __________. A. utopians B. frustrated, sometimes irrational individuals C. mentally disturbed D. immoralists Answer: B 25. According to the economist Mancur Olson, what is a "free rider"? A. a semi-active protester B. a fellow traveller C. a person who doesn't care about the movement and passively goes along with it D. a person who benefits from social protests without supporting it directly Answer: D 26. According to Mancur Olson's theory of biographical availability, which of the following groups might be most suited for participation in a social movement? A. students in grade school B. young people without children C. clergy D. retired people Answer: B 27. Which of the following conditions is most conducive to recruiting supporters? A. knowing someone already in the movement B. being a physically isolated person C. belonging to a church D. having friends Answer: A 28. The first to do so effectively, the Arab Spring and the Occupy Wall Street movements used _________ to recruit and mobilize protests. A. e-newsletters B. instant messages C. social media D. e-mail Answer: C 29. According to McAdam (1982), a movement that inspires _________ can achieve what is called "cognitive liberation." A. a feeling that one has an insider's knowledge B. how the world can be a better place C. a degree of libertarianism D. a sense of optimism and efficacy Answer: D 30. A __________ is special term that describes a person's belief that he or she belongs to a certain group with distinctive characteristics and interests, such as a pro-choice group, the Tea Party, the working class, etc.). A. collective identity B. marginalization complex C. frame D. group consciousness Answer: A 31. People who lived during the Great Depression would not have imagined such an annual event as Earth Day. They could not afford the kind of lives that allow for the __________ that developed after World War II. A. material well-being B. environmental consciousness C. post material values and beliefs D. higher goals Answer: C 32. When vegans carry signs that read "meat is murder" or when antiabortion marchers hand out literature illustrated with gruesome photographs, they are engaged in __________ to attract new members and like-minded sympathizers. A. shock awareness B. moral shock C. cultural messaging D. bad taste Answer: B 33. Modern scholarship no longer sees protest as a symptom of a psychological problem or the need to compensate for something lacking in one's life (friendship, self-importance, etc.). It is instead __________. A. an effort to impose meaning and morality on the world B. an expression of a collective identity C. a definition of collective interest D. all of the above Answer: D 34. Depending on the business and activities of their opponents—a business, the military, and so on— protesters try to change __________ through persuasion, intimidation, and imposing costs (financial or otherwise) upon them. A. their behavior B. the terms of engagement C. society to their advantage D. all of the above Answer: A 35. One way to undermine the credibility of an opponent is __________. A. using bullhorns effectively B. in a packed courtroom C. organizing street protests outside their headquarters D. using the media (press releases, faxes, Twitter, television) Answer: D 36. Movements and revolutions have many goals to balance in their tactics. What name did the sociologist Charles Tilly give to the limitations (and resources) that leaders face in regard to this complexity? A. the tactical overreach B. the margins of revolution C. the repertoire of contention D. the counterproductive engagement Answer: C 37. The leader of a protest decides on a peaceful gathering outside a missile base. Why not hack into its computers and publish the launch codes and targets? A. It would prove the movement stands for peace, not destruction. B. Publishing the codes would be an act of treason and result in a prison sentence or even execution. C. Such launch codes are firewalled and a peaceful protest offers a tactic that everyone can participate in. D. There is no way to answer this question without knowing the given society or period. Answer: D 38. According to the great community organizer Saul Alinsky, which of the following tactics is an effective one for a movement leader to utilize? A. portray the enemy as an utter villain B. show empathy for your opponent C. never make your opponent think you are more powerful than you are D. know when to apply pressure, and when to back off Answer: A 39. Because many social movements encounter official and unofficial opposition, __________ are what some theorists describe as places relatively free from surveillance where oppositional ideas and tactics can develop and spread. A. safe houses B. open spaces C. church basements D. free spaces Answer: D 40. The reason that the leadership of revolutionary movements utilize violence and people willing to "kill" for the movement (e.g., Che Guevara, the 9/11 hijackers) is predicated on __________. A. Alinsky's military approach to countering enemies B. a political response to political opposition C. a rational response to state violence D. an exploitation of dangerous psychopaths to achieve movement goals Answer: C 41. Researchers suggest that nonviolent movements may be twice as likely to succeed as violent ones, even against repressive regimes. What is their reason? A. Nonviolent movements are more moral and deserve to succeed. B. It is rational to be nonviolent. C. More ordinary people will join the movement and ensure its ultimate success and acceptance. D. Few repressive regimes can resist nonviolence. Answer: C 42. Why is the chess analogy—describing the tactical choices of those involved in a movement—useful in understanding how a social movement operates? A. Sociologists see reality as a game with winners and losers. B. It suggests interaction, how one tactical move can be countered by another. C. It considers that social movements take place on layers of conflict. D. Movements end up playing games, which is counterintuitive. Answer: B 43. For a movement that has suffered setbacks because of its historical successes, __________ is a perfect example. A. the U.S. labor movement B. the NAACP C. ACORN D. the Tea Party Answer: A 44. American unions, after suffering decades of decline in membership, have __________ to turn this trend around. A. developed closer ties with the Anarchist party B. seen some unions ally with the OWS movement C. secretly negotiated with Republican moderates D. started holding general strikes in key sectors of the economy Answer: B 45. Which of the following organizations do sociologists recognize as having become institutionalized? A. AFL-CIO B. NOW C. CIA D. the media Answer: B 46. Why might a movement decline as a result of its own internal dynamics? A. The movement may have lost its radical vision. B. The movement was organized around a fixed collective identity that may have changed. C. none of the above D. all of the above Answer: D 47. According to Gamson, who was largely responsible for "queer activism"? A. radical gays B. anti assimilationist C. bisexual and transgendered people D. gay academics Answer: C 48. Which of the following might contribute to the lack of a strong labor or leftist political party in the United States? A. The Republican Party serves this role. B. American individualism—the belief that people can and should take care of themselves. C. Americans tend to be fundamentally conservative. D. Americans have an inordinate fear of communism, which is another label for socialism. Answer: B 49. Which of the following do you think would be a means of legal repression that affects the development of unions in the United States? A. American exceptionalism B. federal takeover of government unions C. states' rights initiatives D. laws and policies that favor employers over workers Answer: D 50. The failure of U.S. counterinsurgency efforts in Iraq can be attributed to __________. A. insufficient attempts to win over the hearts and minds of the Iraqi population B. the ethnic and family clan structure of Iraqi society C. failure to see how insurgencies are deeply rooted in religious conflicts D. all of the above Answer: D 51. Why are sociologists today less likely to utilize the value judgments of "success" and "failure" when assessing a movement's effect on society? A. The term outcome recognizes a broader range of effects, including unintended consequences. B. Theorists cannot use the words "success" or "failure" without being intellectually dishonest. C. Future movements must always take up where past movements leave off. D. Movements evolve in ways that prevent sociologists from finding points in time where such judgments "stick." Answer: A 52. The right-wing militia movements of the 1990s no longer have the same membership or military-like gatherings. What brought this about? A. complicity in the 1995 bombing of the Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City B. government surveillance and negative publicity C. reinvention of themselves as Second Amendment support groups D. the mass arrest of their membership Answer: B 53. The two criteria that William Gamson identifies as a measure of more successful movement outcomes are __________. A. legalization and institutionalization B. becoming an SMO and being able to lobby government directly C. acceptance and new advantages D. liberalization and legalization Answer: C 54. Which of the following is not one of Gamson's four movement outcomes? A. inclusion B. full response C. co-optation D. collapse Answer: A 55. Given the historical victories of the pro-choice movement, why can success be a setback over the long term? A. They are not victories because true victories have to be accomplished in stages so as to foil the opposition. B. They are poorly adapted for compromise and so such victories do not last or result in counterproductive outcomes. C. There is no success in governmental fiat. It must be achieved collectively, with supermajorities. D. Victories that are sweeping in nature can inspire counter movements. Answer: D 56. Which of the following is true about social movements and the course of history? A. Social movements are history. B. Scholars are very much surprised by the lasting effects of even the most obscure movements. C. Most movements do not achieve their goals. D. Most movements are not met with considerable repression. Answer: C 57. One of the broader impacts of a movement, one that covers both adherents and opponents, is that __________. A. movements force people to think and have an opinion B. movements fragment society C. movements can cause changes in affiliation D. movements displace values temporarily, puts them in flux, in doubt Answer: A 58. Which event is least associated with social revolution? A. the Russian Revolution B. the end of apartheid in South Africa C. the Taliban victory in Afghanistan D. a coup by right-wing army officers Answer: D 59. Which of the following can be a feature of a social revolution? A. bureaucratic slowdowns B. new jobs in the secret police C. the dramatic elimination of an economic class D. the retraining of first responders Answer: C 60. By most counts, __________ major social revolutions have taken place during the past two centuries. A. fewer than two dozen B. hundreds of C. no D. approximately 10 Answer: A 61. The extent of violence in revolutions is __________. A. fixed (there must be bloodshed to constitute a revolution) B. quite variable C. non-existent D. quite mild Answer: B 62. A __________ refers to a state of affairs in which two or more political institutions or movements claim to be the rightful or legitimate rulers of a certain territory or population. A. perfect storm B. civil war C. powder keg scenario D. revolutionary situation Answer: D 63. The Russian revolutionary Vladimir Ilyich Lenin originally stated that revolutionary situations require major symptoms or preconditions in order to reach culmination. All of the following are such preconditions EXCEPT __________. A. a crisis or split among the upper classes B. foreign intervention, especially by a sympathetic revolutionary state C. unusual suffering among the lower classes D. the ability of the lower classes to organize into a revolutionary force Answer: B 64. Why are elections seen as the "democratic translation of the class struggle?" A. People elect rulers who are representative of their class. B. Interest groups and lobbyists mediate with social movements and help shape elections. C. Elections allow for social and class conflicts to be expressed without rebellion. D. Democracy is really an ongoing revolution in and of itself. Answer: C 65. Which of the following statements is true regarding the role of democracy in shaping social conflict? A. Democracy generally quells the temptation to rebel against the government because of the knowledge that new elections are but a few years off and, with them, the chance to cast out unpopular rulers. B. Democracy reduces the likelihood of revolutionary change because it brings about social justice. C. Democracy eliminates all social conflict. D. Movements for social justice rarely arise in democratic contexts. Answer: A Scenario Multiple Choice 1. Katie and her fellow school teachers are at odds with the increasing emphasis placed on standardized testing as the main method for evaluating student and teacher performance. They have addressed these concerns with their principal, district superintendent, and state officials. Since working within the educational system has not been effective, they feel the need to try another approach. Which of the following methods would be most likely to help these teachers combat excessive reliance on standardized tests? A. a fad B. a revolution C. a riot D. a social movement Answer: D 2. A group of 10 wealthy landowners in Texas has organized in protest of a lawn-watering ban. The group has contacted local authorities, who are somewhat divided on the issue, to get the ban overturned. Many officials at area institutions and organizations have listened to their grievances and seem ready to go along with the protest and overturn the ban. In what ways is this scenario at odds with the typical sociological definition of a social movement? A. There needs to be an economic crisis for it to be considered a social movement. B. The cause is not global enough in scope. C. Social movements typically last longer than a single protest, and are usually composed of mainly ordinary people, not wealthy elites. D. The cause is not explicitly political, which is a requirement for a social movement to occur. Answer: C 3. Kyle is concerned that the social movement being formed by his fellow artists and musicians will never reach its full potential nor be sustainable for very long. He fears that the movement lacks sufficient numbers of people and adequate financial support. In his analysis of his social movement's chances for survival, what school of thought is Kyle invoking? A. the collective identity approach B. the framing approach C. the political process perspective approach D. the resource mobilization approach Answer: D 4. Kareem's sociology professor compared society's current debate over gay marriage with the struggle faced decades ago by interracial couples. The civil rights movement awakened many Americans to injustices endured by African American citizens. Kareem's class learned that broad shifts in people's sensibilities over long periods of time enable them to gain new perspectives on long-held ideologies. In this scenario, what kind of approach did Kareem's professor use to explain the emergence of the movement to extend the rights and benefits of marriage to same-sex couples? A. a cultural approach B. an economic approach C. a labor market approach D. a political approach Answer: A 5. Alicia and her friends, all busy working mothers in their 30s, want to organize a protest against the lack of affordable childcare in the United States. They designed a website outlining their cause and posted announcements on Facebook indicating where protestors were to assemble. Alicia was surprised when the turnout at the protest site was less than she had anticipated. What missing factor might explain the group's failure to recruit participants? A. biographical availability B. framing C. ideological compatibility D. social-network ties Answer: A 6. A local animal rights organization engages a public relations expert to learn effective ways to get its message out to the general public and other useful strategies to motivate potential recruits. The organization settles on a series of different messages to get the public to share its animal rights orientation. In this scenario, __________ is being used to boost recruitment and participation. A. activism B. countermobilization C. biographical availability D. framing Answer: D 7. While in high school and college, Ben never felt compelled to participate in any rallies or protests staged by other students. After a tornado devastated his town, though, he needed to deal with his pent-up anger and feelings of helplessness at the slow pace of assistance for affected families. He and some of his friends formed a movement to focus on the implementation of a more efficient emergency-response system. In this scenario, Ben's actions were likely motivated by __________. A. biographical availability B. moral shock C. political opportunity D. resource mobilization Answer: B 8. Although a local pacifist movement has been successful in gaining acknowledgment as a bona fide representative of its ideology, members have yet to see any of their proposed policy or legislative initiatives enacted. In measuring what this movement has and has not achieved, analysts would likely focus on the movement's failure to attain __________, in characterizing its lack of success. A. acceptance B. collective identity C. new advantages D. tactical choices Answer: C 9. Rafia lives in a small country where repeated attempts to depose oppressive regimes through protest movements and rebellions have been made. Observers are likely to concur that Rafia's country is now in a __________, because two political factions are declaring themselves to be his country's legitimate rulers. A. collective identity B. moral shock C. protest cycle D. revolutionary situation Answer: D 10. For several months, Gia has participated fully and enthusiastically in the Occupy Wall Street movement. Recently, however, she has lost some of her original passion for the cause. She's undaunted by the police response, but has grown weary of the "whole thing." What would most help refuel Gia's interest in the movement? A. economic recovery B. expulsion of the group from public areas C. innovative tactics and additional recruits D. repeated emphasis on its message Answer: C Short Answer 1. Sociologists who study—and see true—social movements as strictly a political phenomenon, adopt what point of view? Answer: They undertake what is called the political process perspective, which emphasizes that movements are primarily concerned with politics, not individual psychological states, and are a normal response, under certain circumstances, to the political process. 2. According to the author, what changes can be seen in our understanding of social movements by comparing the work of scholars who examined nineteenth-century protests with that of social scientists studying the 1960s? Answer: Much protest of the nineteenth century took the form of riots, so it was natural to focus on the nature of crowds and "mobs." Scholars who examined the labor movement and the American civil rights movement recognized that claims of new rights necessarily involve the state, so it was natural for them to focus on the political dimensions of protest. Social scientists who came of age in the 1960s and after were often favourably disposed toward the social movements around them and so portrayed protesters as reasonable people. Many of the movements of the 1960s and after were not about rights for oppressed groups but about lifestyles and cultural meanings, so it was inevitable that scholars sooner or later would turn to this dimension of protest 3. Describe at least two social movements that have become more global in scope. Answer: In recent years, several important social movements have become more global in scope. For example, there is the alter-globalization movement against the power of multinational corporations and international lending agencies. The environmental movement also has a global reach, tying together protest groups and networks across countries. 4. Why do sociologists tend to study waves and cycles of social movements as a complex phenomenon rather than the individual movements themselves? Answer: Scholars began to see movements as closely linked to one another because (1) leaders and participants shifted from one to the other or shared social networks and (2) the same political conditions encouraged many movements to form at the same time. 5. What did the economist Mancur Olson suggest might combat the problem of "free riders," who let others protest while benefitting from their successes? Answer: Olson argues that movements must provide "selective incentives" that are enjoyed only by those who participate, such as interesting political discussions, the possibility of making new friends, insurance for trade union members, and the like. 6. Briefly describe how social movements "frame" their beliefs for members and recruits alike. Answer: Frames must make sense of or resonate with the beliefs of potential recruits and members. When the frames of activists and potential recruits fit together in this way, it is termed "frame alignment." 7. Who is more likely to support the environmental movement or the animal-rights movement given post material politics? Answer: These movements have a primarily middle-class social base, even though they are not pursuing the narrow economic interests of the middle class as their only goal. 8. When organizing a protest, how are tactical choices typically made? Answer: Most tactical choices are made in the heat of conflict. This is usually during the course of interactions with other decisionmakers, including parties who might be antagonistic, such as the police when negotiating for who and how many will be arrested. 9. Why might the antiapartheid movement in South Africa mistakenly be portrayed as similar to the nonviolent civil rights movement in the United States? Answer: Scholars as well as journalists are often hesitant to emphasize the rationality or achievements of political violence, in part because of their moral discomfort with it. 10. What key event during the presidency of Ronald Reagan in the early 1980s marked an important setback in American union history? Answer: After 12,000 air traffic controllers went on strike in 1981, President Reagan fired all the workers who did not return to work. 11. What are the two most common reactions of elites when confronted by a revolutionary situation? Answer: One upper- class faction might prefer to repress the growing pressures from below, extracting more resources to cover fiscal gaps, clamping down on democratic rights, and generally resorting to coercion. Another faction, by contrast, might prefer to enact reforms, resigning itself to accommodating popular demands in order to preserve its rule. 12. When does "frame alignment" effectively occur for a revolutionary movement and situation? Answer: Frame alignment occurs when the strategies and ideologies promoted by revolutionaries resonate with ordinary people—the final necessary ingredient for a successful mobilization. 13. How do repressive dictators, such as those in Tunisia, Egypt, Libya, Yemen, and Syria during the Arab Spring of 2011, unintentionally facilitate the development of revolutionary movements? Answer: Authoritarian states facilitate the development of revolutionary movements by generating or reinforcing popular grievances, contributing to widespread feelings of moral outrage, focusing those feelings on the government (or dictator), foreclosing possibilities for peaceful reform, enhancing the plausibility and legitimacy of revolutionary ideologies, and (often) compelling people to employ disruptive and even violent strategies in order to defend themselves and to pursue effectively their collective interests and ideals. 14. Is there any place for political radicals and militants in democratic societies in which revolutionary situations, of the kind Lenin understood, do not develop? Answer: Democracy doesn't eliminate social conflict; in fact, in many ways democracy encourages a flowering of social conflict by providing the political space within which those groups outside ruling circles can make claims on political authorities and economic elites. 15. Describe two democracies in South America that have seen the election of socialist governments that attempted or have succeeded in bringing about radical changes to their respective societies and economies. Answer: Two radical leaders have won elections and have been able to amass a broad following: Salvador Allende in Chile in 1970 (who was later overthrown by a right-wing coup) and Hugo Chavez in Venezuela in 1998, 2000, and 2006. Essay 1. Briefly explain the differences in these three concepts: riots, social movements, and fads. Answer: Sometimes people band together with others to try to change things. In modern societies, more than ever before, people have organized themselves to pursue a dizzying array of goals, and they have used a wide variety of tactics to attain those goals. Social movements are conscious, concerted, and sustained efforts by ordinary people to change (or preserve) some aspect of their society by using extra institutional means. Extra institutional means are collective actions undertaken outside existing institutions, like courts and legislatures, although movements may also work through such institutions at least part of the time. They are composed mainly of ordinary people as opposed to wealthy elites, politicians, or army officers. Movements are more conscious and organized than fashions or fads. Fads represent behavior that spread, often rapidly, among a specific population and are repeated enthusiastically for some period of time before disappearing, often rapidly. Fads and social movements last longer than a single protest or riot. Riots are unplanned collective protests, loosely organized at best, involving attacks on property and (sometimes) persons. 2. What impact has the Occupy Wall Street movement had on the political discourse of the Obama administration? Answer: Social movements are a main source of political conflict and change and often articulate new political issues and ideas. As people become attuned to some social problem they want solved, they often form some kind of movement to push for a solution. Political parties and their leaders rarely ask the most interesting questions or raise new issues. It is typically movements outside a society's political institutions that force insiders to recognize new fears and desires among specific social groups. During the Obama administration, for example, politicians were generally not discussing growing inequality in the United States or the power of corporations; it took the Occupy Wall Street movement to initiate a public discussion about these issues. 3. Prior to the twentieth century, sociologists saw social movements as mobs, not change agents. Later scholars were much more sympathetic. Describe this more positive view of social movements and the benefits it holds, not only for researchers, but society as a whole. Answer: Social movements are good ways to understand our moral sensibilities. For example, movements have challenged ideas about who deserves legal rights, including the right to vote. Abolitionists such as Frederick Douglass fought to end slavery and give rights to African Americans. This tradition carried on and culminated in the civil rights movement as well as those movements it incited or inspired, including the women's movement and the gay rights movement. Antiabortion activists, too, have borrowed from this tradition and argued that human fetuses have rights; and many people now believe that certain animals have at least some rights, like the right not to be used in scientific experiments. It's safe to say that many fewer people (and other species) would have rights today were it not for social movements, which have dramatically changed the moral sensibilities of societies over the past two centuries. Social movements play a number of crucial roles in contemporary societies. They encourage us to figure out how we feel about government policies and social trends and new technologies. Most of all, they are one means by which we work out our moral visions, transforming vague intuitions into principles and political demands. 4. The political process approach to the study of social movements stresses their political nature. What do such movements attempt to achieve and what does success "look like"? Answer: According to this perspective, economic and political shifts occur, usually independently of protesters' own efforts, which open up a space or opportunities for the movement. Because this approach views movements as primarily political, making demands of the state and asking for changes in laws and policies, it regards changes in the government or state as the most important opportunity a movement needs and how it can achieve ultimate success for its goals. The first order change is often a slackening in the repression that movement organizers face, perhaps because political authorities are divided (the movement may have found some allies within the government) or because powerful political and economic actors have divergent interests. There may be a general crisis in the government, perhaps as a result of fighting (or losing) a foreign war, which distracts leaders and may bankrupt the government. In many versions of this perspective, the same factors are seen as explaining both the rise of the movement and its relative success. 5. In what way do cultural sociologists believe they have a better theory than political process theorists? Provide one movement as an example. Answer: Cultural sociologists assert the importance of perceptions, ideas, emotions, and grievances, all of which resource mobilization and political process theorists think did not matter very much or could simply be taken for granted. Perceptions, however, are examined closely now in the context of broader social and political changes, not in isolation from them. It is not as though people first develop goals and then decide to go out and form movements to pursue them; there is an interaction among ideas, mobilization, and the broader environment. Some people get pulled into movements by friends or family and are only slowly converted to the movement's cause; their political beliefs are a consequence, not a cause, of joining the movement. Research suggests, for example, that over 40 percent of committed antiabortion activists had ambiguous views about abortion or even considered themselves "pro-choice" when they initially joined the movement; it was only after they spent some time in the movement, interacting with long-term activists, that they came to emphatically oppose abortions. 6. How do social movements successfully recruit members and supporters with what scholars call "framing"? Answer: Framing refers to the specific ways that ideas and beliefs are presented to other people. Scholars of movements focus on how activists try to frame or present their ideas so that they make sense to or resonate with the beliefs of potential recruits and supporters. Three successive types of framing are necessary for successful recruitment: diagnostic, in which a movement convinces potential converts that a problem needs to be addressed; prognostic, in which it convinces them of appropriate strategies, tactics, and targets; and motivational, in which it exhorts them to get involved in these activities. Frames are more likely to be accepted if they fit well with the existing beliefs of potential recruits, if they involve empirically credible claims, if they are compatible with the life experiences of the audiences, and if they fit with the stories or narratives the audiences tell about their lives. 7. What are Saul Alinsky's tactical principles and how are his methods like those of a military operation? Answer: Alinsky developed tactical principles that are not unlike those of army generals: Try to take your opponents by surprise, and try to make them think you are more powerful than you are. Try to use tactics your own followers enjoy and are familiar with. The idea of keeping the pressure on one's opponents is important because you never know where and when your opponent will be vulnerable or will make a blunder. The greater the pressure, the greater the chance you will trip them up. Alinsky also recognized that it is usually necessary to portray your enemy as a villain, a monster who can be blamed, not an abstract principle. 8. Describe how the women's movement has changed as a result of its own internal dynamics and evolution? Answer: The women's movement has gradually lost its radical vision and militancy. This resulted in part from intense ideological conflicts among radical feminists within the movement, who had provided much of the movement's activist core and ideological inspiration. Gradually, and partly because of its own success in opening up new professional careers for women, the women's movement as a whole took on a middle-class outlook. It became more concerned with the career opportunities and material success of individual women than with the group solidarity of women or addressing the concerns of poor and working-class women. 9. France voted for a new socialist prime minister in 2012. France, too, has experienced general strikes in which workers en masse take to the streets to protest and can disrupt the flow of goods and services in ways that cannot happen in the United States. What is the historical reason for this? Answer: The primary reason for the existence of a legal framework in the United States that encourages business opposition to unions is the long-standing political weakness of the American labor movement. Unlike all other developed capitalist countries, such as France, the United States has never had a strong labor or leftist political party save for the Democratic Party at different times in its history—but this party is not purely socialist. Scholars refer to the historical weakness of labor and socialist parties in the United States as "American exceptionalism." The precise reasons for this exceptionalism continue to be debated, with factors such as the two-party system, racial and ethnic antagonisms among workers, and the American creed of individualism receiving considerable emphasis. 10. Why were the revolutions that occurred in the Middle East and North Africa during the Arab Spring of 2011 political as opposed to social revolutions? Answer: They overthrew dictators and brought about changes in political regimes, but they did not substantially change economic institutions, the distribution of property, or class structures. The revolution in Egypt might even be described as a half-revolution. It overthrew the dictator Hosni Mubarak and destroyed Mubarak's powerful political party, but some elements of the old political regime—above all, the armed forces and the judiciary— survived the revolution intact and continue to wield tremendous power. Egypt's rich elite (which includes many military officers) has also held onto its wealth and economic power. Test Bank for The Sociology Project : Introducing the Sociological Imagination Jeff Manza, Richard Arum, Lynne Haney 9780205949601, 9780205093823, 9780133792249
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