Movement Discussion

Prompt: Analyze ‘Strange Fruit’ by Billie Holiday by establishing connections between the song’s lyrics and relevant sociological concepts, terms, or theories. Be sure to use at least one Sociological theory (functionalist, conflict, and interactionist) in your analysis.To earn full credit your post should follow the format below:

• Discuss how the lyrics to ‘Strange Fruit’ conveys the depths of racism include sociological concepts as you examine the lyrics. Research why this song was banned from the radio. Share your thoughts on the impact the song would have had if allowed on the radio during this time in society. (1 paragraph, 5-7 sentences in length)
• Reveal how the song promoted social awareness and social change. Include other forms of popular culture that have also spurred social movements- choose a song, current event, news event or video of your choice that has influenced a social movement today. (1 paragraph of 5-7 sentences)
• Identify which social movement the song is associated with and include another song or songs that have motivated social movements or helped to create social change. Explain at least one of these songs and the problem(s) that it addressed. Be creative, the song can be old or new, about problems such as wars, women rights, gun control, religious expression, race, social inequality, etc. (1 paragraph, 5-7 sentences in length)
• Conclusion (1 paragraph, 5-7 sentences in length)- What are your thoughts about the issue/social movement you discussed

Be sure to include at least two scholarly sources to support your statements.  If there is more than one part to a question, you must answer all parts of the question.

Korgen, Sociology in Action, 1e

SAGE Publishing

Chapter 16: Social Movements

14-1: What is a social movement?

14-2: Why do people participate in social movements?

14-3: What are the different types of social movements?

14-4: How would you use a sociological theory to explain a social movement?

14-5: What are the steps a social movement must take to become successful?

14-6: What tactics do social movements use to achieve their goals and what kind of backlash do they face?

14-7: How can we create social change?

1. What is a social movement?

0. Components of a social movement

0. A social movement forms when people who want social change create an organization that is collective, organized, and sustained and challenges authorities, powerholders, or cultural beliefs and practices in noninstitutional ways.

0. Social movements must target the institution or authority figure with the power to make the changes they seek.

0. Protests: The most visible part of social movements

2. Protests involve individuals or groups acting to challenge, resist, or make demands toward social change.

2. Protests are often the most visible part of social movements.

2. Civil disobedience involves breaking social customs or laws to make a point.

1. Participating in social movements

1. Beneficiary constituents are people who stand to benefit directly from the social change being sought.

1. Conscience constituents are people who care about the cause but do not benefit directly from the changes.

1. Power and inequality issues in social movements

2. Issues of power and inequality are raised by the roles conscience constituents take in social movements.

2. Voices of the marginalized must be centered in the movement.

2. Socioeconomic status and ability

2. While participation in social movements can be empowering, not everyone has the ability or resources needed to participate.

1. Mobilizing and organizing

3. Emergence is the stage of mobilization where people who share the same grievance get together and find others who support their goals.

3. Mobilizing efforts can be facilitated by social networking websites, such as Twitter and Facebook.

3. Organizing, or coalescence, is the next stage where people come together more formally toward a shared goal.

3. Community-based organizing.

3. Community-based organizing occurs when individual activists become involved in a movement because of an issue that directly impacts their community.

1. Types of social movements

2. Alternative social movements advocate for limited social change but do not ask individuals to change their personal beliefs.

2. Redemptive social movements seek radical change in individual behavior.

2. Reformative social movements work for specific change across society.

2. Revolutionary social movements call for a radical reorganization of society.

1. Social movement theory

3. Structural functional theories

0. Functionalists emphasize how social movements are formed through dysfunction and mobilization to create social change.

0. Collective behavior theory says social movements begin during times of crisis. People are assumed to behave rationally and have collective needs and ideas that they can act on.

0. Mass society theory says that feelings of isolation and alienation lead people to join a social movement.

3. Conflict theories

1. Social movements arise when goods and services are distributed unevenly.

1. Resource mobilization theory focuses on the resources (e.g., money, followers, political connections) needed to mobilize and sustain a social movement.

1. Focusing on resources doesn’t explain how some social movements mobilized without these resources.

1. Relative deprivation theory argues that people join social movements when they feel dissatisfied with their current position in society.

1. Relative deprivation theory cannot explain the presence of conscience constituents.

3. Symbolic interactionist theories

2. According to symbolic interactionism, collective behavior develops when established institutions no longer provide meaning that aligns with the views of a majority of its constituents.

2. Symbolic interactionists look at how people create meaning, goals, and shared culture within their collective action.

2. Social movement framing

2. This approach focuses on how social movements use images and language to frame their causes.

2. Framing involves leaders influencing how people think about an issue by highlighting certain facts and themes, while making others invisible.

2. Master frames have near universal appeal, such as freedom, democracy, love, and choice.

2. Frame competition occurs when organizations use another group’s frames to discredit or ridicule their position.

2. New Social Movement theory

3. New Social Movements mobilize around issues of rights and collective social identities.

3. The Women’s Movement brought women together as women to fight for rights and equality.

3. New Social Movement theory attempts to explain the movements that center around rights and collective social identities.

1. The six steps of social movement success

4. Identify an issue.

0. The first task of any social movement is to identify any issues that need to be addressed.

0. The Women’s movement

1. There were four waves of collective action: 1848–1920, 1960s–1970s, 1990s, 2000, and so on.

1. Difference feminism—which holds that men and women are different—was part of the suffrage movement.

4. Form a group

1. The next task is to form a group, consisting of both beneficiary and conscience constituents.

1. The Civil Rights movement

1. Black churches and students played important roles in this movement.

1. White students participated as conscience constituents.

1. The Women’s Movement

2. A feminist is someone committed to gender equality, while a feminist organization is an organization working to end women’s oppression.

2. The Women’s Movement has not always been inclusive of all women, previously excluding women of color and those who were poor.

2. The third wave of feminism occurred in the 1990s, focusing on inclusiveness and intersectionality.

4. Challenges to forming a group

2. Beneficiary constituents must believe their situations will improve based on their participation.

2. Conscience constituents must be willing to see something as a problem.

2. Organizations must keep both constituents engaged by fostering a shared sense of purpose and achievable small goals.

2. Marginalization of members

3. Participation may be limited by marginalizing some members within an organization.

2. Cultural differences

4. When movements are global and cross-cultural, organizing is more difficult.

4. The “sisterhood is global” phrase incorrectly implied all women experience oppression the same way and ignored inequalities among women.

4. Create a strategy

3. A strategy must be identified for making social change.

3. Careful research into the problems and best solutions is needed.

3. Appropriate power holders need to be identified as part of the strategy.

3. The Civil Rights movement.

3. Activists collected data on how lunch counters were run before staging sit-ins.

4. Mobilize resources

4. Successful social movements need resources.

4. Constituents are the most important resource.

4. The Women’s movement.

2. Consciousness-raising circles were held in the 1960s and 1970s where women could share their experiences of oppression.

2. The third wave relied on ‘zines and music to get their message distributed.

2. Blogging and social media are now used together to help mobilize women.

4. Organize actions

5. Social action is the lifeblood of social movements.

5. The Civil Rights movement

1. Freedom Summer activists worked to get Black Mississippians registered to vote and educated on a variety of topics. Their safety was constantly threatened, and three activists were brutally murdered.

4. Gaining power and success

6. A social movement must gain power to be successful.

6. Success arrives when problems are solved or goals are achieved.

6. The Civil Rights movement

2. Successes included Civil Rights Act of 1964, Voting Rights Act of 1965, and the Civil Rights Act of 1968.

6. The Women’s movement

3. Successes included the Equal Pay Act of 1963, Equal Pay Act of 1973, and the Supreme Court decision of Roe v. Wade.

4. Why social movements fail

7. Social movements fail because of organizational issues, a lack of resources, or an inability to mobilize supporters.

7. Repression takes place when people and/or institutions with power use that power to control or destroy a movement.

7. Co-optation happens when the leadership of a movement begins to identify with the targets of social change and starts working more for them than the original movement.

7. Social movements can end up taking on the values and actions they are trying to change.

1. Success can bring backlash: the marriage equality movement

5. The marriage equality movement is one of the most successful movements in recent history (Figure 14.1).

5. Successful tactics of the marriage equality movement

1. Tactics included having gay and lesbian public figures come out, direct action and protests, and use of the court system.

1. The Stonewall riots in 1969 galvanized the gay and lesbian community, and commemorating its anniversary was the basis for the annual Pride March.

1. With success comes backlash.

2. Same sex couples have sometimes experienced difficulties obtaining marriage licenses.

2. LGBT individuals have faced violent attacks, including the 2016 attack at the Pulse night club, where 49 people were killed.

1. How can we create social change?

6. Interdependent power refers to the ties that bind institutions and individuals together and help to explain how social change can come from poor or powerless individuals; the institution needs them, too.

6. Mass action relying on interdependent power would be difficult to organize.

6. Participatory action research

2. Participatory action research starts with the idea that people are experts in their own lives and can participate in the research process.

2. This is especially useful in disadvantaged communities where members may not trust outside researchers.

6. Empowerment, responsibility, and making social change.

3. Social movements can result in a kind of collective solidarity—a sense of bonding that results from bringing individuals together.

3. Being part of a collective effort for social change is a responsibility, and issues of inclusion are often problematic.

3. An ally is a conscience constituent who is committed to the cause.

3. Allies need to make sure they don’t overstep their role in the cause and undermine the beneficiary constituents.

3. How you can help bring about social change.

4. Be aware of inequalities and oppression.

4. Learn the history of social movements.

4. Examine inequality and oppression from an intersectional perspective.

4. Raise awareness.

4. Engage in the political process.

4. Go to local political meetings.

4. Work to avoid making assumptions about oppression and privilege.

4. Speak out about issues that matter to you.

4. Work with others who share your concerns.