Motivation to Teach Social Action:
I'm interested in learning more myself, but more so equipping students and youth with the knowledge and tools to advocate/agitate for societal change. Honestly, I get tired of hearing them complain. I encourage them to "do something" about their issues, but haven't offered any concrete guidance or resources.
Course Description:
This course focuses on episodes of collective behavior and social movements with special attention to large-scale social movements in the United States. Social movements around the world have used a wide variety of protest tactics to bring about enormous social changes, influencing cultural arrangements, public opinion, and government policies in the process. This course will present a brief but complete assessment of the origin, nature, and processes of crowd behavior and social change movements.
Course goals, objectives, and learning outcomes: This course provides a broad overview of theoretical issues in the study of social movements, illustrating key concepts with a series of case studies. It offers engaging analyses of the protest cycle of abolition, women’s suffrage, civil rights, the minimum wage, the campaigns for clean air and clean water, the 1960s, the gay and lesbian rights movement, the environmental movement, the new American right, the global justice movement, and the use of technology in contemporary movements.By the end of the semester, each student should be able to demonstrate (1) a basic knowledge of the terms, concepts, and theories of crowd behavior and social movements, (2) an understanding of the origin, nature, processes, and unique and similar experiences of crowd behavior and movement participants, (3) a better understanding of social movements in terms of their strategies and tactics, the organizational challenges they faced, and the roles mass media and counter-movements play in determining their successes and failures, and (4) an attitude of respect for and tolerance toward crowd behavior and social change movements.
Taught By:
Mila Turner
Assistant Professor
Sociology and Criminal Justice
Clark Atlanta University
Read profile here.